Louis Vuitton brand three-game winning streak fake brand big net

On April 18th, among the five world-famous brand companies, Chanel (CHNEL), Louis Vuitton Mallet (LV), Gucucci (GUCCI), Burberry (UK) and Prada (Plada) (PRADA). Finally won the judicial victory in the battle of "Xiu Shui Street".

On the same day, the Beijing Higher People's Court finalized that: Beijing Xiushui Market provided convenience for selling fake products, and judged that Xiushui Market and merchants jointly compensated 20,000 yuan for each of the five major international brands, and immediately stopped the infringement.

Just on the previous day, April 17, the French Louis Vuitton Mallité, which initiated one of the lawsuits, also won another mocking lawsuit: Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court issued a first-instance order to the Beijing Chaowai Gate. Shopping Mall Co., Ltd. compensates Louis Vuitton Mallité with 150,000 yuan on the grounds that the mall sells counterfeit Louis Vuitton luggage.

Li Shunde, deputy director of the Intellectual Property Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and deputy chairman and secretary general of the Intellectual Property Research Society of the China Law Society, commented that the judgments in these cases are of unique significance: Afterwards, merchants conniving to sell counterfeit and sell fakes are particularly necessary. Be careful.

The position of the Chinese administrative authorities: All those who are in compliance with the "Trademark Law" are protected at almost the same time, and Shanghai has also tried a case in which a supermarket fake "Louis Vuitton" was indicted.

On April 18th, Louis Vuitton Malliti v. Shanghai Carrefour sold a fake Louis Vuitton handbag case at Shanghai No. 2 Middle School. Louis Vuitton Mallitti believes that the supermarket party has infringed its trademark right. , Serious damage was caused to its goodwill. The other party was required to immediately stop the infringement and pay 500,000 yuan in compensation. At the same time, it also bears a total of more than 110,000 yuan in fees such as legal fees and investigation fees. The court first verdict on April 20, the defendant stopped the infringement and compensated the plaintiff 300,000 yuan.

“In the course of enforcement of trademark infringement, not only the merchants should be punished, but also the responsibilities of the shopping malls should be investigated. This will further protect the legitimate rights and interests of trademark holders.” April 19, Deputy Director of the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce Zhao Gang said in an interview with China Economic Weekly.

According to statistics from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, in 2005, industrial and commercial administrative authorities at all levels nationwide investigated and investigated 39,107 cases of trademark infringement and counterfeiting, of which 6,770 were foreign-related trademark cases, an increase of 23.2% compared with 5,401 in 2004.

“With the limited administrative law enforcement team, these two years have achieved such a significant blow. The main reason is that we have grasped the focus of the crackdown.” Deputy Director Zhao Gang emphasized that wherever we comply with the provisions of the Trademark Law, we will Protection, whether it is an internationally-renowned brand or other legal brand, is being further enforced by the administrative agencies at all levels.

Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai also revealed at a press conference on the protection of intellectual property rights on April 11th that although in many countries it was the case that complaints of infringement were handled by the judicial authorities upon request or after complaints were filed, in China, many Trademark protection is the initiative of the government law enforcement authorities. Li Dongsheng, deputy director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, took the case of trademark infringement involving the United States as an example. In 2005, China handled 1968 trademark cases involving the United States, of which about 29% were investigated and dealt with first, and 71% were taken by industry and commerce authorities.

Strengthen the joint responsibility of market operators: from the "lock sales order" to "trademark licensing operating system"

Previously, in order to crack down on counterfeits and protect the legitimate rights and interests of internationally renowned brand owners in China, the Beijing Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce issued circulars twice in July 2004 and March 2005, respectively, strongly protecting 48 registered trademarks. All clothing and small commodity markets, including Silk Market, ban the sale of these international brand names. "Louis Vuitton", "Chanel" and other brands are among them.

"As long as trademark owners can guarantee that their goods will not flow into these commodity markets, we can issue a ban on sales and ban them once they appear in these markets." Deputy Director Zhao Gang said that not only Beijing, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc. Big cities are further strengthening the supervision of the commodity market.

Zhang Guohong, Director of the Trademark Office of the Beijing Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce, said recently that Beijing will further regulate brand management in the apparel and small commodity markets through the “Trademark Licensing Management System” (hereinafter referred to as “System”).

According to the requirements of the “System”, merchants entering the clothing and small-goods markets must provide the market operators with genuine proof of their sales of goods trademarks; market operators must establish a trademark file and merchant’s credit files for these merchants; If it proves or deliberately hides the facts, the market business unit shall report to the administrative department for industry and commerce.

“In this way, the Trade and Industry Bureau will use these merchants as the focus of supervision. Once there is evidence that the goods it sells are fake, the Trade and Industry Bureau will deal with them in accordance with the law.” Director Zhang Guohong said that if the market operating units did not report, Or deliberately concealing the facts, the industrial and commercial departments must deal with the market business units together. The purpose of this move is to indirectly promote market operations units to fulfill their obligations of managing the market.

Liu Zhengang, director of the Beijing Municipal Intellectual Property Office, said that the implementation of the “Trademark Licensing System” in the apparel and small commodity markets will strengthen the joint responsibility of market operators and determine who will be responsible for the establishment of the shopping mall and who will be responsible for the region who will be in charge. It will be in the shortest possible time. Effectively control and reduce all types of infringement.

However, it was hoped that the “Trademark Licensing System” would remove counterfeit goods completely from the market. Zhang Guohong admits that this is unrealistic. “Because countering counterfeiting is a systematic project, it requires the concerted efforts of all sectors of the society. Market management The unit must be held responsible for management. Consumers should not buy counterfeit goods. What's more important is that trademark rights holders must have the consciousness of self-conscious rights protection."

Whether or not the "Trademark Licensing System" will be implemented nationwide, as with the "Forbidden Sales Order", Deputy Director Zhao Gang stated that the current system is only implemented in Beijing. The promotion or not depends on the implementation effect of Beijing.

Judicial Intensification: Increasing Civil Compensation Standards

Although administrative practices can prevent the occurrence of infringement from the source, the judiciary is still an important way to protect intellectual property rights. The determination of the amount of compensation during the trial has always been a problem that plagues the court and the rights holders. In most cases, the final amount of compensation is very different from the original requirements of the plaintiff. For example, in the case of Xiushui Street, the five plaintiffs claimed 500,000 yuan each, and finally awarded 20,000 yuan. In the case of “outside the door”, the plaintiff claimed more than 1 million and awarded a compensation of 150,000 yuan.

“The determination of the amount of civil compensation has always been a difficult point in the trial of intellectual property cases.” Zhang Lumin, president of the intellectual property court of the Beijing Municipal High Court, said in an interview with “China Economic Weekly” that “the court is gradually increasing the intensity of civil compensation. ."

“For example, we demand that the infringer should bear the burden of proof in relation to the issue of compensation. If he does not provide evidence, we will determine that he bears the burden of proof. This is also an indication of increased civil compensation.” According to President Zhang Lumin Beijing has taken a series of new measures to increase civil compensation for intellectual property rights, including the possibility of additional civil compensation when new infringement losses occur after the case has been accepted. The court will also increase the number of repeated infringements and malicious infringements. Large civil compensation.

However, President Zhang Lumin also said that the current increase in civil compensation is still based on the principle of compensation, and will not be converted to punitive damages, so it is impossible to determine a particularly high amount of civil compensation. If the infringement is very serious, it will be punished by criminal means.

In 2004, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate promulgated the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights" (hereinafter referred to as "Explanation"), which lowered the standards for investigation of criminal responsibility and increased knowledge. Criminal protection of property rights. It is precisely because of this that the transfer of suspected trademark crimes by industry and commerce was multiplied last year. Statistics from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce show that in 2005, a total of 236 cases of suspected trademark crimes were transferred to judicial organs (including 105 cases transferred according to the “interpretation” and 88 foreign-related cases), and 215 suspects were transferred to judicial organs for trademark crimes. Among them, 93 foreign-related trademark criminal suspects were 2.45 times and 2.62 times respectively in 2004.

Zhang Zhifeng, a lawyer of Beijing Lanpeng Law Firm, introduced to China Economic Weekly that the amount of compensation is usually based on the actual losses of the equity person. If the actual amount of damage cannot be determined, it will be calculated according to the benefit of the infringer. Although equity holders may demand high compensation claims, the court will not support them if they cannot provide strong evidence. According to the provisions of the "Trademark Law," the maximum compensation for trademark infringement will not exceed 500,000 yuan.

When answering a reporter’s question on April 11, Xiong Xuuoguo, vice president of the Supreme People’s Court, stated that the issue of civil compensation has been a subject of great concern in the drafting of the “interpretation”. The “interpretation” is also determined after comprehensive consideration of various factors. Three kinds of civil compensation calculation methods. The Supreme Court will continue to improve existing relevant laws and regulations and judicial interpretations in its implementation. On the one hand, it must increase the crackdown on intellectual property infringement crimes. On the other hand, it must treat criminal suspects fairly.