Criminal way may be the last method that trademark owners will think of for protecting their trademarks. Some people think the criminal procedure is hard to be initiated and focuses on punishment rather than compensation which the trademark owners want most. Those thoughts are right, in principle, but in some certain situations which one of our clients experienced, criminal way is necessary and will bring surprising results.
Things are like that. One of our clients owns a world famous trademark registered in China, and he found in a shopping mall, his trademark was used on counterfeits without his approval. He wanted to stop the infringement instantly and get remedy, and also wanted to stop other infringers he hadn’t fount yet. Per as the client’s purpose, I recommended the criminal way which is quickest to stop the infringement and has a wide spread warning function. Tips and process of the criminal procedure are as follow.
1. Report to the police station which has the right of jurisdiction. In this step, you need to prepare a reporting letter involving the suspect’s identification, address, cause of action, basic facts and your claims. The documents which prove your identification and your right to the infringed trademark are also needed. If you have already collected some evidence, give them to the police and that will make them quicker to file the case.
2. During the investigation process, policemen may need your cooperation and support. You, as a trademark owner, shall provide a verification report to prove that the goods sold by the suspect are counterfeits. For calculating the amount of loss you suffered from the trademark infringement, you’d better provide some evidence on how and how much you are damaged, including tangible and intangible loss.
3. After close of the investigation, the case will be sent to the prosecutor and then to the court by the prosecutor. During this process, you are in the dominant position to the suspects and you have a chance to get compensation sufficiently and quickly. According to Chinese criminal law, if the suspect admits his guilty, compensate the damaged party and get the forgiveness, the penalty will be reduced. So in this process, you should take advantage of the situation and get some compensation in this phase.
4. If you don’t get any enough compensation before the case is put in court, you can issue a claim for damages in the criminal procedure and your claim will be judged at the same time with the criminal accusation and by the same judge. Or you can choose to issue a new civil claim and that claim will be judged separately with the criminal one.
By Mike