How do e-commerce platforms manage counterfeit goods?

How do e-commerce platforms manage counterfeit goods? Counterfeit goods refer to the use of untrue factory names, addresses, trademarks, product names, product logos, etc. This causes customers and consumers to misunderstand genuine products and think that the fakes are genuine products. So how do e-commerce platforms manage fakes? How do e-commerce platforms manage fakes 1

Online intellectual property Crack down on counterfeiting, fight against what?

In the era of e-commerce, intellectual property infringements are mainly divided into copyright infringement, such as piracy, misappropriation of pictures, art, and text works; trademark infringement, such as prominent use of trademarks, blocking trademarks, fakes, and abuse Keywords, etc.; patent infringement, such as appearance patents, utility model patents, and other infringements such as counterfeiting factory names and addresses.

Sellers who sell fake and shoddy products on major e-commerce platforms not only harm the interests of consumers, but also damage the rights and interests of original corporate brands. At the same time, they also seriously hinder the development of e-commerce platforms. Combating counterfeit and shoddy products on the Internet is of great significance to the development of the real economy. Every link from consumers to the industrial chain can benefit from the improvement of the shopping environment.

Main means that enterprises can take

At present, small and medium-sized enterprises mainly take post-incident measures to deal with counterfeiting, while large enterprises have already nipped in the bud. Therefore, companies can take the following measures to combat counterfeiting of intellectual property rights or to protect brands based on intellectual property protection behaviors.

1. Use platform anti-counterfeiting channels to protect rights

If infringement has occurred, but the behavior and consequences are not serious, and the scale of the suspected infringing company is not too large, the company can take online measures to protect rights. Protect your rights by filing a complaint online. At present, platforms such as Alibaba, JD.com, and Pinduoduo have stepped up their crackdown on infringement and counterfeiting, and have also opened channels for rights holders to carry out anti-counterfeiting on the platforms. Rights holders can themselves or entrust professional institutions to carry out rights protection through these channels. Taking Alibaba as an example, Alibaba's anti-counterfeiting rights protection channel has six steps:

Enterprises can use this channel to request the infringing party to delete the link, thereby achieving the purpose of protecting rights.

In addition, several major e-commerce platforms also have their own integrity complaint mechanisms for rights holders with a large number of complaints. Taking the Alibaba platform as an example, when the complaint deletion rate is ≥90% and the seller’s appeal success rate is ≤5% , when the number of complaints in three months is ≥ 100, you can be automatically upgraded to an honest member and receive benefits such as simplified complaint materials and quick response.

2. Pre-prevention and control, filing information

Enterprises can take certain pre-prevention and control measures, such as cooperating with platforms, filing product information in a timely manner, and using The power of the platform can effectively combat counterfeit goods in advance. Take Op Lighting as an example. In 2019, Op Lighting’s legal department launched the active prevention and control project of joining the Alibaba Anti-Counterfeit Alliance, and registered the scope of Op’s brand rights and information on major infringing brands with the alliance. Alibaba’s e-commerce websites will use these information to Information, when counterfeit merchants put products on the shelves, links that improperly use the OP trademark and sell OP counterfeits will be automatically detected and deleted during the listing review stage.

The effective combination of corporate rights holders and platforms can form an anti-counterfeiting and anti-counterfeiting system to curb counterfeiting in a timely manner.

3. Send a warning letter

If the online complaint is ineffective or lasts too long, the rights holder can also use a warning letter to remind the other party and ask it to stop the infringement. According to Article 36 of the Tort Liability Law of the People's Republic of China, network users and network service providers who use the Internet to infringe on the civil rights and interests of others shall bear tort liability. If an Internet user uses Internet services to commit infringement, the infringed party has the right to notify the Internet service provider to take necessary measures such as deletion, blocking, and disconnection. Therefore, the rights holder can require the e-commerce platform to take relevant necessary measures.

4. File a lawsuit

If the alleged infringement has caused significant losses to the right holder, the right holder can file a lawsuit in court. Before filing a lawsuit, you should proactively and fully prepare evidence of infringement and evidence of your own losses or the other party's gains, so as to prepare for future court proceedings and gain an advantageous position. When necessary, companies can also use criminal prosecution methods.

Summary

In fact, the fight against counterfeiting of intellectual property rights online and offline is not in a state of separation. Online products generally originate offline, and rights holders can also entrust professional institutions to inspect online products. Conduct investigations, track from online to offline, and carry out simultaneous crackdowns on offline infringers.

In practice, some companies mistakenly believe that the "intellectual property anti-counterfeiting" process is single and fixed, so that they use "anti-counterfeiting" as the standard to measure success or failure and ignore other factors. In fact, "anti-counterfeiting" is a process. This process requires strict risk management and control, reasonable staffing, and lawyers, investigators, and intellectual property protection consultants to perform their respective duties to ensure that the company's intellectual property rights protection is carried out legally, orderly, and continuously. How e-commerce platforms deal with counterfeit goods 2

Facing contradictions

Dealing with counterfeit goods is something that all e-commerce companies are doing. Pinduoduo founder Huang Zheng once stated: "I think the platform should resolutely remove any illegal products, not just the products, but also merchants selling illegal products." But for social e-commerce, cracking down on counterfeit goods Facing a more complex situation, the relatively free sales model brings certain difficulties to supervision.

Some media reported that in mid-June, more than a dozen Pinduoduo merchants went to Shanghai Pinduoduo headquarters to defend their rights. Some merchants said that many merchants were forced to freeze payment and close related stores without any warning, and without any reasonable explanation.

Subsequently, Pinduoduo released a situation statement, saying that among the 14 problem merchants gathered at the scene, 7 had sold counterfeit goods, 6 had inconsistent product descriptions, and 1 had made false shipments. The relevant facts have been verified through the platform’s preliminary review and review procedures, and the evidence is confirmed.

Some merchants believe that they have been wronged, but the platform stated that it will never happen to "make profits by fining merchants". The different opinions of both parties highlight Pinduoduo’s management problems in dealing with counterfeit goods. The low barrier to entry and low price strategy in the early stages of the platform made it difficult to manage in the later stages.

In addition to Pinduoduo, other e-commerce platforms based on social relationships are also in a period of rapid development. Different from the order-sharing model, some social e-commerce platforms are using traffic to "bring goods".

A few days ago, Youzan and Kuaishou announced their cooperation to create a "short video e-commerce shopping guide" solution. Kuaishou App will add a new "Kuaishou Store". Each anchor can apply to open a store, and the products in the store can be displayed in the work area. By then, Kuaishou and Youzan accounts will be connected to each other, and Kuaishou users can directly purchase products sold by their favorite anchors.

Xiaohongshu, which entered the “content + social” model earlier than Kuaishou, completed a new round of financing of more than US$300 million on May 31 this year. Celebrities such as Lin Yun, Qi Wei, and Angela Chang have turned into beauty bloggers and shared their presence, which brings traffic advantages to the platform in terms of "planting grass."

This kind of content plus social networking, relying on anchors or bloggers to "plant grass" sales model is much freer than stores and official self-operation. Some bloggers can directly divert users to WeChat to conduct transactions on their own, which undoubtedly makes supervision more difficult.

Collaborative efforts

Combating counterfeit goods depends on the joint efforts of regulators and platform parties. In terms of legislation, the e-commerce industry is about to face new norms.

The third review draft of the E-commerce Law stipulates: If an e-commerce platform operator knows that the goods sold by the operator on the platform infringe on the rights and interests of consumers but fails to take necessary measures, he shall contact the e-commerce platform operator in accordance with the law. Operators within the platform bear joint and several liability.

Yao Jianfang, an analyst at the Legal Rights Department of the E-Commerce Research Center, told Guoshi Express that supervision involves the interests of the platform itself, rather than just punishing sellers, which will make the platform feel more responsible.

Liu Chunquan, deputy director of the Policy and Legal Committee of the China Electronic Commerce Association and partner of Duan & Duan Law Firm, said in an interview with the media that after the management responsibilities of e-commerce platforms are clarified, it will have a considerable impact on the self-evolution of marketization. improvement. E-commerce platforms with weakened and strengthened supervision will also have significantly different levels of activity.

The e-commerce law that is about to undergo its fourth review is expected to make social e-commerce platforms more active in cracking down on counterfeit sales, allowing social platform merchants to sell counterfeit goods at low prices and alleviate the situation of bad coins chasing good ones.

In terms of platform management, Yao Jianfang believes that this is related to the development stage of social e-commerce: “In the early stages of development, the threshold for e-commerce sellers will be lower.

When it reaches a certain stage of development and wants to be a high-quality e-commerce platform, the platform will become more and more strict in selecting merchants, and the crackdown on counterfeit sales will also increase. This is a process of survival of the fittest and the development trend of e-commerce. ”

In addition to governance, it is also very important to unblock consumer rights protection channels. Yao Jianfang said that difficulty in obtaining evidence and poor communication in rights protection channels are the current rights protection dilemmas faced by consumers. In this regard, she suggested that consumers If the platform does nothing and consumers have proof on hand, they can turn to regulatory authorities or public opinion supervision agencies. How e-commerce platforms deal with counterfeit goods 3

What are the industrial and commercial penalties for selling counterfeit goods?

First, seize and confiscate all counterfeit goods, and destroy them centrally;

Second, confiscate the illegal gains from selling counterfeit goods;

Finally, impose penalties for selling counterfeit goods A fine of not less than 50% but not more than three times the value of the goods

Article 50 of my country's "Product Quality Law" stipulates that products are adulterated, passed off as genuine, and passed off as substandard. Good, or who passes off unqualified products as qualified products, shall be ordered to stop production and sales, the illegally produced and sold products shall be confiscated, and a fine of not less than 50% but not more than three times the value of the illegally produced or sold products shall be imposed; Any illegal gains shall be confiscated; if the circumstances are serious, the business license shall be revoked; if a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law.

Will you be jailed if you are caught selling counterfeit goods?

Sellers who sell counterfeit goods are defrauding consumers. Moreover, if consumers buy something they do not want, or are harmed during use, they will report it in order to recover their losses. Sellers. If a seller of counterfeit goods is caught, he may face criminal penalties and go to jail.

First of all, the perpetrator sells counterfeit goods, which is an illegal act and the amount is serious. If the amount is relatively large, you will be subject to criminal liability.

And, according to the specific crime circumstances, you will be subject to the following penalties:

1. If the sales amount is relatively large, that is, the sales amount is If the sales amount exceeds 50,000 yuan, he will be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention, and shall also or solely be fined;

2. If the sales amount is huge, that is, the sales amount is more than 250,000 yuan will be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and a fine.

Secondly, those who sell counterfeit goods and do not reach the above amount will not bear corresponding criminal liability, but will be subject to the following penalties. :

1. Be ordered to stop production and sales;

2. Products illegally produced and sold will be confiscated;

3. Will be punished for illegal production , a fine of not less than 50% but not more than three times the value of the product sold;

4. If there is any illegal income, the illegal income will also be confiscated;

5. Circumstances In serious cases, the business license will be revoked.

Therefore, sellers who sell counterfeit goods do not necessarily have to bear criminal liability. The specific amount must be determined by the industrial and commercial departments in various places. In fact, the inspection and crackdown on counterfeit and shoddy products are still very strong. Once the sale of fake products is discovered, corresponding penalties will inevitably be imposed. The specific industrial and commercial penalty standards for selling counterfeit goods are, in accordance with the provisions of the Product Quality Law, generally an order to stop production and sales, confiscation of illegally produced and sold products, and a fine of 50% of the value of illegally produced and sold products. A fine of not more than three times but not more than three times. However, we must also note that the act of selling fake goods may actually violate the Criminal Law and constitute a crime.