"Nanhui 8424 Watermelon" was faked malicious ...

In midsummer, the fruits are fragrant. Recently, the annual Shanghai Pudong New Area Agricultural Products Expo opened, and "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon" as a well -known Pudong's local melon fruit brand also occupied a place at the expo. Watching the smiles on the face of Gua farmers, who can think of, in July 2021, the collective trademark of the geographical indication of Pudong is still maliciously violated. Market share has greatly damaged the collective interests of melon farmers.

"Nanhui 8424 Watermelon" at the Pudong New District Agricultural Products Expo.

On July 15 this year, the "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon" geographical indication collective trademark public welfare protection case supported by the Pudong New District Procuratorate was accepted by the court. As a representative of the public interest, the procuratorial organs are protected by supporting the prosecution method and the public interests behind them behind them. It will open up a new path to protect public interest in the field of intellectual property in the field of intellectual property rights.

Well -known melon -fruit brand is maliciously faked

In July 2021, a well -known store in Shanghai appeared in a lower price "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon". Consumers found that in addition to the low price, the logo on the watermelon is also different from the official trademark announced, so this matter will be the matter. It was reflected to the Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission.

Soon, the Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission informed the Shanghai Pudong New District Agricultural Association (hereinafter referred to as the "Pudong Agricultural Association"). Because "Nanhui 8424 watermelon" is not only a kind of watermelon category, but also a collective trademark approved by relevant departments. The trademark right holder is the Pudong Agricultural Association. The Pudong Agricultural Association said that only watermelon in the place where the place of origin can be called "Nanhui 8424 watermelon".

After investigation, the supplier of "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon" in the store is a distribution company in Shanghai. The company has not passed the permission of the Pudong Agricultural Association. The trademark of similar trademarks violates the exclusive right of registered trademarks of the Pudong Agricultural Association. In September 2021, the market regulatory authorities imposed a fine of more than 400,000 yuan in the supplier.

Although the infringer has been punished by administration, the trademark right holder has not been able to wait for compensation and apology.

At the end of 2021, when the prosecutor of the Pudong New District Procuratorate, when the clue of the administrative penalty case of system screening, he noticed the administrative punishment of the collective trademark protection of the "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon" geographical indicator, so he took the initiative to contact the trademark right holder Pudong Agricultural Association and on the spot. Visit. In the visit and communication, the Pudong Agricultural Association stated that it would safeguard their rights and interests by fingering a civil lawsuit, and made a request to support the procuratorial organs to support the prosecution.

Fake "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon"

Have you infringed the public interest?

Although the right holder has a demand for rights protection, the reality is not optimistic.

The Pudong Agricultural Association is a non -profit and service -oriented social organization with a registered capital of only 30,000 yuan. There is no legal personnel and no legal adviser. There is a big gap in other aspects.

Reality caused prosecutors to meditate: Does the act of fake "Nanhui 8424 watermelon" violate public interests? Can the procuratorial organs not only protect the legitimate rights and interests of the right holder and protect the public interest?

At the end of February this year, due to the adjustment of function, the Zhangjiang District Procuratorate of Pudong New District was responsible for specialized intellectual property cases. After the function adjustment, the first stop of the visit to the Pudong Agricultural Association was further investigated the historical revolution and trademark rights of the geographical logo of the "Southhui 8424 watermelon" to understand the previous rights of rights, the difficulties of existence, and the difficulties of existence, and Right protection demand; at the same time, a joint meeting with the Intellectual Property Office of the Pudong New District has held a joint meeting around the protection of geographical indications in this area.

After a comprehensive investigation and judgment, the idea of ​​"protecting public welfare with civil support" gradually became clear. "This case gave us an opportunity to explore the way to protect the new path of public welfare in the field of intellectual property." Said Ying Yue, deputy prosecutor of the Procuratorate of Zhangjiang District: "We believe, the" Nanhui 8424 Watermelon 'Geographical logo collective trademark behind the collective trademark of the collective trademark Have public welfare attributes. "

According to Yingyue, the geographical indication, as a regional brand, is a public resources in a specific area, and the collective trademark itself has collective attributes, and its membership access is open. "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon" is a special brand of Pudong. It contains Pudong's unique natural ecological environment and historical and humanistic factors. It belongs to Pudong's public resources. The watermelons that are planted in the "Southhui 8424 Watermelon" industry standard in Pudong New District and approved by the Pudong Agricultural Association, which are planted by the "Southhui 8424 Watermelon" industry. This trademark can be used. Therefore, there is no doubt that "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon" has public welfare attributes as a collective trademark of geographical indications.

The infringement of "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon" not only violates the rights and interests of the trademark right holder, and harms the reputation of the geographical logo product, but also occupies the market share of the genuine "Nanhui 8424 watermelon" melon farmers (enterprises). The rights and interests of chain practitioners. At the same time, due to the high degree of attention of the "Nanhui 8424 watermelon" brand market, counterfeit products are prone to misleading consumers and infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. In addition, "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon", as a regional characteristic brand, infringement also harms the predicted development benefits of local governments protection and development of characteristic brands and promoting local economic development.

Supporting prosecution and traceability governance jointly promoted in March of this year, the prosecutor obtained the materials related to administrative penalties, clarified the facts of infringement, determined the problem of jurisdiction and the path of protecting public welfare through supporting prosecution.

The prosecutor of the Pudong New District Procuratorate provided legal consultation to the relevant staff of the Pudong Agricultural Association.

After the comprehensive resumption of work in Shanghai, the Pudong New District Procuratorate formally filed a case to accept the collective trademark public welfare protection case of the "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon". On the one hand, the prosecutor contacted the market supervision department and retrieved all the evidence materials about the case; on the other hand, continued to visit the Pudong Agricultural Association of the right holder to comprehensively use legal consultation, guidance collection, and sorting evidence on the claims made by the right holder. , Put forward a variety of ways to support prosecution opinions to provide strong legal support for it. In the meantime, the prosecutor also joined the public security organs and e -commerce platforms to screen the "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon" on the network platform and the "Nanhui 8424 watermelon" trademark logo, traceability code and outer packaging stores. Property risk reminders, inform relevant legal provisions and infringement consequences, reduce the generation of infringement from the source.

On July 15, the Pudong Agricultural Association filed a civil lawsuit to the court. Under the request of the Pudong Agricultural Association, Pudong New District Procuratorate submitted support for support for the court at the same time. The court accepted the case on the same day.

At the same time, procuratorial performances on the governance of geographical signal infringement have also begun. Prosecutors learned that trademark right holders of non -profit and service -oriented social organizations like the Pudong Agricultural Association have always been in a relatively weak position in rights protection. Therefore, taking the opportunity to handle the collective trademark protection case of "Nanhui 8424 Watermelon", the Pudong New District Procuratorate continued to sort out the protection of collective trademarks in other geographical indications in Pudong region, and the excavation of the local geographical sign collective trademark was infringed. At the same time, the hospital flexibly use big data technology to broaden the sources of infringement clues, explore the construction of big data models for key points of procuratorial supervision, and lock in infringement and criminal clues through information collision to help the traceability governance of geographical signal infringement.

(Source: Procuratorate Author: Children's Painting)

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