Impersonating a well-known coffee service to solicit franchisees
More than 50 stores were opened in half a year
Shanghai Qingpu** in the "Sharpening the Sword 2024" special action
Cracked a case of counterfeiting a registered trademark
In recent years, Shanghai Qingpu has closely linked with administrative supervision departments such as market supervision and intellectual property rights, relying on a new modern police mechanism, continuously strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights, cracking down on all kinds of intellectual property infringement crimes that affect the high-quality development of the city and infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises in accordance with the law, so as to help the high-quality development of the regional economy and serve the world-class business environment.
Recently, in the "Sharpening Sword 2024" special operation, Qingpu ** successfully smashed a counterfeit registered well-known coffee brand trademark gang after careful investigation, arrested 17 suspects, and the amount involved exceeded 40 million yuan.
In November 2023, Qingpu ** received a report from Mr. Yang, a merchant in other provinces and cities, that he saw an advertisement for a well-known coffee service on the Internet in May 2023, showing that he could assist in opening a well-known coffee shop throughout the process, so he signed a franchise contract with him.
After receiving the report, Qingpu ** immediately launched an in-depth investigation. According to the clues provided by the informant, ** quickly locked up the suspects Yin and Zhang. Subsequently, the police rushed to Hubei, Shandong, Henan and other places to collect evidence, and confirmed with the brand company, through the in-depth investigation and analysis of the suspected infringing trademark stores, after summarizing the relevant information, a criminal network chain integrating manufacturing, warehousing and transportation, business training, and marketing consulting gradually became clear.
On January 15, 2024, after ascertaining the composition structure and activity rules of the gang and fixing sufficient criminal evidence, Qingpu ** carried out a unified network collection operation, smashed the criminal gang headed by Yin in other provinces and cities, and arrested 17 criminal suspects.
After investigation, from May 2023 to the present, Yin and Zhang, in order to make illegal profits, falsely claimed to have the franchise qualification of the coffee shop in the name of the well-known coffee service without the authorization of the brand company, and recruited franchisees online with a franchise fee of 100,000 yuan per store, and then instructed the franchisees to use the relevant trademarks and logos of the coffee shop to open and operate counterfeit well-known coffee shops across the country. During this period, 15 people, including Chen, Gong and Feng, were recruited to be responsible for financial management, advertising design, procurement and warehousing, marketing promotion, business training, etc. As of the time of the case, more than 50 coffee stores had been opened across the country, and the cumulative amount involved in the case reached 40 million yuan.
On February 8, 2024, the criminal suspect Yin and 9 others were arrested by the Qingpu District Procuratorate on suspicion of counterfeiting registered trademarks, and 8 people including Wei were taken criminal coercive measures by Qingpu ** in accordance with the law, and the case is being further handled.
Article 213 of the Criminal Law stipulates that without the permission of the owner of the registered trademark, the use of a trademark identical to the registered trademark on the same kind of goods or services, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and/or a fine; where the circumstances are especially serious, a sentence of between 3 and 10 years imprisonment and a concurrent fine is to be given.
In the next step, we will continue to dig deep and expand the line, strive to hit the chain and the source, and comprehensively crack down on such illegal and criminal acts. At the same time, it also reminds the general public to be vigilant and rational thinking when investing online and joining the chain, and choose a formal and qualified partner. Don't take a chance to participate in this kind of investment, let alone fantasize about "getting rich overnight", so as not to fall into the trap of fraud.
*: Police-civilian direct train to Shanghai.