Counterfeit "Gujing Gong" Packaging Lands Two Suspects in Severely Punished Case

Recently, the Ruian Court concluded a criminal case involving intellectual property, sentencing defendant Xu to three years of fixed-term imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 yuan for the crime of illegally manufacturing registered trademark labels, revoking the probation part of the three-year suspended sentence announced for defendant Xu, and combining it with the original sentence for multiple crimes, deciding to execute a fixed-term imprisonment of three years and eight months and a fine of 190,000 yuan; defendant Lin was sentenced to three years of fixed-term imprisonment with a three-year and six-month suspension and a fine of 150,000 yuan.

In June 2020, Xu, who had previously been sentenced for the crime of illegally manufacturing registered trademark labels, "returned to his old trade," bringing in his "partner" Lin and hiring workers in a workshop in Pingyang to counterfeit the packaging materials of "Gujing Gong" liquor once again, including semi-finished handbag covers with gloss lamination, printed anti-counterfeiting labels, and tinplate box top lids.

In October 2020, public security organs seized 10,500 pieces of semi-finished handbags for counterfeit "Gujing Gong" liquor and 17,200 pieces of tinplate box top lids and other items for counterfeit "Gujing Gong" liquor while a driver was transporting goods. Following the trail, the public security organs seized more than 183,000 items from the two men's small workshop, including anti-counterfeiting labels, rivets, adhesive tape, handbags, gift boxes, and outer cartons for counterfeit "Gujing Gong" liquor.

Just how large a profit could drive Xu, who was in the probation period of a suspended sentence, to take such a risk again?

According to Xu's statement, by buying materials such as cardboard in bulk at a very low cost and spending a few jiao on printing the trademark design, he could produce exquisite high-imitation anti-counterfeiting labels for "Gujing Gong" liquor, and the same went for other packaging materials. After assembling the counterfeit anti-counterfeiting labels, tinplate boxes, handbags, and gift boxes for "Gujing Gong" liquor, he sold each set to the next buyer for about 32 yuan, steadily earning more than 10,000 yuan per order and receiving quite a few orders every month.

"We bought raw materials, printed them, assembled them, and sold them to the next buyer. We were just providing some packaging materials, which does not really count as selling fake liquor. We never expected the consequences to be so serious," said the other defendant.

The Ruian Court held that the registered trademarks "Gujing Gong," "Gujing," "Gujing Gong Liquor Vintage Original Mash," and "Vintage Original Mash" were approved and registered by China's Trademark Office in accordance with the law and are within their validity period, and are therefore protected by law. Defendants Xu and Lin, without the permission of the registered trademark owners, conspired to forge others' registered trademark labels, which constituted the crime of illegally manufacturing registered trademark labels. Defendant Xu committed a new crime during the probation period of a suspended sentence, so the suspension should be revoked and the sentences for multiple crimes combined. The court therefore made the above judgment in accordance with the law.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-377273.html