Case 2: Anhui A Tea Industry Co., Ltd.'s application for case registration and supervision

——Supervise and correct the decision of the public security organ to file a case when it should not,

Protect the legitimate rights and interests of private enterprises according to law

     Basic Case

On May 12, 2020, Anhui A Tea Industry Co., Ltd. signed a "Entrusted Processing Contract" with Company B of the Republic of Mali, stipulating that Company A processes Chinese green tea according to the packaging style provided by Company B, with the contract value equivalent to 2.2 million yuan. On May 22, 2020, Company A will transport the finished products to Ningbo Beilun Port and entrust a customs broker to declare for export. However, on January 9, 2020, Anhui C Tea Industry Co., Ltd. said that Company A was suspected of counterfeiting registered trademarks and reported the case to the public security organ of Huangshan City.

     [Proceedings]

     About Huangshan Public Security Bureau The case was filed for investigation on April 9, and the tea to be exported by Company A was detained on June 5. Company A is unable to deliver the goods due to the seizure of its products, and is about to face major economic losses. Company A believed that the case was not a criminal case and that the company's products did not violate the relevant provisions of the criminal law, so it requested supervision from the procuratorial organ. The case is handled by the People's Procuratorate of Tunxi District, Huangshan City.

     After accepting the case, the People's Procuratorate of Tunxi District believed that the case was a case involving private economy, and if it was not handled in a timely and effective manner, it would cause significant property losses to the enterprises involved, so the Procurator General decided to handle the case in person. In the process of handling the case, there were two opinions. One was that the case belonged to the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks, Company A's behavior infringes the intellectual property rights of Company C; Another view is that the case belongs to general commercial disputes and should not be involved in criminal matters. The People's Procuratorate of Tunxi District then took the initiative to communicate with the public security organ about the case, and repeatedly studied and discussed with the relevant business departments of the Municipal Procuratorate and professionals of the Municipal Market Supervision Bureau whether the case was suspected of counterfeiting registered trademarks. Finally, the People's Procuratorate of Tunxi District believed that, The products exported by Company A belong to foreign-related processing products with fixed brand names, and will not be sold in China. The commodity logo used by Company A does not play the role of identifying the source of goods in the domestic market. The public is unlikely to have access to the products involved in the case in China, which will not cause confusion and misunderstanding among the relevant domestic public, and does not infringe the exclusive right of Company C to use its registered trademark. And the existing evidence can only prove that Company A processes the products according to the packaging style provided by Company B and is about to export them overseas. It can not prove that Company A has the act or intention to sell in China, or that its products exported overseas have really caused misunderstanding and confusion among consumers. There is no evidence to prove the subjective intention The social harmfulness has reached the level that needs to be investigated by criminal means. Therefore, on June 30, 2020, the public security organ issued a notice requiring the public security organ to explain the reasons for filing the case. The public security organ adopted the opinions of the procuratorial organ, and on July 3, the case was voluntarily canceled and the product detention procedures were lifted. The products of Company A were later successfully exported overseas. The prudent handling of the case by the People's Procuratorate of Tunxi District saved more than 2 million yuan of losses for the enterprise, and also ensured that the enterprise would resume work and production after the epidemic.

     Typical significance

     （1） The Procurator General took the lead in handling difficult cases and gave full play to the exemplary and leading role. This case is a case of infringement of intellectual property rights. There are few cases of this type handled by Tunxi District People's Procuratorate over the years, and the case involves multiple interests of the accuser and the accused accuser. It is also a more difficult type of case to deal with in various cases. The case was handled by the Procurator General himself, which played a better role of demonstration and leadership.

     （2） Prudently handle cases involving private economy, and strengthen the collection and review of factual evidence. Both parties in this case are private enterprises and foreign-related intellectual property cases, which are relatively complex. Handling such cases should be treated with caution. It is necessary to combine the social harmfulness and subjective intention of the actors, fully consider the current economic development and the private property of intellectual property, and strictly follow the relevant provisions of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on handling cases involving private enterprises, We should not only attach importance to the protection of intellectual property rights, but also adhere to the principle of modesty in criminal law, strengthen the collection and review of factual evidence, and prevent excessive involvement of criminal judicial means.

     （3） Perform procuratorial and supervisory functions in accordance with the law, and promote the resumption of work and production of private enterprises. This year, due to the epidemic situation, the development of the private economy is facing great challenges. During the critical period of the resumption of work and production of private enterprises, the procuratorial organs conscientiously implement the spirit of the important speech of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the development of the private economy. In accordance with the deployment requirements of the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Provincial People's Court on handling cases involving the private economy, The supervision and public security organ timely withdrew the cases that should not be filed, helped the smooth export of private enterprises' products in a timely manner, and provided a strong judicial guarantee for the healthy development of private enterprises.