The word "shanzhai" comes from Cantonese, which means "small, small-scale" or even a bit of "underground factory". Its main characteristics are imitation, rapidity and civilianization. Over the years, intellectual property infringement incidents in Foshan's ceramic industry have emerged one after another, and they are still rampant in 2021. Many leading companies have encountered a considerable number of "copycats".
Huang Jianping, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Weimei Group, said in an interview with the media that in the field of intellectual property rights, Weimei Group handles more than 300 cases of anti-counterfeiting through judicial litigation every year, and the amount of litigation cases in the past three years has involved more than 68 million yuan. Yuan.
"Ceramic Information" learned from public channels that in 2021, well-known brands such as Marco Polo, Mona Lisa, Jane, and Champion will crack down on counterfeiting, giving great punishment and deterrence to "copycats", infringements, and counterfeiting.
Combating counterfeiting and infringement
Many well-known brands "attack hard"
On August 25, the Champion Tile Anti-Counterfeiting Team assisted the administrative law enforcement department in seizing a batch of fake "Champion" tile products in Wujiang, Suzhou. The law enforcement department conducted an administrative seizure on site, which attracted industry attention.
In fact, this is the second time that Champion Tile has cracked down on counterfeiting in the past two months. On June 29, the Champion Anti-Counterfeiting Team assisted the administrative law enforcement department in Quzhou, Zhejiang to seize a batch of "Champion Ecological Stones" at a construction site. Infringing products.
In early 2021, during an on-site visit to Hangzhou, Marco Polo anti-counterfeiting personnel discovered a batch of products marked with "Marco Polo", "Mokc Polo" and "MAKEBOLUO" in a building materials warehouse in Xihu District, Hangzhou.
On March 1, Hangzhou Xihu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau conducted an on-site seizure based on the reported materials, and seized 118 infringing products suspected of infringing the "Marco Polo" trademark rights.
In April this year, the case of Mona Lisa Group Co., Ltd. against Guangdong Chaoshidai Slate Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Liu for trademark infringement and unfair competition came to a successful conclusion. This trademark infringement and unfair competition case took more than a year.Mona Lisa Company won the lawsuit and was awarded a compensation of 3.2 million yuan. The court fully supported Mona Lisa Company’s claims.
After the second instance of the Intermediate People’s Court of Foshan City, Guangdong Province, (2020) Guangdong 06 Civil Final No. 9962 Final Judgment, Guangdong Chaoshidai Slate Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Liu jointly and severally compensated Mona Lisa Company for economic losses and reasonable Spend 3.2 million yuan to immediately stop infringing the exclusive rights of Mona Lisa Group Co., Ltd.'s registered trademark "Chao Shi Dai" and using the "Chao Shi Dai" font in its corporate name, and require it to report to the administrative department for corporate name registration Apply to change the company name.
▲Guangdong Chaoshidai Slate Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) infringement items box.
▲Mona Lisa Company Super Stone Slate Exhibition Hall.
Also in April this year, Qingyuan Shenghua Building Ceramics Co., Ltd. and Foshan Shenghua Ceramics Co., Ltd. received reports, and after investigation, it was found that there were illegal operators who were producing and selling counterfeit and shoddy brand products, seriously damaging the majority of users. interests, so the department and relevant departments deployed anti-counterfeiting operations and authorized the department’s legal counsel to issue a statement.
On June 15 this year, Delifeng Smart Home issued a statement that some merchants or individuals were selling "Delifeng" brand slate products from unknown sources on online sales platforms such as Taobao and Tmall, and solemnly stated that they had never Authorize any merchant or individual to sell "Delifeng" brand slate products in any form on online sales platforms such as Taobao and Tmall.
In April, Zhejiang Province's "Fuyang Daily" reported that in August last year, the Fuyang District Market Supervision Bureau discovered that a merchant's bathroom products were engraved with the word "ARRCVV", which was consistent with the trademark "ARROW" held by Arrow Home Group Co., Ltd. Highly approximate. Law enforcement officers punished the parties involved and seized more than 100 counterfeit bathroom products on the spot, with a value of nearly 50,000 yuan.
On June 17, Eagle Sanitary Ware issued a statement through its public account, saying that the company had recently discovered illegal activities.Merchants illegally sell counterfeit "Eagle Sanitary Ware" brand registered trademarks and ceramic products without brand qualifications offline, seriously damaging the goodwill of Eagle Sanitary Ware and the rights and interests of dealers and consumers. After follow-up investigation, the police successfully tracked down the illegal vendors’ mobile phone chat records and payment data and seized on-site a total of 400 sets of counterfeit Eagle sanitary ware products from Chaozhou City’s “Fuzhong Industrial Zone, Guxiang Town, Chao’an District”.
On April 13 this year, the WeChat public account of Jianyi Group issued a "Notice on Anti-Counterfeiting and Rights Protection" and successfully defended the rights of three owners in Anyang, Henan, Yingzhou District, Fuyang, Anhui, and Nanhai, Foshan, helping the owners recover their economic losses.
In April this year, the Jianyi Group received a request for help from Mr. Zhou, the owner of Vanke Four Seasons Flower City in Nanhai District, Foshan, saying that it had purchased a batch of counterfeit Jianyi marble tiles from the Internet and hoped to help with identification and rights protection. After receiving the request for help, Jian Yi immediately sent staff to the construction site to identify the batch of products. Through the identification, it was determined that the ceramic tiles purchased by Mr. Zhou were counterfeit and shoddy products. The product also carried the GANI trademark, which was an infringement. It was subsequently reported The industrial and commercial department filed the case.
Pervasive “shanzhai”
Knock one to death, and another will appear
In recent years, the ceramic industry has been constantly cracking down on counterfeiting, but the crackdown on copycats continues—an authoritative personage described it this way, “It’s like playing whack-a-mole, and you just knock one to death.” , and soon another one appeared. ”
Some people in the industry said that "copycats" in the ceramic industry are pervasive. Which brands and styles are best-selling on the market? It won't be long before "copycats" appear, and the prices are very exciting. Consumers will not care. Be careful, it is easy to be fooled.
At the same time, with the rapid rise of Internet channels, the overwhelming number of fake products on the Internet has not only made it difficult for consumers to distinguish between genuine and fake products, making it impossible to guard against them, it has also caused many well-known brands to be shot and their reputations damaged.
Maximum compensation of 5 million yuan
The new Patent Law increases compensation for infringement
"Copycats" are rampant in the ceramic industry. In the final analysis, illegal counterfeiting has lower costs and huge profits, so many lawless elements take the risk.
According to media reports, it only takes more than one minute for a "three-no toilet" to transform into a well-known brand of bathroom ware. You can laser engrave any brand you want. Because the products cut corners and use cheap and inferior materials, Assembled with accessories, the retail price is very low.
"Ceramic Information" is summarized through public channels on the Internet. Under normal circumstances, infringement and counterfeiting incidents mainly fall into the following categories:
1. Take advantage of brands that consumers don’t understand, play “word games” on well-known brands, and use homophones of well-known brands; or add one or two more words to the Chinese trademark of a well-known brand; change the English trademark to another letter, Graphic trademarks are similar to logos, and many product packaging and advertising terms are "high imitation versions".
2. Use ceramic tile brand trademarks on bathroom products. Bathroom trademarks are used as ceramic tile trademarks, such as Mona Lisa Bathroom and Marco Polo Bathroom.
3. Product design, innovation planning, technology and advertising slogans are directly copied. Many companies have launched new products after painstaking research and development for a period of time. As soon as they open the market, the same products will soon appear. Even the product packaging and promotional brochures are copied from the original versions.
4. There is no strict distinction between high-quality products, first-class products, and qualified products. First-class products or qualified products are passed off as high-quality products, inferior products are passed off as good, and inferior products are passed off as high-quality products.
However, there is also exciting news. Starting from June 1, 2021, the revised Patent Law will be officially implemented. The Patent Law has been implemented since 1985 and has been revised three times. This revision is the fourth revision. This revision further improves the design protection system and increases the amount of compensation for patent infringement, making my country's patent law better In line with international standards.
Maximum compensation of NT$5 million
The new Patent Law increases compensation for infringement
"Copycats" are rampant in the ceramic industry. In the final analysis, illegal counterfeiting has lower costs and huge profits, so many lawless elements take the risk.
According to media reports, it only takes more than one minute for a "three-no toilet" to transform into a well-known brand of bathroom ware. You can laser engrave any brand you want. Because the products cut corners and use cheap and inferior materials, matchAssembled in parts, the retail price is very low.
"Ceramic Information" is summarized through public channels on the Internet. Under normal circumstances, infringement and counterfeiting incidents mainly fall into the following categories:
1. Take advantage of brands that consumers don’t understand, play “word games” on well-known brands, and use homophones of well-known brands; or add one or two more words to the Chinese trademark of a well-known brand; change the English trademark to another letter, Graphic trademarks are similar to logos, and many product packaging and advertising terms are "high imitation versions".
2. Use ceramic tile brand trademarks on bathroom products. Bathroom trademarks are used as ceramic tile trademarks, such as Mona Lisa Bathroom and Marco Polo Bathroom.
3. Product design, innovation planning, technology and advertising slogans are directly copied. Many companies have launched new products after painstaking research and development for a period of time. As soon as they open the market, the same products will soon appear. Even the product packaging and promotional brochures are copied from the original versions.
4. There is no strict distinction between high-quality products, first-class products, and qualified products. First-class products or qualified products are passed off as high-quality products, inferior products are passed off as good, and inferior products are passed off as high-quality products.
However, there is also exciting news. Starting from June 1, 2021, the revised Patent Law will be officially implemented. The Patent Law has been implemented since 1985 and has been revised three times. This revision is the fourth revision. This revision further improves the design protection system and increases the amount of compensation for patent infringement, making my country's patent law better In line with international standards.
Among them, the new Patent Law increases compensation for patent infringement, synchronizing with the 2019 revision of the Trademark Law for malicious infringement of trademark rights, changing the 1-3 times compensation to 1-5 times. Compensation, the statutory amount of compensation has been adjusted from "more than 10,000 yuan but not more than 1 million yuan" to "more than 30,000 yuan but not more than 5 million yuan", which greatly increases the scope of the court's discretion to determine the amount of compensation. At the same time, the term of design patent rights has been extended to fifteen years, and partial design patent protection has been granted.
(Article reproduced from Ceramic Information)
