Although "315" has ended, everyone's attention to the heat of safeguarding consumer rights and interests is still high, accompanied by various discussions on safeguarding consumer rights and interests, but obviously relying on the exposure of "315" alone, there is no way to completely crack down on illegal counterfeiting. Therefore, on the one hand, it is necessary for the public to improve their legal awareness, and on the other hand, it is also hoped to learn from some specific measures to protect intellectual property rights. Today, the Intellectual Property Legal Service Department of Yunnan Dianjin Law Firm took the recent top "ice pier" as an example to introduce the reference significance of "playing gopher" rights protection to intellectual property protection.
01
The "gopher-like" rights protection of the "ice pier"
When it comes to "fighting gopher" rights protection, the most classic example is actually not the ice pier, but the more familiar "rights protection demon" Disney, how much does Disney attach importance to its own IP? Some netizens joked, "If you live on a desert island and paint Mickey Mouse on the island for help, Disney's legal department will definitely cross thousands of mountains and rivers to find you to defend your rights."
Speaking of our protagonist ice pier, with the 24th Winter Olympics held in Beijing, it will also bring the beautiful winter Olympic mascot ice pier to everyone, the cute image instantly captured everyone's heart, but because the heat is too high, it also led to the surrounding products of the ice pier "a pier is difficult to find", in the face of the market demand that is in short supply, some merchants have also begun to pay attention to the "top stream".
"Ice Pier" blind box
On March 15, law enforcement officers at the Jianzhong Street Market Supervision Office of the Market Supervision Bureau of Erqi District, Zhengzhou City, during the "3.15" publicity campaign, found that someone in the Longhai Road 3519 Market was selling small toys for the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot "Ice Pier".
Because the two dealers investigated and punished could not provide the authorization documents for the sale of Olymp logo-related goods and the proof of legal origin, they sold the goods related to the mascot of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games without authorization. This kind of behavior has been suspected of violating the second paragraph of article 4 of the Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols, "No one may use the Olympic Symbols for commercial purposes without the permission of the right holder of the Olympic Symbols", and the law enforcement personnel have seized 17 boxes of dolls, 118 blind boxes and more than 200 keychains suspected of selling infringement on the spot in accordance with the law, and filed a case against the infringers in accordance with the Regulations on the Protection of the Olympic Symbols.
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"Ice Pier" keychain
On February 21, the Nanhai Comprehensive Law Enforcement Detachment of the Foshan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports, based on the clues of the report, jointly investigated and punished the illegal act of a technology company in the Nanhai District of the Nanhai District of selling infringing copies of "ice piers" online.
After investigation, the party Liang Mou confessed that in early February, he found that many netizens were enthusiastically pursuing the "ice pier", and had a plan, purchased a batch of "ice pier" keychains at a unit price of 35 yuan on a certain platform, and publicized it through online platforms such as WeChat circle of friends, and sold it at a unit price of 45 yuan for profit. When law enforcement officers searched Liang's company and warehouse, Liang contacted others through his mobile phone to transfer the infringing goods hidden in the express delivery outlets, and the result was reported by the enthusiastic masses. Subsequently, the law enforcement personnel collected evidence and sealed the seized infringing items, and conducted an overnight investigation and interrogation of Liang Mou in accordance with the law to further verify the illegal situation.
Because the company failed to provide the relevant authorization documents and legal source certificates of the above-mentioned keychains, the South China Sea Comprehensive Law Enforcement Detachment filed a case against the company's legal representative in accordance with the law, and the case is being further processed. At the same time, the South China Sea Comprehensive Law Enforcement Detachment reported the relevant clues of the provider of the infringing products involved in the case to the higher authorities, and the territorial copyright departments jointly cracked down on the infringement that violated the Copyright Law.
According to the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, the law enforcement department may impose a penalty of confiscating the illegal gains, confiscating and harmlessly destroying the infringing copies, and imposing a fine of up to 250,000 yuan.
"Ice Pier" cake
On the afternoon of February 9, the Shantou Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau carried out special inspections in key commercial business sites such as mixc city and Suning Plaza in the urban area. At a dessert shop in the MixC, law enforcement officers found that the dessert sold by the store called "Strawberry Snow Mountain Cake" was printed with the Olympic five-ring logo, and the shape of the dessert was suspected of infringing the design rights of the mascot of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, "Ice Pier".
After on-site investigation and verification by law enforcement personnel, the dessert made by the dessert shop has not obtained the relevant authorization of the Olympic symbol, and the dessert has been sold recently, according to the "Interim Provisions on Administrative Punishment Procedures for Market Supervision and Management", the law enforcement personnel sampled and collected evidence from the infringing dessert, and ordered the dessert shop to immediately remove the shelves and stop selling the dessert. At present, the case is being further processed.
The legal issues involved in the fake "ice pier"
If we want to know why the fake "ice pier" infringes, then we must first know what rights the "ice pier" has. First of all, all the rights of the "ice pier" belong to the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, which enjoys the copyright, the exclusive right to use the registered trademark and the design patent right of the image of the "ice pier" in accordance with the law. The Chinese and English names of "ice piers" also enjoy the exclusive right to use registered trademarks in accordance with the law.
Fake "ice piers" infringe copyright
The image of "ice pier" has been registered by the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, so the development, dissemination, and sale of products similar to the image of "ice pier" are all acts of copyright infringement.
If you make an "ice pier" meme and add your own small ideas, it is also a copyright infringement. According to the provisions of the Mainland Copyright Law, whoever distorts or tampers with another person's work shall bear civil liability such as stopping the infringement, eliminating the impact, apologizing, and compensating for losses according to the circumstances.
Fake "ice piers" infringe on design patents
After the completion of the image design of the "ice pier", the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee submitted relevant design patent applications such as stickers, signage, and graphical user interfaces (GUI) to the State Intellectual Property Bureau.
There are two criteria for determining the infringement of design patent rights, exactly the same and basically the same, and the exact same should belong to the high imitation "ice pier". Basically the same as the above mentioned "ugly pier" without ice shell, and the image of "ice pier" is basically similar, it belongs to the basic same.
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The use of "ice piers" infringes the exclusive right to use trademarks
Since the fake "ice pier" infringes both copyright and design patent rights, some people may think of the method of "hanging sheep's head and selling dog meat" and sell other products under the name of "ice pier".
Sorry, this will infringe the exclusive right to use the trademark of "Ice Pier", because the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee has registered the Chinese name of "Ice Pier" and the English name of Bing Dwen Dwen.
The above three are the main types of infringement of the intellectual property rights of the "ice pier", if someone puts the pirated peripheral of the "ice pier" on the online sales, it will violate the "People's Republic of China E-commerce Law", and those who do not counterfeit but only sell will also be severely cracked down.
In accordance with the requirements of the Host City Contract signed between the IOC and the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee will transfer to the IOC all intellectual property rights involved in the "ice pier", including the exclusive right to the Olympic symbol, by December 31, 2022.
The experience of "fighting gophers" in defending rights
Through the interpretation of the above several cases and related legal issues, we can clearly see that the "ice pier" counterfeiting has entered the "gopher" mode, and as soon as it emerges, law enforcement personnel will immediately take action to kill the counterfeiting in the cradle. If the anti-counterfeiting can adopt the "gopher-style" counterfeiting mode of "ice pier", it is not divided into 3.15 or 365, whether it is online or offline. Then counterfeit goods in the Chinese market will be greatly reduced, and the rights and interests of those who own the intellectual property rights of the products will be protected to the greatest extent. Below, let's learn from the experience of "playing gophers" of "ice piers" to protect rights!
The protection is done well, and it is not difficult to crack down on counterfeiting
As soon as the image of the "ice pier" came out, the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee fully protected it, first of all, the 45 applications for the registration of the trademark in all categories, followed by the application for the design patent application for the image of the "ice pier", and finally the registration of the art works of the image of the "ice pier".
Only after comprehensive protection is done, defenders and law enforcers can have full confidence to attack with all their might, quickly lock in counterfeit goods, and quickly file a case for review.
Consumers are diligent and law enforcers are powerful
The "gopher" type of counterfeiting mainly relies on consumer reports and active rights protection. Consumers are the first-time contact with counterfeit goods and the main victims. They have the right to defend their legitimate rights and interests, but sometimes, they will also feel troublesome and swallow their anger.
If all consumers choose to defend their rights as soon as they come into contact with counterfeit goods, then counterfeiting will be the first to be struck. Of course, this also requires the action of law enforcers.
Therefore, as long as consumers and law enforcers form a joint force in society and actively crack down on counterfeiting and safeguard their rights, there will be no way to sell counterfeits and counterfeits.
The severity of the punishment that makes counterfeiters tremble
A few days after the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Beijing quickly investigated, prosecuted, and quickly sentenced a case of manufacturing and selling pirated "ice pier" dolls, and the counterfeiters were sentenced to one year in prison and fined 40,000 yuan, which also became the first criminal case in the country to infringe the copyright of the image of the Beijing Winter Olympic mascot.
The manufacture and sale of counterfeit goods not only faces high fines and fines, but also may lead to prison. This is enough to make the outlaws tremble.
The top stream "ice piers" are not only covered with rock sugar shells, but also wear intellectual property protection covers. Strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games is a microcosm of the Chinese government's comprehensive strengthening of intellectual property protection. The "gopher-style" way of safeguarding rights will have a profound impact on further enriching and improving China's intellectual property protection system, forming a policy orientation to severely crack down on infringements, and enhancing the awareness of the whole society to strengthen intellectual property protection. Yunnan Dianjin Law Firm also hopes to use its profession to contribute to the popularization of intellectual property-related legal knowledge and promote the protection of intellectual property rights and the stable development of social economy.