20 10 on April 22nd, Anyue county industrial and commercial bureau received a complaint from Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd., claiming that Tsingtao draft beer sold by Zhou Xiao Liquor Business Department in Anyue county infringed its exclusive right to use a trademark. Under the arrangement of the bureau leaders, law enforcement officers conducted an on-site inspection of the business department and found that Zhou Guangdi, the operator of the business department, was suspected of selling beer that infringed on the exclusive right to use registered trademarks in Qingdao. In order to further ascertain the facts, Anyue County Administration for Industry and Commerce filed an investigation on April 22 of the same year.
Second, the introduction of the case
Party Zhou Moumou, male, Han nationality, aged 28; Business premises: No.54 178, North Section of Zhou Pu Avenue, Yueyang Town, Anyue County, and is applying for individual business license.
It is found out that on March 25th, 20 10, the party concerned bought 3,392 "Qingdao Brand Pure Biochemical" beers from Qingdao Island Beer Co., Ltd. on Monday, with a purchase price of 54,200 yuan. After the parties bought back the batch of beer, they sold 1000 pieces in Anyue County at the price of each piece in 20 yuan, and obtained a sales amount of 20,000 yuan. After Qingdao Beer Co., Ltd. complained, our bureau found out that the actual trademark of this batch of beer was "Maywind" beer, which was commissioned by Qingdao Island Beer Co., Ltd. to be processed and produced by Shandong Tianyi Biological Engineering Co., Ltd., and the name and address of the manufacturer were not indicated on the packaging and decoration, but Qingdao Island Beer Co., Ltd. did not have a production license, and there was no business scope for producing beer in the registration materials of the business license. When Qingdao Island Beer Co., Ltd. commissioned the processing and production of this batch of beer, the bottles used were special bottles printed with the registered trademarks of TSINGTAO Beer Co., Ltd. and Tsingtao in English, and "Qingdao brand Chunsheng" was used as its commodity name, which was used indiscriminately on the bottle body logo and outer packaging box. The logo on the bottle body and the logo and pattern used on the outer packaging box are similar to the "Tsingtao draft beer" pattern produced by Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. and the registered trademark No.3888383 registered by Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd., and the party claimed that the beer was "Tsingtao draft beer" when selling, thus misleading the public and making consumers mistakenly think that the batch of beer was "Tsingtao draft beer" produced by Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. Zhou Guangdi's act of selling beer belongs to the infringement stipulated in Item (2) of Paragraph 1 of Article 52 of the Trademark Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), which has infringed on the exclusive right of Qingdao, a Chinese trademark and an English trademark registered by Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. ..
Third, case handling
The act of selling beer that infringes upon the exclusive right to use a registered trademark of Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. constitutes the act of selling goods that infringe upon the exclusive right to use a registered trademark according to Item (2) of Article 52 of the Trademark Law of People's Republic of China (PRC).
According to Article 53 of the Trademark Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) and Article 52 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), "If the amount of the fine is illegal and cannot be calculated, the amount of the fine shall be less than 6,543,800 yuan. After research, it is decided to punish the parties: 654.38+0, and order them to stop the infringement immediately; 2. Confiscation of 2,337 pieces of infringing beer.
Fourth, case analysis
After receiving the complaint, our bureau immediately organized law enforcement officers to conduct a comprehensive investigation, basically locking in the illegal acts of the parties selling goods that infringe on the exclusive right to use registered trademarks of others, and taking compulsory measures to detain the suspected infringing beer that the parties have not yet sold. If the party refuses to accept it, he immediately brings an administrative lawsuit to the court on the grounds that our compulsory measures are illegal, and publishes public opinion on the Internet, saying that our bureau has no jurisdiction over trademark infringement and it is illegal to take compulsory measures. Our bureau attaches great importance to it and has held a case analysis meeting and a case trial meeting to confirm the final nature of the case. In the process of qualitative analysis, there have always been two different opinions: one is Bell's view that the beer sold by the parties in this case is similar to the beer produced and sold by Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. in name, packaging and decoration, and its behavior belongs to brand-name behavior, so its behavior should be regulated by Article 9 of the Provisions on Prohibiting Unfair Competition by Using the Names, Packaging and Decoration of Famous Commodities, and the goods sold by the parties can be identified as counterfeit according to Article 6 of these Provisions. Another point of view is that although the beer sold by the parties in this case is similar to the beer produced and sold by Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. in terms of name, packaging and decoration, the beer produced and sold by Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. has been registered as a trademark and belongs to a well-known trademark, and the behavior of the parties conforms to the third paragraph of Article 3 of the Provisions on Prohibiting Unfair Competition in the Unique Name, Packaging and Decoration of Well-known Commodities, which does not apply. According to Article 53 of the Trademark Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), "... if the administrative department for industry and commerce finds that the infringement is established, it shall be ordered to immediately stop the infringement, confiscate and destroy the infringing goods and tools specially used for manufacturing infringing goods and forging registered trademark marks, and may also be fined." It is stipulated that the administrative department for industry and commerce has the right to identify trademark infringement. In the process of identification, it should refer to the principles stipulated in Article 10 of the Supreme People's Court's Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Trademark Civil Disputes, and conduct investigation and evidence collection, and the case will be discussed and identified through the trial. According to the second point of view, law enforcement officers adjusted the investigation scheme, supplemented and improved a number of evidences such as investigations with Qingdao industrial and commercial authorities, investigations with Shandong Yucheng industrial and commercial authorities, and consumer surveys. The facts of this case were ascertained on June 30, 20 10. After discussion and analysis, the case trial Committee of our bureau unanimously decided that the parties to this case should be characterized as selling beer that infringes the exclusive right to use the registered trademark of Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd.
Because the facts are clear, the evidence is sufficient and the procedure is legal, the administrative litigation brought by the parties to the court ended in the victory of this bureau. The case can be finally closed, which mainly depends on the law enforcement officers seriously overcoming difficulties in the process of handling the case, using the methods and skills of "removing the cocoon from the silk, removing the cocoon first, and gradually deepening from the outside to the inside", paying attention to finding out the ins and outs of the case, so as to find out the facts and nature of the case. It is worth mentioning that according to Article 53 of the Trademark Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), referring to the principle of trademark infringement in the Supreme People's Court, through the investigation of consumers, the bureau finally concluded that the beer sold by the parties infringed the exclusive right to use the registered trademark of Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. This is an innovative attempt by our bureau to investigate and deal with cases of infringement of trademark exclusive rights and effectively safeguard the intellectual property rights of obligees.
The successful detection of this case was highly praised by Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. and achieved good social benefits. The investigation in this case is of typical significance, with clear facts, sufficient evidence, accurate characterization, legal procedures and appropriate punishment.