Recently, a video of "shopping for shampoo online, but unexpectedly receiving 'Pan Piaofeisi'" in Changsha, Hunan Province, has aroused heated discussion. Netizens have liked and commented: "Secretly out of the three joint models?" The essence of the brand in one?". On May 8, Mr. He, the video shooter, told the media that the shampoo was bought by his mother-in-law after watching a pop-up advertisement on an e-commerce platform, and after they received it, they found that it might be a copycat.
In fact, in recent years, the home appliance industry also has such an embarrassing phenomenon: counterfeit products emerge in an endless stream, and the phenomenon of "famous brands" exists in large quantities. Including Haier, Midea, Hisense, Gree, Fangtai, Boss, as well as Sony, Panasonic, Samsung and other well-known Chinese and foreign brands almost all have been copied phenomenon. For example, the "famous brand" home appliances that are often seen on the e-commerce platform can really be confused at a glance. "Little Goose" washing machine, "whitening spoon" electric fan, "Joyong" soy milk machine, "Hoier" electric pressure cooker, "iHisonse" TV, etc. These home appliance brands are difficult to distinguish if you do not look carefully, often making the "recruited" consumers cry and laugh.
For cottage home appliance manufacturers, because it does not involve the cost of technology, standards, patents, brands, etc., although the profitability is far less than that of brand home appliances, the low cost increases the profit space. And these cottage home appliance brands are mainly sold in e-commerce platforms, electronic stores and building materials markets. Some insiders revealed that according to the current trillion-level scale of China's home appliance market, the market value of cottage home appliances may be far more than 10 billion yuan.
Someone has calculated that with 300 yuan, you can copy a brand-name kitchen and bathroom appliance from a small foundry, and then take it to the e-commerce platform or the third- and fourth-tier cities to sell, you can sell to 1200 yuan or even higher, the gross profit margin can be said to have reached 400%. It is no wonder that the copycats have repeatedly ignored the law and taken risks to carry out the act of copycating.
However, once consumers buy these cottage home appliances, it is not only difficult to be guaranteed in terms of quality and after-sales, but also serious safety accidents may be caused and endanger the personal safety of consumers. At this year's 315 party, it was exposed that many home appliance injuries in 2021 were caused by cottage kitchen and bathroom appliances. In 2021, a couple in Nanjing was unfortunately poisoned to death while bathing in their bathroom, and the culprit was a cheap cottage water heater purchased online; In November 2021, a cottage water heater purchased online by a citizen in Chizhou exploded, the sliding door and the bedroom door of the children's room were blown up, and the elderly in the family suffered leg injuries... In order to further reduce costs, these cottage home appliances are shoddy in product parts, and even assembled with waste second-hand home appliance parts.
In fact, cottage home appliances not only bring trouble to consumers, but also legitimate brand owners are also deeply affected. These cottage home appliances have repeatedly been on the quality inspection blacklist after sampling due to unqualified products, and the famous brands have been shot lying down, which has damaged the brand image and reputation, and the market share has also been greatly squeezed. Genuine brands hate them.
From simple imitation, plagiarism and counterfeiting of well-known trademarks, to malicious preemptive registration of brands, unfair competition, and online store counterfeiting, the current copycat infringement is showing an increasingly complex form. For example, some cottages take advantage of legal loopholes, thinking that the registered trademark will be "all the best". In this regard, legal sources said that there are many parts of the cottage home appliance trademark may be successfully registered due to reasons such as loose examination or the original trademark owner has not raised an opposition, but this does not mean that the cottage manufacturer can have no fear. If the infringement is suspected, the previous trademark owner can also invalidate its trademark through legal means.
Moreover, according to the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, in addition to the civil liability of compensating consumers, business operators who know that they are fake and written off may also bear legal liabilities such as warnings issued by administrative departments, confiscation of illegal gains, suspension of business for rectification, and revocation of business licenses.
At the same time, according to item 3 of Article 57 of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, the sale of goods that infringe the exclusive right to use a registered trademark is an act of infringement of the exclusive right to use a trademark. As the right holder of the infringed trademark, the business operator may be required to compensate the actual losses suffered by the infringer in accordance with Article 63 of the Trademark Law; Where the actual loss is difficult to determine, it may be determined in accordance with the benefits obtained by the business operator as a result of infringement; Where it is difficult to determine the losses of the right holder or the benefits obtained by the business operator, it shall be reasonably determined with reference to the multiple of the license fee of the trademark. Where the actual losses suffered by the right holder as a result of the infringement, the benefits obtained by the infringer as a result of the infringement, or the royalties of the registered trademark are difficult to determine, the people's court shall award compensation of up to 5 million yuan according to the circumstances of the infringement. Whoever sells goods that are known to be counterfeit registered trademarks and constitutes a crime shall, in addition to compensating the injured person for his losses, be investigated for criminal liability in accordance with law, and if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention, and shall also be fined or fined alone; If the circumstances are particularly serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined.
In this regard, industry insiders said that the snake should be hit seven inches, to deal with cottage appliances, the key is still the need for the government to increase supervision. In the face of the infringement method of "famous brand", the relevant departments need to keep pace with the times in supervision and continuously strengthen law enforcement. Of course, it is also important for consumer education. Consumers must have a certain ability to identify the brand, must recognize the brand and corporate trademark, can not covet cheap, because of small losses, especially when encountering products with prices that are much lower than the average, they must be extra cautious. In short, only by fundamentally cutting off the interest chain of cottage home appliance enterprises can it be possible to curb the wind of cottage flooding.