Jiangsu Consumer Insurance Commission filed a civil public interest lawsuit for huge compensatory consumption

Company sentenced to "punitive damages" of 21.72 million yuan for selling counterfeit Starbucks coffee

  Is the "Starbucks" coffee you drink authentic?

Not necessarily.

The Wuxi Intermediate People’s Court recently issued a verdict on a public interest litigation case involving counterfeit trademarks. The plaintiff was the Jiangsu Consumer Rights Protection Committee (hereinafter referred to as Jiangsu Consumer Protection Committee). The court supported the plaintiff and sentenced the counterfeit enterprise to “punitive damages” 2172 Ten thousand yuan.

  Shuangshan Food (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Shuangshan Company), located in Jimei District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province, is an enterprise engaged in food production and sales.

  In May 2017, Chen and Zhen, who were the actual controllers of Shuangshan Company (in their sentence), reached a cooperation agreement with Deng, Zhang and others in the name of the unit.

The two parties agreed that Shuangshan Company purchased and sold instant coffee counterfeiting the registered trademark of Starbucks from Guangzhou Baiyi Food Trading Co., Ltd. controlled by Deng et al.

Afterwards, Shuangshan Company successively purchased 21,304 instant coffee counterfeit registered trademarks of Starbucks from Deng and others and sold them.

  From December 2017 to the beginning of January 2019, Chen and Zhen, who were the actual controllers of Shuangshan Company at the time, knew that the instant coffee purchased from Deng and others were counterfeit registered trademarks, they still passed in the name of the company. Sales by salespersons, logistics and delivery, etc., sold a total of 19264 pieces to more than 50 merchants in 18 provinces across the country, with a sales amount of more than 7.24 million yuan.

  On December 6, 2019, Shuangshan Company and Deng Mou were sentenced to criminal punishment by the Xinwu District Court of Wuxi City for the crime of selling products with counterfeit registered trademarks, of which Shuangshan Company was fined 3.2 million yuan.

After that, on September 28, 2020, Jiangsu Consumer Protection Committee, as the plaintiff, filed a consumer civil public interest lawsuit against Shuangshan Company.

  On March 24, 2021, the Wuxi Intermediate People's Court opened a court session to hear the case.

After hearing the case, the court held that in the case, Shuangshan Company knew that the coffee sold abroad counterfeited the Starbucks trademark, but concealed the truth, used the fake as the real, and conducted fraudulent sales, which violated corresponding obligations and infringed the legitimate rights and interests of many unspecified consumers. Damaged the public interest of society.

  On May 13, the court issued a verdict in the first instance of the case, ruling that Shuangshan Company publicly apologized to consumers in the state-level media, paid 21.72 million yuan of punitive damages (calculated based on three times the sales revenue), and assumed Case acceptance fee, announcement fee, etc.

  The judge of the Wuxi Intermediate People's Court heard the case in an interview with reporters yesterday that the company involved in the case should publicly apologize to show sincere repentance. At the same time, it also warned other operators to build a good business environment.

  At the same time, the Jiangsu Consumer Insurance Commission's request to order the company involved in the case to publicly issue an apology in the news media issued across the country has a factual and legal basis and conforms to the core socialist values; requiring the company involved in the case to bear three times the punitive compensation liability is also in line with the law. .

  The judge said that this is also the first civil public interest lawsuit brought by Jiangsu Consumer Protection Committee for a huge amount of compensation for consumption, which is of special significance.

  Zhang Jianbo