Full chain protection of "West Lake Longjing"
2023-04-26
What are the differences between the connotation and essential attributes of geographical indications and ordinary trademarks? How to strengthen the connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice of Longjing tea geographical indication products? On April 17th, a "brainstorming" centered on the theme of "judicial protection of geographical indications" was launched at the Xihu District Procuratorate of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Experts and scholars from academia and judicial practice, as well as representatives from industry associations, enterprises, and administrative departments, gathered together to discuss with prosecutors the protection and development of the "West Lake Longjing". The "West Lake Longjing" originated in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Ming Dynasty, and flourished in the Qing Dynasty. It is famous for its four unique colors of green, fragrant, sweet, and beautiful appearance, and has always been popular among citizens and tourists. It is a "golden card" of Hangzhou. In August 2011, "West Lake Longjing" was registered as a geographical indication certification trademark. However, not only do some people pass fake products for real and inferior ones for good, but even destroy forests to grow tea, which in turn affects the orderly planting and production quality of "West Lake Longjing". The Xihu District Procuratorate relies on handling cases and is capable of fulfilling its duties in accordance with the law. While adhering to criminal crackdowns, it comprehensively performs administrative and public interest litigation procuratorial functions, and integrates the entire chain to safeguard the "Golden Business Card" of "West Lake Longjing". Starting from March 2011, Qiu and Wang, without authorization from the owner of the "West Lake Longjing" geographical indication certification trademark, rented a house and opened a tea shop in the core production area of "West Lake Longjing" to crack down on the infringement of counterfeit "West Lake Longjing". They reached a consensus with taxi or ride hailing drivers and "wild tour guides" in advance, and were recruited by the drivers or "wild tour guides" under the authentic name of "West Lake Longjing" Transport tourists to the store for consumption and purchase of tea. The waiter in the store introduced and promoted the tea to tourists under the name of "West Lake Longjing", packaging it into illegally purchased "West Lake Longjing" packaging and selling it as a fake "West Lake Longjing". After the Hangzhou public security organs, market supervision, transportation and other departments launched a unified crackdown on the sale of counterfeit "West Lake Longjing" products, Qiu and Wang voluntarily submitted to the case. In June 2022, the case was transferred to the West Lake District Procuratorate for examination and prosecution. After examination, the prosecutor in charge found that although Qiu and Wang confessed to selling counterfeit "West Lake Longjing" models after arriving at the case, they refused to account for the sales amount. How to verify the sales amount has become a challenge due to the lack of access to the ledger. Since there are kickbacks, can we reverse the sales amount from the expenses of the kickbacks? "The handling prosecutor changed his thinking and checked from the accounts of Qiu and Wang. After investigation, it was determined that a mobile payment account under Wang's name was only used for payment of kickbacks, based on the testimony of the driver and "wild tour guide". The handling prosecutor conducted electronic data backtracking, and based on the amount of kickbacks, it was found that the sales amount of Qiu and Wang was 2.05 million yuan. In front of the evidence, Qiu and Wang voluntarily confessed and punished. After a public prosecution by the Xihu District Procuratorate, on March 17 of this year, the court sentenced Wang and Qiu to three years and three months in prison and two years and six months in prison for the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks, each with a fine of 750000 yuan. In January of this year, the Xihu District Procuratorate increased its crackdown on online infringement while continuing to crack down on offline infringement of Longjing Tea geographical indication products
Edit:Ying Ying Responsible editor:Shen Chen
Source:jcrb.com
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