Trademark infringement in Congolese law

Trademark rights like the rest of industrial property rights are governed by the principle of territoriality. Counterfeiters take advantage of this limitation to export counterfeit trademark goods from one country to another with complete freedom which leads us to say that in most cases importing is counterfeiting.It is at this precise moment that the customs and the Congolese Office of control intervenes. The latter carries out controls of goods at the borders and has the mission to fight against counterfeiting of brands on the Congolese territory. Thus this way of doing things represents an obvious advantage since it is difficult to follow the traceability of counterfeit branded goods and to seize them after they have been put into circulation and marketed in several places.Unfortunately it does not manage to fight this plague in an effective way following the lack of knowledge of the protected marks on the Congolese territory. Hence the need to set up a database collecting all the protected trademarks in DRC.