Recently, a ** of Rong'an kumquat sold to New York, USA has become a hot spot on the Internet. Due to the long history of kumquat planting, Rong'an County, Liuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, won the title of "China's Kumquat Township". With the continuous advancement of rural revitalization, Rong'an kumquat has become a pillar industry in the county. The People's Court of Rong'an County fully performed its functions, strengthened the management of the source of litigation in cases involving kumquats, integrated judicial services into all aspects of kumquat production, and escorted the high-quality development of characteristic industries with the power of justice.
The source of the kumquat dispute was resolved.
On November 28, 2023, the "Kumquat Service Team of Rong'an Court" walked into the key kumquat enterprise - the development of ecological agriculture in the ancient village of Rong'an County, the agricultural development of orange science and technology in Rong'an County, Guangxi Xianglu Agricultural Science and Technology, and held a symposium on legal service enterprises and litigation source management to listen to the legal problems encountered by enterprise representatives in the process of developing the industry.
At the symposium, the representatives of kumquat enterprises raised the possible problems of design patent infringement, the healthy competition of kumquat enterprises and the protection of geographical indications of Rong'an kumquat enterprises, and the judge answered them one by one, and suggested that kumquat enterprises should strengthen the establishment and protection of intellectual property rights such as corporate brands, trademarks, and design patents, so as to create a good market environment for kumquat enterprises.
The Kumquat Service Team of Rong'an Court "visited and investigated Kumquat enterprises in depth.
In 2021, fruit farmer Wei purchased a batch of chemical fertilizers produced by a company from a business department in Rong'an County for use in his kumquat orchard, and who knew that the kumquat production was greatly reduced ......Wei asked the business department and the company to compensate for the loss, but was refused, so he sued to defend his rights. After the trial, the court found that the fertilizer produced by the company was a "defective" product in the legal sense, and ordered the company to compensate Wei more than 400,000 yuan. The company appealed. The Liuzhou Intermediate People's Court upheld the original judgment in the final instance.
On April 7, 2020, the villagers' cooperatives of Guandai Village and Futian Village, Yayao Township, Rong'an County, as Party A, signed a contract with Party B Li and Zhong to contract a kumquat orchard in Dongtan Village, Dajiang Town to Party B for operation and management, with a contract period of 13 years. During the contract, Party B failed to properly manage the orchard, causing huge losses to the orchard. Party A sued the court, demanding to terminate the contract with Party B and claim for losses. In March 2022, the court ruled that the two parties should terminate the contract in accordance with the law, and Party B should pay the management fees and liquidated damages advanced by Party A. At present, the judgment has entered into force.
In the past three years, the Rong'an County Court has handled a total of 58 cases involving kumquats, including 54 civil cases, 1 criminal case and 3 enforcement cases.
Devote yourself to doing practical things to solve people's worries.
Relying on the mediation platform of the people's court, the Rong'an County Court has united with the village committee, police stations, judicial offices and other grassroots teams and party organizations to create a linkage mechanism of "one court, one office, one committee and two offices" (court + township comprehensive management office + people's mediation committee + police station + judicial office) to form a grassroots prevention and dispute resolution grid of "vertical to the end and horizontal to the edge", and resolve conflicts and disputes from the source.
At the same time, the General Court of Rong'an County Court signed the "Litigation Source Governance and Multiple Dispute Resolution Linkage Work Plan" with the three township party committees of Banlan Township, Yayao Township, and Dapo Township in the jurisdiction to actively resolve economic disputes involving kumquat.
In December 2022, villager Liu sued a villager group to the general court due to a dispute over the ownership of land for planting kumquats, demanding that the villager group pay him 8,650 yuan in compensation for the land involved in the expropriation of highway construction. The judge handling the case went deep into the village to learn more about the incident, and jointly organized the parties to inspect and measure on the spot with the staff of the "one office, one committee and two offices", and mediated in the kumquat field. After several times of communication and coordination, the parties finally reached a mediation agreement.
In a case of a dispute over compensation for damages, the court adopted "three initiatives" to resolve it: it took the initiative to enhance its sense of service, visited the village many times, communicated with villagers and village cadres, and did a good job in legal publicity; Take the initiative to visit the construction party to publicize the law and provide legal consulting services; Actively provide litigation facilitation for cases involving people's livelihood, and efficiently resolve disputes involving people's livelihood.
In July 2021, the construction of a provincial highway was in full swing, but the construction unit expected insufficient precipitation in the rainy season, too few drainage culverts were laid, and when heavy rainfall came, the roadbed sand and gravel erosion and drainage were not smooth, resulting in more than 90 acres of kumquat orchards of 45 fruit farmers in Caituntun and Kwai Dongtun in Dongtan Village, Dajiang Town, and the kumquat trees were damaged to varying degrees.
After the incident, the villagers negotiated with the construction party, and the construction party accepted the responsibility, apologized, and was willing to compensate the fruit farmers for their losses, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the method and amount of compensation. The mediation committee, the judicial office and the village committee of Dajiang Town have organized fruit farmers and the construction party to negotiate and settle the problem many times, but the two sides insist on their own words, and the negotiation has not been successful. In March 2022, after the general court learned of the incident, it took the initiative to communicate with the fruit farmers and the construction party many times, patiently explained the law and reasoned, and clarified the stakes.
What if the other party does not pay according to the agreement? Do we still have to go to court? "Growers are worried that once the compensation agreement is signed, the builder will not fulfill it, and it will be difficult for them to recover. After learning of the farmers' concerns, the judge said that the performance of the agreement could be guaranteed through judicial confirmation.
Well, we believe in the court! Said the representative of the fruit grower. In the end, the two sides reached a mediation agreement, and 45 fruit farmers signed a compensation agreement of more than 290,000 yuan with the construction party. The General Court accepted 45 applications for judicial confirmation as soon as possible, handled judicial confirmation matters, and served the judicial confirmation documents to the fruit farmers. During the term of the agreement, the construction party fulfilled the compensation obligation, and the compensation was fully paid. The case was rated as an excellent case of Guangxi's "I do practical things for the masses" in 2022.
Protecting the local kumquat brand.
As a geographical indication product of Rong'an County, Rong'an kumquat has a unique brand gene. Local enterprises in Rong'an County have actively created kumquat cultural brands, and have successfully cultivated more than 300 trademark brands such as "Orange Township" and "Big Orange Has Been Determined". However, in recent years, with the continuous development and growth of the kumquat industry, legal issues involving intellectual property rights such as infringement of the exclusive right to use trademarks and counterfeit product packaging have emerged, and the protection of intellectual property rights is imminent.
The Rong'an County Court visited and investigated kumquat enterprises to publicize the importance of protecting intellectual property rights, guided enterprises to reasonably use relevant geographical indication certificates in accordance with the law through typical cases, and actively applied for registered trademarks and design patents, so as to promote the protection of Rong'an kumquat geographical indication trademarks and effectively protect the healthy development of the kumquat industry.
Rong'an kumquat has developed into high-end varieties such as crisp honey kumquat, and its market price ranges from 15 yuan to 40 yuan per kilogram. While the crisp honey kumquat attracts consumers, it also attracts the attention of criminals, and the risk of criminal cases of kumquat theft increases.
The Rong'an County People's Court and the public security organs jointly publicized the fruit farmers and strengthened preventive measures to prevent theft in the orchard.
In December 2022, 5 people, including Mo and Long, went to a kumquat orchard in Rong'an County 8 times, and more than 600 kilograms worth 2More than 30,000 yuan of crisp honey kumquat was stolen and sold to others in the wholesale market. After Mo, Long, and other five people were caught, they actively compensated the victims for all their economic losses and obtained forgiveness. On November 20, 2023, the Rong'an County Court comprehensively considered the facts of the five people's crimes, admission of guilt and repentance, and sentenced the defendants Mo and Long to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 9 months to 3 months of criminal detention for the crime of theft.