There is no accurate definition in the world, and the definitions given by Britain, France and Germany are not consistent. In the documents on trade intellectual property protection, the World Trade Organization focuses on trademark, copyright and patent infringement. In fact, the scope of counterfeiting is much wider. Some people in the world have given a more acceptable definition of counterfeiting: counterfeiting refers to imitating the appearance of a product very realistically, so that consumers and users mistakenly think that the product is their product, and copying and selling products protected by intellectual property rights without authorization, permission (or recognition). The object of copying is usually the trademark, packaging, label or other important characteristics of goods.
In the first paragraph of Article 1 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of the World Trade Organization, there is such a passage: "A contracting party may provide in its domestic laws broader protection than that required by this agreement, as long as such protection does not violate the provisions of this agreement, but it is not obliged to do so."
The meaning of this passage is that the objects protected by intellectual property rights are not limited to trademarks, patents, copyrights, etc. Countries can determine what needs to be protected according to their own needs, such as other important features related to commodity marks, and can also protect them according to their needs. These important features include naming the country of origin, quality identification such as label, certification and production license, and factory name and address. The frequent areas that provide financial resources for other criminal gangs and make and sell fakes for a long time often have underworld backgrounds, and cadres are seriously corrupt, which poisons the social environment.
generally speaking, fake and shoddy goods only account for a small part of the total social goods, but if the momentum of their development and spread is not contained, it will cause disasters to the country and the people. Therefore, cracking down on the manufacture and sale of fake and shoddy goods is not only an economic issue, but also a serious social and political issue. If fake and shoddy goods are left unchecked, there will be no hope for the country.
It can be said that today, national famous brand enterprises have been forced to the critical moment of life and death by counterfeiting. In the era of brand economy, the number of well-known and famous trademarks reflects the economic strength of a country or a region. Creating and protecting famous brands has become the driving force for the economic development of a country or a region. China's national brands are still very immature and fragile in the face of WTO, the global economic system and many international famous brands. If the national legislation and administrative law enforcement departments can't give priority protection from policies and legislation as soon as possible, and fundamentally curb the illegal and criminal activities of manufacturing and selling fake and shoddy products, then tomorrow will endanger the survival of China's national industry.
1 Trademark infringement is the main form of counterfeiting. Almost without exception, these counterfeiting enterprises or owners rush to register trademarks that are the same as or similar to well-known and famous trademarks. When they are investigated by law enforcement officers, they use the acceptance certificate of trademark agency to prevaricate, which makes the anti-counterfeiting work abandoned halfway because it is difficult to identify the infringement (in Guangdong, Sony and anti-counterfeiting law enforcement departments are in an extremely embarrassing situation because of the successful rush to register trademarks similar to Sony). Counterfeits that are difficult to distinguish between trademarks and packaging and decoration are also found from time to time, but it is more difficult to find dens. The state has promulgated many laws and regulations on counterfeiting, but the definition of counterfeiting is still vague, the provisions are too principled and lack of operability, and there are many loopholes for offenders to evade sanctions. This brings great difficulties to administrative law enforcement and judicial personnel's law enforcement on the one hand, and on the other hand, because of the broad nature and discretion, it gives some law enforcement personnel too many reasons for "inaction according to law" (in essence, bending the law). What kind of illegal crime is it to manufacture and sell fake and shoddy products? What is the difference between its social harm and murder for money? How should the law punish such illegal crimes? Does the law enforcement in a legal society deal with contradictions among the people or between ourselves and the enemy?
2. Law enforcement officers are not afraid to complain against enterprises, because law enforcement departments are in charge of both market access and market supervision, and famous enterprises operate in the sun, but they don't look up. However, law enforcement officers are afraid that the fake companies will sue, even if they are definitely not losing the lawsuit, they will worry that the normal work order will be messed up. Many punished lawbreakers pay no attention to law enforcement departments, and law enforcers are often helpless; After more illegal elements are punished, they will act immediately to make up for the loss of confiscation by manufacturing and selling more fake and shoddy products. The current law's punishment for counterfeiting and selling fakes is not enough to produce warning and prohibition effects.
3. Law enforcement departments are restricted by administrative law enforcement procedures, and it is actually very difficult to obtain evidence on the spot, not to mention the intensity of counterfeiting. The complainant is not qualified to enter the fake scene. Can the complainant rest assured? Many fake finished product packages can be exempted from inspection because they are "unrecognizable" or "not suspected of infringement". Some even have to be identified, and the complainant just ate the reassurance of "Don't worry, it's all sealed for us". Unexpectedly, the fake products will be shipped out in a car in the dead of night, and only the "rat" and "cat" involved are well aware of this.
4. Some law enforcement departments do not accept the compensation claims of the infringed enterprises, that is, they have accepted them. There is no basis for bargaining the compensation amount according to law, and there is no seriousness of punishment, sanctions and so-called compensation. At the end of last year, the alliance had drawn up a joint judicial procedure for industries to engage in a number of influential collective claims for intellectual property rights, and achieved decisive results in cracking down on "Huadu Machine". However, it turns out that the key is that it is extremely difficult to obtain evidence, and the fundamental thing is that there are still many helplessness in the law. We are worried that the amount of compensation decided by the court is not enough to deal a heavy blow to counterfeiters, and the amount of compensation cannot be put in place, which eventually leads to enterprises spending a lot of energy and financial resources, but counterfeiters are madly making fakes, and the effect is counterproductive. There are too many similar lessons!
5. When an enterprise submits a complaint document, should the law enforcement department give a clear answer on whether to investigate or not, when to investigate, and what is the result of the investigation? Some law enforcement departments have a lot of complaints about the complainant's "penalty decision", so they can only read it and not let it be copied, on the grounds that they have "taken what you want to sue me". There is no evidence for the complainant to go to court to sue the counterfeiters.
6. Most of the counterfeit products investigated don't have the real factory name and address, which not only leads to trademark infringement, but also seriously violates the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and the Product Quality Law. However, some law enforcement officers often evade the important or seal it up on the spot, which is useless. Or just destroy the packaging and return the products (infringement can't be stripped off), and even ask the complainant to buy the confiscated products. Others are said to be still of use value and should be auctioned. So, some of them returned to the sellers, and the confiscated fake and shoddy DVD players were finally sold to consumers. It should be said that pirated CDs also have use value, which will not make consumers feel cheated like many counterfeit products, and there are also problems such as security risks and service life. But why do these pirated CDs always have to be destroyed and never auctioned? !
7. The members of our anti-counterfeiting alliance (famous enterprise anti-counterfeiting and rights protection cooperation network) are all well-known enterprises, and their infringed trademarks are well-known as well as well. To this end, our alliance submitted a joint complaint report to the law enforcement department of the source of fraud in Guangdong. However, the local law enforcement department only investigated and dealt with the infringement of the complaining enterprise on the spot. Some law enforcement officers turn a blind eye to other infringing and counterfeit products found at the scene, whether they are infringing well-known trademarks or key protected trademarks. If the complainant present informs other infringed persons to be present, these administrative law enforcement officers also scold you for meddling. Therefore, the members of the anti-counterfeiting alliance have to rush to the scene as soon as possible, but the complainant will be driven away when no infringing products are found on the scene. 1. There are many laws related to counterfeiting in China, and there are also many departments that implement these laws, each acting in its own way. Take the industrial and commercial administration as an example: the inspection department is generally responsible for counterfeiting, and there are also some full-time counterfeiters, but its superior business guidance department, the Fair Trade Bureau, implements the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, while infringement and counterfeiting involves the Trademark Law. There are few people in the grassroots trademark department, and many of them do not handle cases at all; This joint anti-counterfeiting is guided by the consumer protection department, and the law on the protection of consumer rights and interests is implemented, and the grassroots handling power is even weaker. Peer enterprises are competitors in the positive market, so they should unite in counterfeiting. It is the manufacturers and sellers who bind the famous brand enterprises together. Joint efforts can attract the attention and support of the government, society and the public, increase the intensity of counterfeiting, and reduce the anti-counterfeiting costs of law enforcement departments and enterprises, but some law enforcement officers are very reluctant; The State Council organized various departments to jointly crack down on counterfeiting, requiring media publicity and supervision by public opinion. Some law enforcement officers do not welcome others to be present, but prefer to fight against counterfeiters alone. Is it suspected that it is convenient to operate in a black box?
2. The grass-roots unit of law enforcement is the industrial and commercial office, which is responsible for both market access and market supervision, with one party in power. In the primary stage of market economy, the manufacture and sale of fake and shoddy products represent vested interests in all aspects, and it is difficult for us to blame them for their perfection, so how much hope can we place on their strict law enforcement? In the storage and transportation yard of a famous fake electrical appliance market in Guangzhou, the signboard of "Market Branch of XXX Industrial and Commercial Bureau" is hung high. Every time it passes, it is particularly eye-catching. Look at the scale of fake sales in that market. I wonder if there are any administrative law enforcement personnel in this market branch. Why are fake factories in Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shijiazhuang, Linyi, Hangzhou and Yiwu, especially in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, flooded for a long time? How do local grass-roots law enforcement departments usually grasp market access and how do they supervise it? "Local protection" has become a beautiful amulet. Therefore, the complainant had to avoid the grass-roots law enforcement departments and try to find a higher-level law enforcement department. The experience of counterfeiting tells us that the more you go to the grass-roots level, the more inexplicable "accidents" will occur.
3. Any law enforcement department that fails to crack down on counterfeiting is bound to be unfair at ordinary times, lax in supervision, indifferent to the phenomenon of counterfeiting and selling fakes, and the direct management personnel have corruption problems. In September last year, our alliance asked the quality supervision department to crack down on counterfeiting in a city in Central China. They asked the top leader of the provincial bureau to fight after being present on the grounds that they had been besieged for three times for cracking down on counterfeiting, and even some law enforcement officers were injured. When the top leader of the provincial bureau really came to the scene, many cadres persuaded: "Don't go too far, enough is enough, after all, it is a contradiction among the people" and so on. What we know is that there was a billboard of "Products Recommended by Hengyang Municipal Bureau of Technical Supervision" in a prominent position in this market. There was no national famous brand on the list, but there were many fake brands, for the simple reason that they could be bought with money. However, when the local dealers of our alliance members complained to the management department of the bureau stationed in the market and asked for counterfeiting, they actually refused to accept it. 3. Local protection and interest groups are hotbeds for making and selling fake goods. Assessing the achievements of local government chief executives with economic indicators such as fiscal revenue and gross national product will inevitably breed local protectionism that ignores legal dignity and national interests.
in order to complete the primitive accumulation of local economy, the chief executives and law enforcement departments in some places secretly support smuggling, counterfeiting and selling fakes, which has become a hotbed of gray economy. Of course, the local economy will also show a certain prosperity for a while. This demonstration effect has inspired other regions to follow suit. In this situation, it is difficult for an official to rely on the fair mechanism and the principle of sustainable development to achieve local economic development. As the local leaders said, the economic pillar of a district (formerly a county-level city) in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province is mainly based on the small-scale production of individual and private electrical appliances. In a sense, the local economy is essentially a gray economy. Officials of Guangdong Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision once pointed out that the leaders and government functional departments in this area have problems in guiding ideology, which is the reality of local protection on the grounds of developing local economic pillars (conversation when receiving complaints from our alliance). When the central media exposed it in the case of real evidence (CCTV Oriental Time and Space in December 1999, etc.), the relevant government departments in the area not only published articles to distort the facts, but also organized counterfeiters to take photos with their right hands under the signboard of the private enterprise association in the city and published photos everywhere (Science and Technology Daily in December 1999). In its commitment letter to the 21st century, there are still quite a few contents of infringement and counterfeiting of others' trademark rights (Science and Technology Daily); The legitimate enterprise advertised at the press conference hosted by the local government is actually the largest local counterfeiting enterprise; The qualified enterprises announced to reporters at the press conference were still producing and selling infringing products the next day (CCTV legal report, Guangdong Satellite TV and Guangzhou TV news in January 2).
after the problems in this area were exposed and investigated, many new similar infringing enterprises were still approved for registration in the surrounding areas, and their arrogance was almost lawless. In 2, two deputy mayors in charge of the economy were punished by law for economic crimes (Guangdong local newspaper in 2). However, the illegal economy supported by the local government and the interest groups formed by it have not been investigated more extensively and deeply. Most of the large-scale bazaars dominated by individual and private enterprises have the background of government investment. In order to recover the investment as soon as possible, some local governments even give ordinary civil servants the task index of attracting investment. In this situation, market access and supervision have become a form, coupled with the implementation of the tax system, mainly cash transactions, these markets have become paradise for smuggling, counterfeiting, trademark infringement, money laundering, tax evasion and other illegal crimes. What is strange? !
Counterfeiting has become the most inefficient and inefficient work in all enterprises. The process of counterfeiting is like a "cat-and-mouse game", which enterprises cannot afford. Enterprise counterfeiters are the messengers who suffer indignities both inside and outside, and they are the most insecure and anxious occupations. It is no wonder that some members of the alliance have given up the anti-counterfeiting work. They think that it is too much for enterprises to fight against counterfeiting.