The crime of infringing on the exclusive right to use a trademark refers to a serious act that violates trademark laws and regulations, infringes on the exclusive right to register a trademark of others, undermines the trademark management system and endangers the order of the socialist market economy. The provisions of the crime of infringing intellectual property rights involve three of the seven crimes of trademark infringement, namely, the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks, the crime of selling counterfeit registered trademarks, and the crime of illegally manufacturing and selling illegally manufactured registered trademarks. This judicial interpretation came into effect on February 22, 2004, which lowered the conviction standard of the crime of infringing intellectual property rights, clarified some technical terms in the crime of infringing intellectual property rights, and significantly improved the operability of relevant criminal law provisions. Compared with the previous relevant provisions on trademark infringement, it is embodied in the following aspects: (1) The conviction and sentencing standards for trademark infringement crimes are reduced. The Interpretation defines the starting standard for the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks and selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks as the illegal business amount (sales amount) of more than 50,000 yuan, and the starting standard for the crime of illegally manufacturing and selling goods with illegally manufactured registered trademarks is the illegal business amount of more than 50,000 yuan or the illegal income of more than 30,000 yuan; In the standards for the prosecution of economic crimes, the starting standard for the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks and selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks is that the illegal business amount (sales) is more than 65,438+10,000 yuan, and the starting standard for the crime of selling goods with illegally manufactured registered trademarks is more than 200,000 yuan. (2) Other serious circumstances have been added to the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark. The Interpretation stipulates that counterfeiting more than two registered trademarks, with an illegal business amount of more than 30,000 yuan or an illegal income of more than 20,000 yuan, also belongs to "serious circumstances" as stipulated in Article 2 13 of the Criminal Law. (3) The starting penalty standards for individual crimes and unit crimes are stipulated respectively, which narrows the gap between the starting penalty amounts. There is no distinction between "individual" and "unit" in Criminal Law and Interpretation of Cases of Fake and Inferior Products. In the prosecution standard of economic crimes, the conviction and sentencing standard of unit crimes is five times that of individual crimes. According to the provisions of Article 14 of the Interpretation, if a unit commits an infringement of intellectual property rights, including trademark infringement, it shall be convicted and sentenced according to three times the conviction and sentencing standards of the corresponding individual crimes stipulated in the Interpretation. In practice, many of the same criminals set up several legal entities to engage in counterfeiting and selling fake goods in order to avoid criminal investigation, and some even set up different companies to carry out counterfeiting on different production lines in the same workshop to avoid or mitigate punishment. In this regard, we should strictly distinguish between individual crime and unit crime. Companies, enterprises and institutions established for individuals carry out illegal and criminal activities, or after the establishment of companies, enterprises and institutions, their main activities are to commit crimes, and they are not punished as unit crimes; If another person commits a crime by stealing the name of the unit and the illegal income is distributed to the individual who commits the crime, he shall also be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law on individual crime. [2] (4) The principle of punishment for different crimes is clarified. Article 13 of the Interpretation stipulates that whoever commits the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks as stipulated in Article 213 of the Criminal Law and sells goods with counterfeit registered trademarks constitutes a crime, he shall be convicted and punished for the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks in accordance with Article 213 of the Criminal Law; Whoever commits the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark as stipulated in Article 213 of the Criminal Law and sells goods that he knows are counterfeit registered trademarks of others, which constitutes a crime, shall be punished for several crimes. (5) The concept of "identical trademark" is defined. Paragraph 1 of Article 8 of the Interpretation stipulates that the "identical trademark" as stipulated in Article 213 of the Criminal Law refers to a trademark that is exactly the same as a counterfeit registered trademark, or that is basically indistinguishable from a counterfeit registered trademark visually and misleading to the public. This is an extended interpretation of "the same trademark". In application, it should be noted that the so-called "basically no difference in vision" means that only by carefully comparing and observing counterfeit trademarks and registered trademarks can differences be found. There is a difference between a "visually indistinguishable" trademark and an "approximate" trademark. The former can constitute the crime of trademark infringement, while the latter is just general trademark infringement. When judging the difference between the two, we should adopt the method of combining the overall comparison with the comparison of the salient parts of trademarks, and make a comprehensive judgment from the aspects of font, pronunciation, meaning or graphic composition, color, and the overall structure of words and graphics. Whether it is "sufficient" can be considered from the following aspects: 1, except for the obvious parts of the two trademarks, other small features are basically the same. Although the significant parts are the same, other small features are different and "approximate"; 2. Observe the trademark as a whole. The effect of combining the prominent part with other small features is largely the same, which is "basically no difference in vision"; The combination effect is the same, but the difference is also obvious, that is, "approximation." 3. According to the recognition ability of ordinary consumers, most consumers who often use a certain commodity can't find the difference if they don't carefully compare the two trademarks, that is, "there is basically no difference visually"; As long as you pay a little attention to comparison or contrast, you can find that the difference is "approximate". . Paragraph 2 of Article 8 of the Interpretation stipulates that "use" as stipulated in Article 213 of the Criminal Law refers to the use of a registered trademark or a logo of a counterfeit registered trademark on commodities, commodity packages or containers, product manuals and commodity transaction documents, or the use of a registered trademark or a logo of a counterfeit registered trademark in advertisements, exhibitions and other commercial activities. This article refers to the provisions of Article 3 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Trademark Law. Therefore, without the permission of the trademark registrant, using the same trademark as its registered trademark in other aspects other than the commodity itself, if the circumstances are serious, should also be punished as the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks. The second paragraph of Article 9 of the Interpretation stipulates that in any of the following circumstances, it shall be deemed as "knowing" as stipulated in Article 214 of the Criminal Law: (1) knowing that the registered trademark on the goods it sells has been altered, replaced or covered; (2) Being subject to administrative punishment or civil liability for selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks, and selling similar goods with counterfeit registered trademarks; (3) Forging or altering the authorization document of the trademark registrant or knowing that the document is forged or altered; (four) know or should know other circumstances of counterfeit registered trademark goods.