The effectiveness of infringement evidence collection depends on authenticity, relevance, and legality. The most reliable combination in practice is: notarized purchases fix the physical infringement, notarization or trusted timestamps fix web-based infringement, receipts fix enforcement expenses, and court preservation is sought for evidence likely to be lost.
Common Collection Methods
- Notarized purchase: order online or buy on site under a notary's supervision, with the whole process recorded and the goods sealed— the notarial certificate directly proves the source and state of the infringing goods, the method with the highest credibility in litigation;
- Webpage notarization: notarize store pages, sales figures, reviews, and promotional content, preventing a situation where the other side deletes links and nothing can be proven;
- Trusted timestamps and blockchain evidence fixation: low cost and fast, suited to preliminary fixation of large numbers of links; key pages should still be reinforced with notarization;
- On-site collection: photograph and video stores, trade fairs, and wholesale markets, recording door numbers and business licenses, preferably with two or more persons and written records;
- Leveraging public power: administrative enforcement transcripts, seizure inventories, and criminal case files can be used directly as evidence; you may also apply for the court to obtain sales data and bank flows from platforms and banks.
Collection Essentials
- Collect the complete chain: leave traces from entry (search, link) through purchase to receipt, proving the goods were indeed sold by the accused party;
- Collect scale information: sales volumes, inventory, review counts, and links among multiple stores—these determine the damages level;
- Collect timing information: the start and end of the infringement affects the damages period;
- Keep expense receipts: notarization fees, purchase costs, attorney fees, and travel expenses should all be invoiced for the claim of reasonable expenses.
Evidence Preservation
Where evidence may be lost or become hard to obtain later (such as the other side's warehouse inventory, financial account books, or back-end data about to be deleted), you may apply to the court for evidence preservation before or during litigation; for pre-litigation preservation in urgent situations, suit must be filed within thirty days after the preservation measures are taken.
Evidence collection is common to complaints, litigation, and criminal referral—fix it according to the checklist above at the first moment infringement is discovered, and you will be confident whatever route you later take.
If you are unsure about the above, you may first arrange trademark monitoring on MyTMBee, and a filed trademark agent will give an analysis before you act.