Misappropriating someone else’s trademark commits the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark.

The crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks is a serious act that violates national trademark management regulations and uses the same trademark as the registered trademark on the same product without the permission of the registered trademark owner.

The following three conditions must be met to constitute the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark:

1. When the perpetrator uses someone else’s registered trademark, he does so without the permission of the owner of the registered trademark. The "registered trademark owner" is the trademark registrant. In China, if a trademark registration application is filed in accordance with the law and approved by the Trademark Office, the trademark registration applicant becomes the registered trademark owner. Without the permission of the registered trademark owner, it means that the actor does not obtain the consent of the registered trademark owner when using someone else's registered trademark. This is a prerequisite for constituting this crime;

2. The perpetrator has committed the act of using the same trademark as someone else’s registered trademark on the same kind of goods. That is, if the trademarks are the same, the goods using the trademark are the same kind of goods. These two conditions must be met simultaneously. If a perpetrator uses a trademark that is similar to someone else’s registered trademark on the same kind of goods, or uses a trademark that is the same as someone else’s registered trademark on similar goods, or uses a trademark that is similar to someone else’s registered trademark on similar goods, it is a trademark infringement act. It does not constitute this crime, and the boundaries between these situations should be clearly drawn in practice;

3. The perpetrator uses the same trademark as someone else’s registered trademark on the same product, and the circumstances are serious. This is the line that separates sin from non-sin. "Serious circumstances" mainly refer to the large amount of illegal gains, large losses to the trademark owner or other serious circumstances, etc.

To sum up, counterfeiting registered trademarks not only steals the reputation of the registrant's goods, but also harms the interests of consumers. Therefore, all countries have included counterfeiting registered trademarks as a crime and imposed criminal sanctions on the offenders.

Legal basis:

Article 214 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China

The crime of selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks and knowingly selling them If the amount of illegal income is huge or there are other serious circumstances, the person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and concurrently or solely with a fine; if the amount of illegal income is huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to not less than three years and ten years in prison. to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 10 years and to a fine.