April 26 is the 22nd World Intellectual Property Day. Recently, in order to strengthen the guidance of intellectual property administrative enforcement, government agencies at all levels have successively launched intellectual property publicity activities and released typical cases of intellectual property administrative enforcement in 2021. Among them, some cases are related to the construction and sanitary ceramics industry.
In fact, the fight against counterfeiting and rights protection in the ceramics industry has never stopped. Marco Polo, Dongpeng, Mona Lisa, Jianyi, Wrigley and other well-known ceramic companies in the industry have all been counterfeited and infringed by some unscrupulous companies in the form of imitating famous brands. In 2021, these infringed ceramic companies continued to attack hard and once again achieved good results on the road to rights protection.
Mona Lisa 3.2 million, Marco Polo 3.7 million
There will be multiple high-sum compensation cases in the construction and ceramics industry in 2021
In April 2021, the results of the second instance of the Mona Lisa Group’s lawsuit against Guangdong Yiyan Slab Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Liu for trademark infringement and unfair competition were released. The slate partnership and Liu constituted The company was ordered to pay RMB 3.2 million in compensation for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
It is understood that in 2019, Liu established a slate partnership and used a logo similar to the Mona Lisa Group's "Super Stone Generation" trademark on the ceramic tiles and slate products it produces and sells. The slate partnership has publicly stated that its operating income reached 30 million yuan in less than three months after its establishment, with a profit margin of 10%. Mona Lisa Group took it to court and claimed 3.2 million yuan.
Guangdong Chaoshidai Slate Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) Infringement Item Box
In August, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court ruled that seven defendants including Marco Polo Technology Co., Ltd. and Qingdao Fashion Marco Polo Kitchen and Bathroom Co., Ltd. had infringed the "Marco Polo" trademark rights and engaged in unfair competition. The seven defendants were collectively required to compensate Marco Polo for economic losses and reasonable compensation. Rights protection expenditure totaled 2.7 million.
It is reported that the seven defendants use the Marco Polo logo on the toilets, range hoods, gas stoves and other products they produce and sell. Marco Polo Technology Co., Ltd. and Qingdao Fashion Marco Polo Kitchen and Bathroom Co., Ltd. use "Marco Polo" as their company name without authorization. font size, and clearly mark the company name on product packaging, websites, commercial venues, business cards, etc. Marco Polo believed that the actions of the seven defendants constituted trademark infringement and unfair competition, so they filed a lawsuit in the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court.
Coincidentally, in August last year, a Taobao store was ordered by the court at first instance to compensate Marco Polo for economic losses and reasonable rights protection expenses of 1 million yuan for infringing Marco Polo's trademark rights and constituting unfair competition.
It is understood that from 2018 to 2021, Chen, who lives in Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province, opened a "Marco Polo Bathroom Brand Store" on Taobao and sold a large number of toilet products containing "Marco Polo" in Chinese and Marco Polo graphics. After two hearings, the court retrieved defendant Chen’s sales data on the Taobao platform, which showed that the number of transactions involving infringing products reached 36,372, with a transaction amount of 16.3 million yuan. The court held that the defendant Chen's use of "Marco Polo" and Marco Polo graphics on the Taobao website and the infringing products involved constituted trademark infringement, and the use of the name "Marco Polo Sanitary Ware Brand Store" on Taobao stores constituted unfair competition.
Guanzhu, Jianyi and Mati are all infringed
Many well-known brands crack down on counterfeiting
Because well-known brands have greater market recognition, many small workshops make profits by producing and selling fake and shoddy products by copying famous brands. In order to protect brand reputation and crack down on infringements such as "famous brands", "counterfeits" and "copycats" in the market, last year many well-known brands in the building ceramics industry assisted relevant law enforcement agencies to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the brands through legal means.
In April 2021, Foshan Chancheng District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau investigated and punished infringementThe trial of the administrative penalty case for the exclusive right to use Guanzhu’s registered trademark has concluded. On January 10, 2020, the case handling department inspected the party involved in a ceramic collage factory in Chancheng District, Foshan City and found that the party involved replaced No. 12112695 (GUANZHU) and No. 4271125 without the consent of the trademark owner. The outer packaging of the tiles with the registered trademark "Guanzhu Antique Tiles" (Xinmingzhu), and the bottom mark on the back of the tiles were removed, replaced with the trademark No. 14731337 (European and American Ceramics), and the goods with the changed trademark were put into the market again, with a value of 19,700 yuan. The case-handling department determined that the above-mentioned behavior of the party was a trademark infringement, ordered it to stop the trademark infringement, and imposed an administrative penalty of confiscating the ceramic tiles involved and imposing a fine of 20,000 yuan.
Class 19 trademark registered by New Pearl Group
In April 2021, Jianyi Group received feedback from the Jianyi brand service provider in Fuyang, Anhui Province, saying that an owner of Wanda Huafu in Yingzhou District, its jurisdiction, purchased it online (the actual name of the contract was Foshan Heng* Trading Co., Ltd.) A batch of tiles suspected to be fake Jianyi marble tiles, involving a total amount of 114,000 yuan, was sought from the local store for help. After identification, Jianyi Group confirmed that the ceramic tiles were fake and actively helped the owners safeguard their rights, eventually achieving a refund. In addition, Jianyi Group issued a notice on anti-counterfeiting and rights protection. It has previously successfully defended the rights of three owners in Anyang, Henan, Yingzhou District, Fuyang, Anhui, and Nanhai, Foshan, helping the owners recover their economic losses.
In August 2021, the Xigang District People’s Court of Dalian City made a first-instance judgment on the case of Chen, Liu and other seven persons infringing Marco Polo’s trademark rights: Chen and other seven defendants violated the state’s regulations on registered trademarks in order to seek illegal benefits. Management and supervision system, knowing clearly that goods with counterfeit registered trademarks are still produced and sold, with a value of more than one million yuan, which is a huge amount. His behavior has constituted the crime of selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks. Each of the seven people was sentenced to three years in prison and fined a total of RMB 673,600.
Also in August, the final result of the "Mati Slate Home" trademark infringement case was released after one year. Starwood and Sanrong Home were ordered to stop infringement and jointly compensate Guangdong Mati Ceramics Co., Ltd. for economic losses of 180,000 yuan. . In this case, Starwood and Sanrong Home Furnishing Co., Ltd. made a profit by preemptively registering the Class 20 (furniture) "Mati" trademark and publicizing their intention to "similar to famous brands".As a backlash, its registered trademark was also revoked.
At least 10 trademark infringement disputes in 2022< /p>
The new "Patent Law" increases the amount of infringement compensation to 5 million< /span>
Intellectual property protection is an important means to optimize a good business environment. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Outline for Building a Strong Country on Intellectual Property Rights (2021-2035)", which clearly proposes the implementation of the strategy of building a strong country on intellectual property rights, requires cultivating citizens' behavioral habits of consciously respecting and protecting intellectual property rights, and consciously resisting infringement and counterfeiting. Guide enterprises to consciously fulfill their social responsibilities of respecting and protecting intellectual property rights, increase criminal crackdowns, and improve the investigation system for intellectual property crimes.
In recent years, with the continuous improvement of popularity and brand value, some well-known ceramic sanitary ware brands have been infringed by counterfeit trademarks one after another and have been banned repeatedly. According to incomplete statistics, there have been 10 cases of trademark infringement disputes in the construction and ceramics industry in 2022.
On January 20, the trademark infringement dispute between Jianyi Group and the defendants Yang, Wang, Li and Ling was heard in Zhanjiang, Guangdong;
On March 1, Wrigley Home Furnishing sued Jinghua Sanitary Ware over trademark infringement dispute;
On March 20, Wrigley Home Furnishing sued Shangyou Sanitary Ware over trademark infringement dispute;
On March 21, Mona Lisa sued Ziyang Ceramics over copyright ownership disputes;
On April 1, Wrigley Home Furnishing sued Ping Shuihua Qiao Decoration for trademark infringement;
April 7; Weimei Ceramics (Marco Polo) sued Pinduoduo for the third time, all of which were disputes over trademark infringement;
On April 13, Wrigley Home Furnishing sued Mou Shi Kitchen and Bathroom over trademark infringement disputes;
On April 15, Wrigley Home Furnishings sued Shiqi Trading, citing trademark infringement disputes;
On April 18, Langjing Sanitary Ware sued Suning.com and others over trademark infringement disputes;
On April 21, Dongpeng Holdings sued Taobao and others over trademark infringement disputes;
……
Although major ceramic companies have specially set up "rights protection teams" or "rights protection teams""Anti-Counterfeiting Team" actively cooperates with relevant departments to vigorously crack down on counterfeiting behaviors in the market, but infringement incidents still occur from time to time. Only by continuing to increase the intensity of combating infringement and increasing the amount of infringement compensation can we further curb the infringement behaviors of many unscrupulous merchants.
The good news is that starting from June 1, 2021, the fourth revised "Patent Law of the People's Republic of China" has been officially implemented. The most eye-catching modification in the new Patent Law is the increase in compensation for infringement. The upper limit of statutory compensation is raised to RMB 5 million, and the lower limit is raised to RMB 30,000; the People's Court may determine the amount of compensation based on the losses suffered by the right holder, the benefits obtained by the infringer, or 1 to 5 times the patent license fee; for the infringer If the person refuses to cooperate in providing information, the people's court may determine the amount of compensation with reference to the right holder's claims and the evidence provided.
The era of the most stringent intellectual property protection in history has arrived. Under the implementation of the new Patent Law, future infringers will surely pay a heavier price.
