LV sued more malls in Dalian for counterfeiting

The LV series of rights protection cases were held before the People's Court of Xigang District of Dalian. LV's trademark owners and Louis Vuitton Mallitti filed a total of 22 cases in this court, claiming a total amount of 11 million yuan. The defendant involved two quasi-five-star hotel companies in Dalian, Wenzhou City Trading Company and four of them. Name owners and owners of Dalian Victory Square Development Co., Ltd. and 4 stores.

Although there are many disputes in and around the industry in this series of cases, the weak awareness of intellectual property rights of some businesses has been exposed.

Repeatedly becoming the defendant's store party refuses to assume responsibility. "As a person selling counterfeit goods, there is no doubt that it infringes the trademark right of the trademark owner. However, if the vendor and the hotel providing the venue as the operator are required to bear the responsibility, they must be treated differently. The analysis was made by Wang Linjie, legal counsel of the Legal Department of China International Trade Promotion Committee.

In 2006, LV and five other world-famous brand companies joined forces to sued Beijing's Xiushui market for a battle against fake counterfeit brand names. Eventually, this year-long “foreign brand China counterfeiting case” ended in Xishushui’s final judgment. Although the merchants still talked about it, they could only end up with a paper verdict. However, in the process of the underdeveloped Chinese economy and the legal environment still under construction, the phenomenon of Xiushui Street is inevitable. As a result, the number of cases of intellectual property rights rights protection lawsuits has also increased year by year. The phenomenon of a plaintiff suing multiple defendants at the same time has frequently occurred, and “washing out” rights have been increasing.

Wang Linjie told the reporter that the final review of the Xiushui Street case was based on the provisions of Article 50 of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China", "Deliberately Providing Warehousing, Transport, Posting, Concealing, and Other Conveniences for Violating the Use of the Right to Registered Trademarks". The act is infringement.

“In recent years, examples of cases in which brands such as LV and Prada filed suit against Beijing’s Xiushui Street, Wudaokou Market, and Yaxiu Market are based on this point: whether or not they provide facilities.”

According to media reports, the agent of the Dalian Kyushu Hotel Co., Ltd. involved in the LV incident believes that the company just leased the venue to others to operate clothing stores. This apparel store is an independent legal entity and has an independent business license.

Another agent of Dalian Nanshan Garden Hotel Co., Ltd. involved has similar views. They believe that the products purchased by the plaintiff's agent are not sold by the hotel, but are instead leased by the hotel's shops.

At present, there is still considerable controversy among the original defendants. Among them, the hotels, shopping malls renting, selling counters have tort liability has become the focus of intense debate between the two sides.

Analysing LV's case, Wang Linjie said, for a mall, if it can provide evidence to prove that no facilities are provided, it is legally free from assuming related responsibilities. At the same time, she also stated that judging from the judicial process of the related case, it is clear that the court is still very strict about whether the business operator needs to assume responsibility.

The mall can periodically conduct self-checks to prevent counterfeit merchants. The reporter then visited several settled brands in a large shopping mall in Beijing and mobile counters in the underground. The clerk said that they are legally registered with a business license, but they are about shopping malls and they Whether there is any indication of the need to submit relevant documents when signing the lease contract directly, they all expressed their ignorance. Questioning will not have the problem of intellectual property rights. It is even more dazed.

Aside from the operation of the mall, the weak awareness of intellectual property rights assigned to various shop owners is also fully exposed.

In fact, after the “Xiushui Street Incident” in 2006, the Beijing government launched the “Trademark Licensing Management System” to instruct businesses to avoid this behavior as much as possible.

The reporter learned from the interview that this system is under the guidance of the industrial and commercial authorities. The market operating unit requires the entry merchant to submit relevant materials and establish a trademark file. These materials include: trademark registration certificate, authorization certificate of the trademark registrant (ownership brand to submit a trademark registration certificate, no brand to be submitted to the purchase invoice), multi-level agency to submit a higher level of the trademark authorization certificate and purchase channel certification , subject qualification certificate and so on. Each file of the trademark file is built with a file. The archives contain copies of the above-mentioned documents stamped with official seals.

“Beijing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce has also announced that some internationally renowned brands are prohibited from selling in small shopping malls. Sales to large shopping malls must also obtain agency authorization in advance and provide proof of the origin of the sales of goods.” Wang Linjie thinks that as a shopping mall, she should be required to enter the business. The legal proof of goods can effectively transfer post-regulation supervision to ex ante prevention. When it comes to disputes, it can be used as a proof of “not providing facilities” to clarify the legal responsibilities and be an effective means of protecting oneself.

Wang Linjie mentioned that the business leasing contracts that she has been exposed to in recent years have put intellectual property rights in focus, the atmosphere for the protection of intellectual property rights has been increasingly strong, people's brand awareness has been continuously strengthened, and the awareness of the trademark holders of various business units has also been continuously enhanced. As a lawyer, she also put forward her own suggestions to the operators: “Shopping malls can conduct self-inspection on a regular basis from time to time, and there are no merchants selling fake goods. Once discovered, they can sign contracts with merchants and store interiors. The rules and regulations allow sellers of counterfeit goods to stop selling counterfeits and even report and recover booths from relevant authorities such as the Trade and Industry Bureau.”