Reported for Unpaid Packaging Printing Fees: Counterfeit Workshop Accidentally Exposed

Qidong is a well-known "hometown of power tools" in China, and its annual sales account for about 60% of the national total, so some lawbreakers have also set their sights on this market, hoping to get a share of it.

In Qidong, a man surnamed Zhu, envious that others had made money selling power tools, engaged in counterfeit manufacturing and selling by imitating trademarks. He thought he had found a path to quick wealth, but unexpectedly, not long ago he was reported by one of his own business partners.

Zhu is in his early thirties and lives in Jinhai Town, Qidong City. Because of his low level of education, he had never been able to find a stable job. In the first half of last year, he saw that a well-known local brand of power tools sold well, so he gathered a few friends to discuss the matter and decided to use someone else's brand to go into business for himself.

Power tools require some self-adhesive stickers, packaging boxes and instruction manuals. Zhu contacted Teng, who works at an advertising company in Shanghai, online and asked him to produce these packaging goods.

At first, Zhu and his associates made a lot of money by manufacturing and selling counterfeit power tools, and later, in order to protect the market, they also set increasingly high requirements for their own products, hoping to achieve a convincing imitation in every detail. Not long ago, because the packaging printed by the Shanghai advertising company did not meet Zhu's requirements, the two sides even had a dispute.

Because of the quality problem with the trademarks, Zhu did not pay the balance or take delivery of the goods, and Teng could not even get in touch with Zhu. Teng then used the address on the logistics waybill to find the place where Zhu was making the counterfeits.

After Teng found Zhu, he asked him to pay the balance of the printing fee for this batch of trademarks, but was once again refused to his face by Zhu. Having no other choice, Teng had to turn to the local police in Qidong for help.

Yao Lingxia, assistant prosecutor of the People's Procuratorate of the Tongzhou Bay Demonstration Zone, said: Teng reported the case to the public security organ, asking it to recover the balance for him. In the course of handling the case, the public security organ found a large number of power tools suspected of being a well-known brand at the scene, and therefore opened an investigation into Zhu and others.

According to the investigation, from the first half of last year to the discovery of the case not long ago, Zhu and his associates earned more than 300,000 yuan in total by manufacturing and selling counterfeit power tools. On suspicion of the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks, Zhu and his associates have now been transferred to the procuratorial organ for examination and prosecution.

Once again, a reminder to all packaging and printing company owners: when doing business, be sure to screen carefully, and do not illegally manufacture or produce infringing products out of greed for high profits. If the other party is producing counterfeit and shoddy products and you print packaging for them without verification, you may also be committing the crime of illegally manufacturing registered trademark marks!

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-378700.html