It Is Difficult To Fake A Famous Brand By Selling Fake Products And Obtaining Evidence On The Network Platform, Involving 300 Million Yuan

Yesterday, the Supreme People's Procuratorate released ten typical cases of intellectual property protection in 2015, including counterfeit registered trademark There were 4 cases, two cases of infringement of trade secrets and two cases of infringement of copyright, and the other two cases involved trademark and patent use rights.

According to reports, in 2015, the procuratorial organ resolutely cracked down on intellectual property infringement crimes such as counterfeiting registered trademarks and infringing trade secrets, and prosecuted 8664 people. Intellectual property cases often involve professional fields and are highly professional. The release of typical cases sets a benchmark for handling such cases.

　　 It is difficult to sell counterfeit goods and obtain evidence on the network platform

　　 online shopping It brings convenience to people, but it also brings trouble. It is difficult to distinguish the true from the false. Many criminals sell fake goods across the country through well-known online sales platforms. There are many victims, and it is difficult to obtain evidence.

In September 2011, the defendants Luo Lixin, Bai Gaoyuan and Ding Wei jointly established Xiamen Marukus Trading Company. Luo Lixin was responsible for sales, Bai Gaoyuan was responsible for finance, and Ding Wei was responsible for purchasing goods and selling fake goods“ Nike ”Sneakers. From January 2012 to September 2013, Marukus purchased counterfeit "Nike" sports shoes and sold them to "Famous Shoes Warehouse", "Vipshop" and other businesses in order to seek illegal benefits, with a total sales amount More than 30 million yuan.

In October 2013, the People's Procuratorate of Siming District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province made a decision to approve the arrest of three people. In August 2014, Siming Procuratorate filed a public prosecution against Marukus, Luo Lixin, Bai Gaoyuan and Ding Wei. In January 2015, the People's Court of Siming District, Xiamen, sentenced Marukus to a fine of 10 million yuan for the crime of selling counterfeit registered trademarks; Luo Lixin, Bai Gaoyuan and Ding Wei were sentenced to five years and six months in prison and fined 2 million yuan for the crime of selling counterfeit registered trademarks.

The amount involved in this case is up to more than 40 million yuan. In the process of handling the case, the procuratorial organ carefully combs and compares the massive evidence, focuses on analyzing the subjective intent of each criminal suspect, and clarifies their own criminal responsibility. In view of the characteristics of the difficulty in obtaining evidence for cyber crime, a detailed evidence collection list and a supplementary investigation outline are listed to guide the investigation organ to comprehensively collect and fix evidence, and the investigation organ is required to conduct a special judicial audit to accurately determine the amount of money involved, so as to lay a solid evidence foundation for the conviction and punishment of the company and related personnel involved in the case in the later stage.

The procuratorial organ severely cracked down on such criminal acts of infringing intellectual property rights by using the Internet, purified the online consumption environment, and provided a strong legal guarantee for protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

　　 Counterfeiting a famous brand involved 300 million yuan

Among the typical cases released this time, the highest amount involved reached more than 300 million yuan. The criminal gang in this case has a strict organizational system, a clear hierarchical division of labor, a long time to sell fake goods, hidden means of selling fake goods, and a variety of means to avoid investigation. In addition, most of the fake goods are sold to foreigners, which has a bad international impact.

From July 2006 to November 2014, the defendant Li Ruguo, as the actual controller of Shanghai Hancheng Enterprise Management Company (also known as "Taobao City"), used its control position in "Taobao City" to provide premises to indulge and retain merchants to sell fake goods for a long time, and collected "expanded operating fees" from the shops totaling more than 900000 yuan during the period when he was responsible for the rental and daily management of "Taobao City" shops.

Through investigation, from November 2010 to May 2013, 33 merchants who rent shops in "Taobao City" were convicted of selling counterfeit registered trademarks, involving a total amount of money More than 300 million yuan. The value of counterfeit goods with world famous registered trademarks such as "LV", "GUCCI", "CHANEL", "DIOR" and "PRADA" seized by public security organs is more than 160 million yuan.

In 2015, 17 defendants in this case were transferred by Shanghai Jing'an District People's Procuratorate for examination and prosecution. At present, the Shanghai Putuo District People's Court has sentenced 11 defendants to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from four years and three months to criminal detention and three months of probation for the crime of selling counterfeit registered trademarks, with penalties ranging from 80000 yuan to 3000 yuan each.

In order to ensure the quality and effect of the case handling, the procuratorial organ's case handling personnel timely intervened to guide the investigation, and put forward supplementary investigation opinions to the investigation organ in terms of further fixing the confession of the persons involved and auditing and identification of the funds involved in the case in view of the intertwined criminal acts, mutual shielding of the persons involved in the case, collusion among the dens, etc. In order to find out the details of the crime of selling fake goods, the case handlers went to "Taobao City" to investigate the situation of the cancellation of fake goods in shops, the layout of stores, the location of hidden boxes, the hiding of goods, etc., and fixed the evidence by taking notes, photos, etc., to consolidate the key evidence that the defendant knew and intended to cancel the fake goods.

　 The enterprise whose trade secret was leaked was compensated 500000 yuan

Trade secrets are the property rights of enterprises, related to the core competitiveness of enterprises, and are crucial to the development of enterprises. Some even directly affect the survival of enterprises.

From 2009 to 2013, Song Bin, as a member of the research and development team, participated in the research and development of tryptophan production technology of Meihua Biotechnology Group, and signed relevant confidentiality agreements. During his work, Song Bin copied an electronic version of tryptophan extraction process pilot production summary and stored it in his laptop. After his resignation in 2013, Song Bin posted a post on the Internet "Fermentor Forum" under the online name of "Plum Blossom", announcing the technical scheme for tryptophan extraction.

After identification, the tryptophan extraction technology of Meihua Company is unknown to the public and is a trade secret of Meihua Company. The information disclosed by Song Bin is essentially the same as the relevant information recorded in the summary of trial production of tryptophan extraction process of Meihua Company. According to the audit, the research and development cost of tryptophan production technology of Meihua Company is more than 16 million yuan.

Song Bin's crime of infringing trade secrets was investigated and concluded by the Langfang Public Security Bureau of Hebei Province, and was transferred to the Langfang People's Procuratorate for review and prosecution on May 28, 2015. The People's Procuratorate of Langfang Economic and Technological Development Zone filed a public prosecution to the court on July 3, 2015. On September 7 of the same year, the People's Court of Langfang Economic and Technological Development Zone sentenced Song Bin, the defendant, to five years' imprisonment and a fine of 500000 yuan for the crime of infringing trade secrets.

With the development of China's economy, the cases of infringement of trade secrets show a trend of frequent occurrence, especially the arrival of the Internet era, which objectively provides convenient conditions for criminals to disclose and quickly spread trade secrets.

During the accusation of crimes, the procuratorial organ focused on the confidentiality obligation of the perpetrator and the loss amount of the obligee, and pointed out that the "significant loss" caused by the infringement of trade secrets should be comprehensively determined according to the research and development costs, the gains from the implementation of trade secrets, the available benefits, the time to maintain competitive advantage and other factors, and was ultimately supported by the court's decision. The investigation and handling of this case solved the difficulties of similar cases in practice, helped guide the obligee to take further measures to strengthen the protection of trade secrets, and also effectively deterred the crime of infringing trade secrets.