Good Voice is a stage that many grassroots musicians dream of being on. It has been with us for four summers now. In its fifth summer, The Voice failed to sign a new season contract with the Dutch company Talpa due to price issues, and was accused of trademark infringement. What is the specific situation? Let’s find out together. The Voice? was accused of trademark infringement and was sued for RMB 3 million

The audition for the fifth season of "The Voice" was accused of unauthorized use of trademark graphics and images that were almost identical to the registered trademark of The Voice of...? Word. On the 7th, the Dutch Talpa Company, the model party of "The Voice of...", sued Shanghai Dream Qiangyin Company and Beijing Zhengyi Tianxia Company to the court, seeking compensation of 3 million yuan. At present, Chaoyang Court has accepted the case.

Yesterday, a reporter from the Beijing News learned from the producer of The Voice that the cooperation between the two parties broke down due to price issues before the contract renewal for the new season of The Voice.

Talpa Company claimed: ?The Voice of...? (translated as Good Voice?) is a singing competition reality TV program model developed by the company. In October 2010, the company held a press conference in the Netherlands The trademark has been registered. As of now, the company has obtained registration or submitted trademark applications in 70 countries and regions.

Talpa Company stated that the "The Voice" TV program entered the market in 2012, and the company's registered trademark and its brand name "The Voice of..." are well known to the public.

Since October 2015, Dream Qiangyin Company and Zhengyi Tianxia Company, without notifying the company, used a large number of words related to the same in the national city auditions of the fifth season of "The Voice". The company's registered trademark has almost the same graphics and text, and the use of the same symbol (a picture of a hand holding a microphone) as the company's registered trademark infringes on its exclusive trademark rights.

Talpa Company believes that the behavior of the two defendants is the use of the same trademark on the same similar goods and services category, which has constituted trademark infringement. For this reason, the company filed a lawsuit in court, requiring the two defendants to immediately stop trademark infringement, including stopping the use and permission of others to use the same or similar trademarks as the company's registered trademark; and publishing a statement in a prominent position in the "TV News" to eliminate the impact ; Jointly and severally compensated for lawyer fees, notary fees, translation fees and various losses of 3 million yuan. (Beijing News)

What legal liability should one bear for trademark infringement?

As we all know, one should bear certain legal liability for trademark infringement. The above-mentioned Dutch Talpa company filed a claim of 3 million yuan against Good Voice's infringement. In addition to civil liability, when trademark infringement occurs, what other responsibilities do you need to bear? Therefore, for trademark infringement, we have listed the legal responsibilities that need to be borne.

1. Civil liability for trademark infringement

The exclusive right to use a trademark is a civil right, and trademark infringement is also a civil infringement. Due to the implementation of trademark infringement, it affects the legitimate exercise of the exclusive rights of registered trademarks by others and causes economic losses to others. Therefore, in accordance with the principles of civil law, the infringer must bear the responsibility to compensate others for their losses and has the obligation to compensate. The infringed party has the right to demand compensation from the infringer. The significance of establishing this relationship of rights and obligations arising from trademark infringement in trademark law is to protect the exclusive right to trademark. According to the newly revised Articles 53 and 56 of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China and the relevant provisions of the General Principles of the Civil Law, the civil liability for trademark infringement is: to stop the infringement; to compensate for losses; to eliminate the impact, To restore one’s reputation; to apologize. These four ways of bearing civil liability can be used individually or in combination.

When hearing trademark infringement cases, the People's Court, in addition to applying the above provisions, may also admonish, order repentance, confiscate property and illegal gains from illegal infringement activities, impose fines, detention and other penalties.

2. Administrative liability for trademark infringement

Administrative liability refers to the legal consequences that a majestic person must bear if he or she commits illegal acts prohibited by laws, regulations and rules. That means they should be punished by administrative law enforcement agencies. Administrative liability is used for administrative violations that do not constitute a crime. According to the newly revised Article 53 of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China and Article 43 of the Implementing Rules of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, the administrative liability for trademark infringement is as follows: /p>

1. Order to immediately stop infringement;

2. Order to immediately stop sales;

3. Confiscate and destroy infringing goods and those specifically used to manufacture infringing goods. Tools for counterfeiting registered trademark signs;

4. Seize and destroy infringing trademark signs;

5. For infringement of the exclusive rights of registered trademarks that does not constitute a crime, the industrial and commercial administrative organs may In certain cases, a fine of less than 50 yuan in illegal business volume or less than five times the profits obtained from infringement may be imposed; the directly responsible person of the unit that infringes the exclusive right to use a registered trademark may be fined not more than 10,000 yuan.

6. At the request of the parties, the amount of compensation for infringement can be mediated. If mediation fails, the parties can file a lawsuit in the People's Court.

How to calculate the amount of compensation for infringement of the exclusive right to use a trademark? Article 56 of the newly revised Trademark Law clearly stipulates: The amount of compensation for infringement of the exclusive right to use a trademark shall be the amount of compensation due to Benefits gained from infringement. Or the losses suffered by the infringed party due to the infringement during the period of infringement, including reasonable expenses paid by the infringed party to stop the infringement. If the benefits obtained by the infringer due to the infringement as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, or the losses suffered by the infringed party due to the infringement are difficult to determine, the people's court shall award a compensation of not more than 500,000 yuan based on the circumstances of the infringement. ?

3. Criminal liability for trademark infringement that constitutes a crime

Severe trademark infringement constitutes serious harm to society and is of a criminal nature. Due to corresponding criminal liability, Counterfeiting trademarks is a serious form of trademark infringement. If the act of counterfeiting a trademark constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be investigated by the judicial authorities. The crime of counterfeiting trademarks has the following characteristics:

1. The subjects of the crime of counterfeiting trademarks are natural foreigners, individual industrial and commercial households, various enterprises, institutions, and foreign enterprises who have reached the legal age of responsibility and have the ability to act. .

2. The objects of the crime of counterfeiting trademarks are the trademark exclusive rights of registered trademark owners and the country’s normal trademark management order.

3. The subjective aspect of the crime of counterfeiting trademarks is that the perpetrator must be intentional. Different purposes and motives do not affect the constitution of the crime, but negligence does not constitute a crime.

4. The objective aspect of the crime of counterfeiting trademarks is that the perpetrator has committed the act of counterfeiting trademarks.

The above four characteristics must be present at the same time, and the specific behavior must meet the judicial authorities' filing standards for the crime of counterfeiting trademarks, in order to constitute the crime of trademark counterfeiting. According to the newly revised Criminal Procedure Law, the public security organs are responsible for the investigation of crimes of counterfeiting trademarks.

How to identify the crime of counterfeiting trademarks and impose criminal sanctions has been stipulated three times in our country's criminal laws. These legal provisions are the "Criminal Law" (1979), "The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Punishing Counterfeiting" Supplementary Provisions on the Crime of Registered Trademarks" (1993), and the newly revised "Criminal Law" (1997).

4. There are five specific crimes of counterfeiting trademarks:

1. The crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks;

2. The crime of selling counterfeit registered trademarks;

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3. The crime of counterfeiting or making without authorization the registered trademark signs of others;

4. The crime of selling counterfeit or making without authorization the registered trademark signs;

5. The use of goods by state personnel The crime of covering up counterfeit registered trademarks while in office.

5. There are three types of criminal sanctions for the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks:

1. A prison sentence of not more than three years or criminal detention, which may be imposed concurrently or solely with a fine.

2. The offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and shall also be fined.

3. If an enterprise or institution commits the crime of counterfeiting someone else's registered trademark, in addition to the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel who can be sanctioned in accordance with the above 1 and 2, the enterprise or unit may be fined.

In today's era of increasing emphasis on intellectual property rights, trademark infringement requires paying a higher price, especially for trademarks that are well-known across the country, and their legal liabilities will also change. big.

The Voice is one of the most popular variety shows in my country. We also hope that its legal team can successfully resolve this trademark infringement incident so that we can continue to listen to The Voice this summer. Trademark infringement