On May 16, a data report by the team of Zhao Changjiang, an associate professor of a law school in a university in Chongqing, pointed out that with the highest number of cases and the second-highest first-instance winning rate in the country, Chongqing has become the city with the most professional anti-counterfeiters in the country.
After the 150-bowl meat case, professional anti-counterfeiting people in Chongqing clearly felt the change in the atmosphere, and more people began to wait and see.
On May 30, Shapingba District, Chongqing City.
Before entering the supermarket, Hu Yong turned on the video on his mobile phone. The screen was shaky and the background music was noisy.
In the rice noodles and oil area, a pile of preserved eggs with plastic bags piled up in the bulk cargo area, except for labels.
He casually touched 3 preserved eggs, totaling 4.5 yuan.
All the processes have been completely recorded, and will become litigation evidence in the future. According to Hu Yong's experience, these three preserved eggs will eventually be identified as three-no products because they do not have labels with necessary information such as production date, shelf life, and manufacturer. The merchant is also facing a $1,000 claim.
In similar cases, Hu Yong has fought hundreds of times. Even though he is very disgusted with being called a "professional anti-counterfeiter", anti-counterfeiting has indeed become an important part of his life.
On May 16, a data report made by the team of Zhao Changjiang, an associate professor of a law school in a university in Chongqing, pointed out that with the highest number of cases and the second-highest first-instance winning rate in the country, Chongqing has become the city with the most professional anti-counterfeiters in the country. People "group together to fight fake" has become a trend.
Zhao Changjiang proposed: "Beware of professional anti-counterfeiters turning into evil dragons".
According to the data, a supermarket chain in Chongqing was sued 933 times a year, and a tea merchant was sued once for compensation of 80,000 to 90,000 yuan, and finally closed the store.
Some businesses believe that professional anti-counterfeiting has caused the deterioration of Chongqing's business environment.
But in the eyes of professional anti-counterfeiters, their work is carried out under the legal framework, and it has effectively promoted the self-improvement of Chongqing merchants.
Hu Yong has been concerned about supermarket food for a long time. In Zhao Changjiang’s report, he was identified as a core member of an anti-counterfeiting group, “The premise of anti-counterfeiting is to have fakes. Become a dragon?"
A person close to the Chongqing court system told reporters that the overall atmosphere in Chongqing was indeed relatively relaxed before the behavior of professional anti-counterfeiting.
But the court system has been "touched" recently, especially after the "150 bowls of meat" case.
The staff of the Chongqing Higher People's Court said that professional anti-counterfeiters have indeed attracted the attention of the Chongqing Higher Court, but they are temporarily unable to accept further interviews on this topic.
The reporter has called the Chongqing market supervision department many times, but has not received a reply as of press time.
After the 150 bowls of meat, professional anti-counterfeiting people in Chongqing clearly felt the change in the atmosphere: it became difficult to file a case, and the proportion of similar cases that had been supported in the past was rejected. Is the Chongqing judicial system in the field of professional anti-counterfeiting? Change of thinking, where Chongqing professional anti-counterfeiters will go, both the anti-counterfeiters and the counterfeiters are paying close attention.
"It's amazing, there is such a profession!"
Hu Yong, a native of Sichuan, came to Chongqing in 2010 to run a hot pot restaurant and barbecue. Finally, he accidentally discovered that cracking down on counterfeiting was a way to make money.
In 2016, he began to enter the professional anti-counterfeiting industry.
"I mainly make orders that cost 1,000 yuan in supermarkets." Hu Yong said, he is a representative of "little single stream" anti-counterfeiters, and is good at finding all kinds of problematic products in supermarkets, including irregular packaging, expired shelf life, and inappropriate labels. regulations, etc.
Article 147 of the "Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates: "Consumers who buy food that do not meet the food safety standards can ask the merchant to pay 10 times the price or three times the loss as compensation. 1,000 yuan.” Therefore, Hu Yong can also claim compensation of 1,000 yuan for a single purchase of food whose price is less than 100 yuan.
36-year-old Hu Yong looks ordinary, looks ordinary and wears ordinary clothes, but he is already a professional anti-counterfeiter in Chongqing.
On the Judgment Documents Online, using "Hu Yong" as the plaintiff's key word, there were 551 cases, of which 468 were filed by the person himself, and the rest were the agents ad litem for Li Juan, Hu Tao, Yin Qing, Du Wenjiang and Peng Yuzhi.
The six persons acted as agents ad litem for each other in multiple cases, and filed a total of 1,461 lawsuits.
Different from Hu Yong's "little single stream", A Jiu, a post-90s professional anti-counterfeiter, focuses more on health care products and alcohol and other commodities, and is good at anti-counterfeiting with large amounts of money.
Like Hu Yong, Ajiu looks ordinary.
Regular T-shirt, regular jeans, regular sneakers.
"Ordinary" is almost one of the entry criteria for professional counterfeiters.
Before entering the business, he was a health care product salesperson.
"Our company has a product that sells very well, and then there are many fake products on the market. Every year we have to fight a lot of lawsuits." After observing for a period of time, he found that cracking down on counterfeiting can make money, "I quit my job to fight counterfeiting. It's over." Afterwards, Ajiu came to Chongqing, worshipped "Master", and officially stepped into the arena of professional anti-counterfeiting.
Those who enter the industry have their own stories.
In Ajiu's team, Xing Jun and Awang came from other places to defect.
Xing Jun was in his early 20s. His grandparents bought health care products for a long time, and later died of cancer.
He firmly believed that the mattresses, water purifiers and unfinished bottles that were stuffed into his home by the salesperson directly led to the death of the old man.
Later, he saw A Jiu's video on the Internet and traveled from his hometown to Chongqing.
"I'm fighting fakes to get revenge." He gritted his teeth and said this.
Ah Wang from Guangdong also found Ah Jiu on the Internet.
He used to be an interior designer, but the job bore him.
"I think I am someone who wants to defend justice. The job of fighting fakes is very close to my character." He is A Jiu's apprentice who paid tuition, and he has already fought and won a lawsuit under the guidance of the latter. When the verdict is reached, I feel a sense of accomplishment.”
The words sense of accomplishment and sense of justice appeared many times in interviews.
Xiang Zhi, who is acquainted with Hu Yong, was an operator of a map software company before entering the business. He said he had seen news of a professional crackdown on counterfeiters.
"The big brother can tell the true and false rubies with the naked eye." He recalled excitedly, how he was shocked by the high income of the other party at that time, and how he was convinced by such a powerful ability, "It's amazing, there is such a profession!"
After officially entering the field of anti-counterfeiting, Hu Yong made a report and complaint for a year before he dared to step into the door of "litigation". He still remembers the first time he tried to sue a businessman.
"When I searched online, I felt that I understood it all. When I really filed a lawsuit, I found that I didn't know every step, and every step was wrong." He recalled standing in the courtroom and was asked a series of questions by the judge. Meng, "The judge finally asked me directly, who is your master? Why didn't you teach you anything?" Hu Yong said that he did not have a master.
"One minute on stage, ten years of work off stage. I think it's easy to make money by professionally fighting counterfeiters, but I don't see the investment behind it." Xiang Zhi counted the cost of learning with his fingers. I can’t do it in years. Then the technology of counterfeiters is improving every day, and we also need to update the knowledge base simultaneously.” In his view, the knowledge reserve needed to be a professional counterfeiter is “equivalent to a graduate student.”
"Offline can be used to end the nest, and online can be exposed"
On May 29, an EMS courier from Henan was delivered to Ajiu’s office in Banan District, Chongqing, containing an inspection report on a brand of “compound beverages”.
"Contains sibutramine." He ripped open the report and took a look, but his expression did not change, "This is a common banned ingredient in diet pills, and Guo Meimei was imprisoned for the second time because she sold it. “Sibutramine has been widely used in weight loss drugs, because it will increase serious cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risks. Since 2010, the State Food and Drug Administration has completely stopped the preparations and raw materials of sibutramine in my country. Manufacture, sale and use of medicines.
Before he got the test report, he had already bought back 50,000 yuan of goods, full of several large boxes, piled up beside the window.
When he first saw the actual drink, he immediately decided that it was a fake.
He put the report back into the envelope and placed it on a pile of cardboard boxes next to the sofa.
These boxes are printed with the words "Kweichow Moutai Town", and similar "Moutai wine" is everywhere in this house of about 80 square meters, a total of 106 boxes.
"The price I bought was about 100,000 yuan, and I bought it from five or six merchants." He opened a box and contained six bottles of wine that looked almost exactly like Maotai except for the unlabeled wine. The original wine and Maotai Town wine are similar. Either it is a fake with a label, or it is like this, and there is no label."
Usually, out of consideration for risk, Ajiu does not buy too many goods from the same merchant.
"On the one hand, we will consider that the amount of a case is too large, and there are risks when a lawsuit is filed. On the other hand, if we crack down on counterfeiting, he can correct his mistakes. There is no need to bring down one merchant at a time. And one store, one loses ten, you If he buys 100,000, he will lose 1 million, and if he buys too much, he may not get the money if he wins."
Ajiu has her own video account.
Since June 2020, he has posted various videos related to professional anti-counterfeiting on the Internet. The label "professional anti-counterfeiting" is the name Ajiu gave to his video account.
"Ajiu" is the code name he gave himself - his real name is very common, but he is still very careful to protect this name from being leaked.
In the video, Ajiu wears a black hoodie and a black mask, "advocating the nationwide crackdown on counterfeiting and building the first professional anti-counterfeiting team in China".
He left his contact information and collected clues to crack down on counterfeiting.
"Offline can end the nest, online can be exposed."
The "training materials" that Ajiu prepared for his apprentice Awang and others were the "Consumer Rights Protection Law", the "Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China" and the "Product Quality Law".
In addition, Ajiu also prepared for them "The Complete Book of Commonly Used Laws and Regulations of the People's Republic of China (2020 Edition)", "Civil Code of the People's Republic of China and Related Judicial Interpretations" and "Civil Procedure Law and Related Interpretations".
The five books were new when they were bought, but now they are half-worn, with densely drawn outlines and notes.
"Apart from what they want to learn, I don't know everything when I come here. I learn it while I'm litigating. If I encounter any problems, I will come to the law to find the answer. The code is the teaching material."
Laws are obscure, and practice makes perfect.
"You'll get used to it if you watch it a lot," he said.
He has been working as a professional counterfeiter for a long time, and he has developed a habit of checking everything he buys.
In 2021, he bought three assembled computers for office use. After arriving, he found that there was no 3C certification (China Compulsory Product Certification) label, and he took the merchant to court.
"I don't need to specifically search for fakes, there are enough fakes in my daily life. I will buy whatever I need, and if I find fakes in the process, I will call." On May 29, Ajiu brought team members to dinner , When ordering, the waiter recommended sour plum soup, and he immediately refused: "That's too fake, it's all exchanged." You can't drink freshly squeezed watermelon juice, because watermelon concentrate is added.
He finally ordered coconut milk and beer, and habitually took a look at the bottle before opening it.
The rivers and lakes have formed
The report that "pulled out" the names of Hu Yong and others was a big data analysis conducted by Zhao Changjiang based on the China Judgment Documents Network.
The report, titled "Beware of Professionals Fighting Counterfeiters and Turning Evil Dragons - Taking Chongqing Court Judgments as Samples" was issued on May 16 and attracted much attention.
"Chongqing's number of anti-counterfeiting cases and the number of professional anti-counterfeiting cases are both the first in the country. I was very surprised by the high numbers of these two figures." Zhao Changjiang teaches at a law school in a university in Chongqing. After data analysis, he found that Chongqing is close to In recent years, the number of anti-counterfeiting cases has increased sharply. "With food safety and tort liability disputes as the qualifications, in the past five years, there have been more than 18,000 first-instance judgment cases across the country, of which the total number of cases in Chongqing is 10,648, accounting for 59% of the national total. The second Guangdong province has 9,049 more cases, ranking first in the country.” In addition, Chongqing has the second highest winning rate of food infringement cases in the past five years, reaching 83.41%.
It should be noted that although the winning rate in Tianjin is higher than that in Chongqing, reaching 92.51%, the total number of cases in the past five years is only 668.
Zhao Changjiang believes: "Benefiting from the support of the judicial environment, a large number of professional anti-counterfeiters have poured into Chongqing, and Chongqing has become the city with the largest number of professional anti-counterfeiters in China." The original judge's support.
"Chongqing has a high rate of filing cases and winning cases. It's that simple." Ajiu said.
In Zhao Changjiang's report, "Chongqing's professional anti-counterfeiters have a clear trend of 'grouping'." According to the number of cases and the relevance of different cases, Zhao Changjiang finally divided Chongqing's most prosecuted anti-counterfeiters into "eight families" , three groups", with Hu Yong as the core "Hu group" is one of the three groups.
Hu Yong denied the existence of "team crackdown".
"We also need to consider the cost. Going out to the store, going one by one, and driving a car will cost you gas money. If you go alone, you will also go there, and if you go with several people, you will also go there." For the possibility of the team cracking down on fakes and making commissions for each other , he firmly denied, "Each one buys his own, and each sue is carried out under the circumstances that the law allows. I don't know about others. I have never asked anyone for clue fees anyway."
But the rivers and lakes have already formed.
"I basically know everyone in the circle, and we eat together occasionally." When the names of Hu Yong and others were reported, Ajiu knew almost all of them, but in the reporter's many days of interviews, he knew that there were not many businesses. "The main reason is that I almost There are no more small orders like expired food in supermarkets, and there are more large orders such as online shopping and wine and health care products.”
On the wall of the office, part of the management system of the "Ajiu Team" was printed and pasted.
"Everyone in the team is a close comrade-in-arms." In this system, it is clarified that the team is centered on Ajiu, the responsibility for the hard work indicators is assigned to the individual, and the profit-sharing system is implemented.
There is no need for dividends to share case sources among team members. Cooperative cases will be distributed according to the proportion of investment. If the profit of each case exceeds 800 yuan, it needs to be handed over to Ajiu in proportion.
Ajiu said that the professional anti-counterfeiting industry actually has a high turnover rate.
Many "apprentices" who paid to sign up soon lost interest in this line of work and quit on their own. Some people were not qualified enough and were eventually eliminated by A Jiu.
"Doing this business requires comprehension, and you need to be able to learn it." He admitted that he charged an apprentice tuition of 4,000 yuan, and if he had to take it by himself, the cost would be even higher, "At the beginning, there were 70 or 80 people in the group, and then some of them left. , it's not the material for this line of work, or it's boring. There are not many left."
Overwhelmed supermarket
In Zhao Changjiang's report, with food liability disputes as the cause, the largest number of cases involved are supermarkets, agricultural and non-staple food stores, tea shops, and pharmacies.
Supermarkets are the most visited places by professional anti-counterfeiters.
For various supermarkets, "small order bombing" is the most common.
A fresh food chain company has about 300 small stores in Chongqing. According to Xiao Han, the head of the company's legal department, according to the time of the indictment, in 2021 alone, the company's stores have encountered 933 anti-counterfeiting lawsuits.
"The 'anti-counterfeiting' faced by supermarkets and shops is basically based on small orders. Milk, ham, sausage, instant noodles, and various snacks." Xiao Han said that in mid-May this year, the company had 60 lawsuits filed on the same day. Hearing in a court in Chongqing.
Since this week, the company has had more than 100 "anti-counterfeiting" cases under trial.
In the prosecution case, the lowest-priced item was a piece of chewing gum priced at $2.
"The other party only bought one, and the reason for the lawsuit is that it has expired. About two or three days after the expiration date, we lost 1,000 yuan in compensation for the two-dollar thing." Xiao Han said that all the anti-counterfeiting lawsuits showed a large number of repeated cases. , The characteristics of repeated purchases, "We inspect quality every day, but there are always thousands of categories in a store, and there are always negligence. Many products are only targeted for a day or two after they expire."
A similar thing happened to a trading company.
Since 2019, the trading company has opened 5 supermarkets in the main urban area of Chongqing. Soon after the opening, the company encountered suspected professional counterfeiters.
On May 28, Zheng Wanfa, the executive director of the trading company, took out a thick pile of judgments and a lot of related CD-ROM materials, "Up to now, we have been prosecuted about 130 times, and we have won 5 times, and all others have lost. "
According to legal documents, in September 2020, the Xinpaifang branch of the trading company was sued by Xiu Manyuan, Xiu Cunliang, Huang Xiaojun, and Huang Guangping.
A total of 189 commodities were involved in the lawsuit, which were purchased by four people. In the end, 72 lawsuits were formed. The target of each lawsuit was 1,000 yuan, and a total of 72,000 yuan was involved in indemnity.
Zheng Wanfa said that the company lost this series of lawsuits, which also became the last straw that crushed the Xinpaifang branch.
In March 2022, shortly after the verdict, the company closed the Xinpaifang branch.
"They will 'share' information in the circle. The same product is exchanged for several different anti-counterfeiters. Everyone comes to sue once. Many 1,000 yuan add up, which is not a small amount." Xiao Han said that the anti-counterfeit bought it. The unit price of the product is low and the quantity is small, but the number of prosecutions is high. "The same product may face multiple lawsuits at the same time. In 2019, the number of anti-counterfeiting cases in the company was only 375. In 2020, it rose to 516. The first half of this year is not over yet. As of the end of May, there were 918 cases."
The "tea trade tradition" that had to be changed
Unlike small supermarkets being "sued in batches", tea merchants in Chongqing are faced with a "big single stream" of single large lawsuits.
"What we have encountered is often hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of compensation lawsuits." Zhan Linfu, vice president of the Chongqing Tea Industry Association, said that many tea merchants sell loose tea in small bags of vacuum packaging for disposal. " We will pack as many teas as the customers want. But once the customers buy a lot of tea, the workload of on-site packaging will be very large, so many bosses do seal up in advance."
Such sub-packages almost do not have labels that meet the specifications to explain what the contents are.
"If the tea in bulk is packaged and bought in person, there is no problem. But the anti-counterfeiter will find a way to let you pack it in advance. When you come to buy, the whole process will be videotaped. You buy packaged tea, and there is no relevant label on the package. , he can sue you." Zhan Linfu said.
Articles 67 and 68 of the "Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China" clearly stipulate that prepackaged food and bulk food should be marked with the producer's name, address, contact information, and food shelf life. Zhan Linfu admits that under this regulation , Most of the tea sub-packages do not meet the specifications.
In the summer of 2020, a male guest came to the tea house of tea merchant Wang Yunchuan. He bought several sets of black tea and two more expensive white teas twice, with a total consumption of more than 8,000 yuan.
In October of that year, Wang Yunchuan received a subpoena from the People's Court of Shaping District, Chongqing, and the customer who bought the tea sued for ten times the compensation for the return.
"Directly sued, saying that my kung fu black tea is a three-no product, and he defined it as a prepackaged food."
In March of this year, Wang Yunchuan was sentenced to lose the lawsuit, with a refund plus compensation. The total amount he needs to pay is more than 90,000 yuan. Wang Yunchuan said that he had been struggling to support the epidemic, but now encountering such a large amount of compensation, his vitality was greatly damaged. , had to close the store.
The Chongqing Tea Industry Association has conducted research on the units within the association regarding the claims of professional anti-counterfeiters.
"There are more than 70 occupational claim cases that I have learned, with a total claim amount of 5,869,149 yuan and an average amount of 83,844 yuan. The average claim amount per case of occupational claimants is between 60,000 and 100,000 yuan." The report issued by the survey It is said that many tea merchants have even experienced negative business operations or closures, which has had a huge impact on their own families and upstream supply channels.
Wang Yunchuan is applying for a retrial.
"This kind of punishment is too unfair for the merchants, and it doesn't take into account the special actual situation of the tea industry at all."
Under the pressure of professional anti-counterfeiters, merchants also had to change the "tea trade tradition" and strive to make their products more in line with national standards.
In Zhan Linfu's store, the pre-sealed bulk tea leaves have begun to be labeled.
"It's to deal with professional anti-counterfeiters." Luo Shaonan, deputy secretary-general of Chongqing Tea Industry Association, pointed to the introduction of the signs placed in the window. The association has carried out a series of trainings on the prevention of professional anti-counterfeiters. "On the one hand, the problems of labels are , For example, we are now trying to find a way to label loose tea. There are also signs of 'displays' and 'collectibles' on the window to deal with the case where anti-counterfeiters deliberately bought vintage tea and sued expired."
Luo Shaonan admitted that in addition to coping skills, regulating the operation of the entire industry in accordance with laws and regulations is a more important issue.
"Without this confidence, any skills are useless."
interests and disputes
"In 2021, I will fight more than 200 cases, and the income will be more than 2 million." Ajiu said that not all cases will reach the stage of judgment, and more cases will end in mediation.
"There are also businesses who have asked for private reconciliation, but we will not take the initiative to do so."
According to a lawyer in Chongqing who is familiar with professional anti-counterfeiters, the figure of 2 million is not outrageous: "Senior professional anti-counterfeiters can indeed reach this level."
High profits attract more and more people to enter the industry of professional anti-counterfeiting.
Ajiu clearly felt the changes in the "circle" in recent years. "There are more and more people fighting fakes, and most of them are from other places."
However, the opposition of natural positions has caused constant friction between anti-counterfeiting and merchants.
Ajiu was blocked on the road after the court session and was beaten to death.
Xing Jun, who had just entered the business, also began to see the potential risks: "Someone is guarding us downstairs for several days."
Hu Yong and Xiang Zhi also encountered similar things.
The shopkeeper found and beaten when buying evidence, and was besieged by the businessman at the door of the court after the court session... All of the above make professional anti-counterfeiting people extra cautious.
Ajiu often lives in the office, and his wife and children have other residences.
"Safety is the biggest consideration," he said.
Merchants have also begun to add cameras in their stores, most of which are installed directly near the cashier to record the details of customers’ purchases throughout the process.
In the group chat, whenever there is a guest who "looks like a counterfeiter", the merchant will send the appearance to the group to remind colleagues to pay more attention.
"I can say this, as long as you are identified as a suspected counterfeiter, at least in our tea industry, if you go to any store, I am afraid you will not be able to buy anything." Zhan Linfu said.
On the other hand, the environment and atmosphere are also changing.
On December 27, 2021, the People's Court of Xuwen County, Guangdong Province determined that a 19-year-old professional anti-counterfeiter was suspected of extortion and transferred his criminal clues to the public security organs.
He has been dubbed by the media as "China's youngest professional anti-counterfeiter". In less than a year of his career, he has fought more than 800 lawsuits with merchants and made a profit of more than 100,000 yuan.
In April of this year, Ms. Wang's meat shop in Zhongxian County, Chongqing, was suspected of buying 150 bowls of vacuum-packed meat by a professional anti-counterfeiter and filed a lawsuit in the name of "three no products". The court finally ruled that Ms. Wang should refund a total of nearly 50,000 yuan. .
The meat deduction case has aroused extensive discussion and controversy in society, and "how to define counterfeit goods" and "whether professional counterfeiters are considered consumers" have become the center of controversy.
For the former, the core controversy at present is whether the labelling issue can be classified as "fake goods".
Item 4 of Article 26 of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that food safety standards shall include "requirements for labels, signs and instructions related to food safety requirements such as hygiene and nutrition"; 13 regulations, "Prohibition of production and operation ... 'unlabeled prepackaged food, food additives'".
"Some of the products that have been cracked down are not related to product quality. I don't think they can be considered fakes." Li Jian, a lawyer at Beijing Deheng (Chongqing) Law Firm, believes that in many cases, professional anti-counterfeiters have used existing laws to " The relatively broad definition of "not meeting food safety standards" is for the purpose of making profits.
"For example, in the meat case, there is no problem with the quality of the product itself. Professional anti-counterfeiting is purely for profit, not for the supervision of food safety itself." In Li Jian's view, professional anti-counterfeiting no longer belongs to the category of normal consumers. The purchase behavior of anti-counterfeiters also does not belong to the category of normal consumption.
But anti-counterfeiting people have different views.
Neither Hu Yong nor Ajiu believe that the "150 bowls of pork belly case" is a malicious attack on porcelain.
In Hu Yong's view, label specifications are the minimum threshold for ensuring product quality. "It's just a label defect? Even if the label is not well done, how to ensure the quality of the content?"
"Professional Anti-Counterfeiters" or "Real Rights Defenders"?
In the end how should anti-counterfeiting become a "professional", the legal profession is also a lot of controversy.
As a practitioner, Hu Yong is very cautious when talking about "professional anti-counterfeiters". He prefers to use "true rights defenders" to define himself, and believes that "professional anti-counterfeiters" is a derogatory and stigmatizing label.
Article 2 of the "Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law" stipulates: "Consumers need to buy, use goods or receive services for their daily consumption, and their rights and interests are protected by this Law."
This has also become the basic basis for professional anti-counterfeiters who have been repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of anti-counterfeiting in recent years.
In the opinion of lawyer Ge Shuchun, a member of the China Law Society, the emergence of professional anti-counterfeiters violates the original legislative intention of rewarding compensation in the Consumer Rights Protection Law.
"In itself, it encourages consumers to protect their rights, but when the market environment changes, it becomes a tool for some people to make profits." He believes that benign anti-counterfeiting should promote the improvement of product quality itself, rather than non-critical labels, packaging, etc. Sexual entanglement.
Wang Cailiang, director of Beijing Cailiang Law Firm, also believes that how to determine the identities of consumers and professional anti-counterfeiters, in judicial practice, requires front-line judges to make more "common sense" judgments on individual cases.
Wu Xiaoli, a lawyer at Beijing Deheng (Chongqing) Law Firm, opposed the use of "extortion" to characterize professional counterfeiters.
"If they 'take the initiative' to ask the store owner for high compensation with something, it is extortion. Note here that it must be an active request, and the store owner's own settlement does not count. As long as the anti-counterfeiting is within the scope and It is no problem to file a lawsuit and obtain the compensation stipulated by the law, not to mention extortion." Wu Xiaoli said that if he thinks that the behavior of professional anti-counterfeiters is beyond the normal scope, what should be done is to issue a more detailed judicial interpretation, "a kind of It could be that food safety violations are classified and graded to differentiate between different levels of compensation."
On May 19, 2017, the General Office of the Supreme People's Court stated in a reply, "We believe that at present, in addition to purchasing food and medicine, we can gradually restrict the profit-making activities of professional anti-counterfeiters... According to the actual situation, we will gradually curb the profit-seeking anti-counterfeiting behavior of professional anti-counterfeiters by means of judicial interpretations, guiding cases and other forms in due course."
Lawyer Ge Shuchun believes that this reply means that in addition to “gradually restricting the profit-making anti-counterfeiting behavior of professional anti-counterfeiters”, the most direct purpose is to curb the fraudulent activities such as counterfeiting and selling in the field of food and medicine.
"Food and drugs are different from other counterfeiting and selling behaviors, which are related to people's lives and health. The use of folk anti-counterfeiting to curb the production and sales of counterfeit goods in the field of food and drugs has actually mobilized the enthusiasm of some people, and it is true that there is a problem with the production and sales of counterfeit goods in the field of food and drugs. Strike."
temperature changes
重庆打假案一审的高胜诉率，也成为了坊间的话题。为什么在打假这个领域，同样的法律框架下，重庆这个城市有如此不同的表现？
“主要原因是两个，一个是法官有自由裁量权，所以当法律规定相对笼统时，每个地方都可以有自己的倾向。第二个是先例惯性，类似的案子只要前面判赢，后面大概率也跟着判赢。”一名曾审理过职业打假人诉讼案例的重庆前法官说。
一位接近重庆法院系统的人士告诉记者，对于职业打假这一行为，此前重庆总体上氛围确实较为宽松。但在近来特别是“150碗扣肉”案后，法院系统已“受到了触动”。
据知情人士介绍，5月23日，重庆法院系统曾组织过一个会议，专门就职业打假人这一群体向各界了解情况、征求看法。
“除了法院、质检机构等政府部门，会议还邀请了一些遭遇打假比较严重的商户、公司一起参会，听取我们反映情况。”一名受邀公司相关负责人说。
重庆市高级人民法院一位工作人员表示，职业打假人确实已经引起重庆高院的关注，但就此话题暂时无法接受进一步采访。
重庆消费者协会表示从未和职业打假人产生过联系。记者多次致电重庆市市场监管部门申请采访，截至发稿时未收到回复。
“150碗扣肉”案后，重庆的职业打假者们普遍感觉到了温度的变化。无论胡勇还是阿玖，手头上的案子立案开始变得艰难。“最明显的是网络打假不给立案了，法院会推给商家所在地。”胡勇在6月5日接受采访时说，“明天我有个福建的案子要开庭，申请远程参加，对方法院说没有这个条件。这等于把网络打假的路封死了。谁有时间精力去外地诉讼？我手上还押着10多万的货物，目前等于全亏。”
胡勇认为这极不合理，会导致消费者放弃维权。“我们只是行使监督权。很多消费者没有知识储备、没有时间精力去维权，不意味着我们这些较真的维权者就不该存在。”他仍记得第一次胜诉后的职业成就感，以及在获利的同时，自我成就的“英雄梦想”，“最具体的例子，重庆本地的一些超市，这几年能被我们抓到的问题商品越来越少，这就是我们推动商家改进的明证”。
"As long as there are fakes, professional anti-counterfeiters will be there." Ajiu remains optimistic. In his opinion, professional anti-counterfeiters are a supplement to market supervision. "Our existence is a deterrent to merchants. As long as you don't If something goes wrong, what are we afraid of doing?”
(Ajiu, Awang, Xing Jun, and Xiang Zhi are pseudonyms in the text)
Beijing News reporter Yang Xue