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China's Ten Most Important IPR Infringement Cases of 2004Guanzhou Estee Lauder Cosmetics Ltd: Trade Name Infringement Use of an international brand name legally registered in China as the main part of its trade name to produce identical or similar products (cosmetics, beauty and hair care). The law enforcement group of the Guangzhou Bureau of Industry and Trade checked and detained 12,170 copies of trademark labels suspected of infringement and falsified promotion materials. Pursuant to relevant provisions of the Regulations on the Administration of Enterprise Name Registration and Implementing Rules, the company was ordered to change its name, delete the words "Estee Lauder" from its product labels and promotional materials, and not to replace them with any similar Chinese name. The company was fined RMB 200,000. Louis Vuitton: Registered Trademark Counterfeiting by Two Shenzhen Companies. LV is a world famous brand name and a registered trademark in China, whose products are manufactured only in France and Spain. Upon receiving information reported from Louis Vuitton Malletier that counterfeited LV luggage and bags produced by several enterprises in the Bao'An district were going to be shipped out of Shenzhen, the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau together with the industry and commerce authorities, investigated Shenzhen Wenhong Co. Ltd and Honghui Leather Products Co. Ltd., of which the former was engaged in the packaging and shipping of counterfeited bags and the latter was the producer of semi-finished products, seized counterfeited LV luggage and bags and semi-finished products for producing counterfeits, and arrested two suspects. Cisco: Registered Trademark Counterfeiting by a Gang of Counterfeiters in Dongguan, Shenzhen. Reports from the public led the Economic Investigation Squad of the Shenzhen Bureau of Public Security to investigate counterfeiters that were producing and selling fake Cisco components in Shenzhen and Dongguan. A joint action by the PSB, the AIC, and the Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision of Shenzhen seized 11,609 integrated circuit modules bearing the words "CISCO SYSTEMS", over 100,000 counterfeit CISCO labels, and 26,887 package boxes. Significantly, criminal penalties were also applied to some of the individuals involved in the counterfeit production. Adidas: Registered Trademark Counterfeiting in Shanghai. Pairs of counterfeit Adidas shoes, bags, shoe materials and shoe molds with a total worth of over 5 million RMB were seized, ending a daily production of over 3,000 pairs of shoes destined for export. The case was directed by the PBS in Songjiang District, Shanghai. Two man were arrested, fined 20,000 RMB each and sentenced to 7 and 9 months in prison. Lacoste: Registered Trademark Counterfeiting by SUE Clothing Company of Yangzhou. The local Administration of Industry of Commerce, acting on complaints, launched investigations on infringement of the "Lacoste" registered trademark owned by the Lacoste Shirt Co. Ltd. of France by the "SUE" trademark of the Yangzhou SUE Clothing Company. The investigation uncovered a large quantity of shirts, ties, tags and packing boxes bearing the "Lacoste" mark juxtaposed with the "SUE" mark. A later investigation revealed that the SUE Apparel Company produced a total of 6,094 shirts and 580 ties bearing the "Lacoste" mark together with the mark "SUE". The Jiang Branch of the Yangzhou local AIC ordered the cessation of all infringement activities, confiscation and destruction of infringing products and a fine of 250,000 RMB. Nanjing Copyright Infringement: The Jiangsu Copyright Bureau¡äs enforcement staff raided a factory located in the Baixa District in Nanjing. At the factory, 105 items and 430,000 volumes of pirated books as well as more than 170 films used for printing were seized. The Jiangsu Copyright Bureau, anti-pornography and illegal publication offices and the public security department jointly established a special group on this case. Since the end of 2002, the infringer, Zhong Shan, had pirated and illegally copied a large quantity of middle and primary school textbooks and supporting teaching materials. The primary infringer was sentenced to 4 years in prison and a fine of 2 million RMB for copyright infringement, and another 7 years in jail and confiscation of 1 million RMB of personal property for illegal business operations. Defendant's father was also sentenced to 3 years in prison with 5 years on probation and a fine of 2 million RMB for copyright infringement. Cross-Border Sales of Pirated Duplications: suspected sale of pirated DVDs in Shanghai following online orders from overseas customers, amassing profits of RMB 2.02 million. The Economic Crime Squad of the Shanghai PSB with close cooperation with United States' ICE successfully uncovered cross-border selling of pirated duplications by a group headed by a US citizen. A specific task force initiated investigations which lasted 2 months. Eight individuals were arrested and 210,000 pirated DVDs were confiscated as well as a large number of mail packages and seven computers. Accounts of illegal income valued at RMB 220,000 and US $67,000 were frozen. Massive Optical Disc Piracy in Liaoning Province: the PSB of Shenyang put under arrest criminal suspects in a case of optical disc piracy coded "July 15", the biggest of its sort in northeast China in recent years. Shenyang Jinsheng Audio Shop was stocking and selling in large quantity pirated optical discs imprinted with forged serial numbers while serving as a source of local wholesale distribution. On July 15, law enforcement officials initiated a search of the shop and its four warehouses, uncovering and confiscating nearly 500,000 pirated discs while arresting several suspects. The Ministry of Public Security issued a national arrest warrant on other suspects who were eventually captured and transferred to prosecuting authorities. Microsoft Corporation: complaint to the State Copyright Bureau for alleged illegal copying of the "Legend Operating System Recovery Disk". Beijing Yanjing Tianbao Film and Culture Centre entrusted Beijing Central Press Union to make 55,000 copies of this software, making illegal profits of RMB 10,405. Another company from Tianjin did the same, entrusted by Fang Xiaojun Science and Technological Company. Neither company had the authorization from the software copyright holder. The companies who illegally entrusted the infringing activity were convicted and given penalties ranging from 6 months to one year in prison and fined RMB 5,000 to 15,000. Yibin Grace Co., Ltd.: patent infringement by five separate enterprises resulted in licensing worth RMB104.5 million. |
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