How to determine whether the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark is committed
(1) Main requirements
The subject of this crime is a general subject, and both natural persons and entities can become the subject of this crime. As far as natural persons are concerned, as long as the perpetrator reaches the legal age of criminal responsibility, has the ability to be criminally responsible, and commits the act of counterfeiting a registered trademark, it can constitute a crime. As far as the unit is concerned, if the unit commits the act of counterfeiting someone else's registered trademark and it constitutes a crime, a double penalty system will be implemented, that is, the unit will be fined, and the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel will be held criminally responsible in accordance with the law.
(2) Object requirements
The objects infringed by this crime are the legitimate exclusive rights of others to register trademarks, and National trademark management order. The criminal object of this crime is someone else's registered trademark, but it only includes product trademarks, not service trademarks.
(3) Subjective aspects
The subjective aspect of this crime is intentionality, that is, the perpetrator knows that a certain trademark is the registered trademark of another person, and uses the same trademark as the registered trademark on the same kind of goods without the permission of the registered trademark owner. General situation Under the law, perpetrators of the crime of counterfeiting other people's registered trademarks all have the purpose of making profit, but according to the criminal law, "for profit" is not a constitutive element of the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks. Some counterfeiting of trademarks may also be done to damage other people's registered trademarks. Reputation, etc. Regardless of the motivation or purpose, it does not affect the constitution of this crime. If it is due to negligence, that is, if you really do not know that the trademark you are using is a registered trademark of others, this crime will not be constituted and you can press Handling general trademark infringement.
(4) Objective Aspect
The objective aspect of the crime is manifested in conduct A person uses the same trademark as his registered trademark on the same product without the permission of the registered trademark owner, which is a serious act.
1. The actor must use the same trademark as the registered trademark of others on the same kind of goods. On the one hand, the goods for which the actor uses the trademark are the same as the goods for which the registered trademark is used. It must be the same kind of goods; on the other hand, the trademark used by the perpetrator is the same as the registered trademark of others.
2. The actor uses a trademark that is the same as someone else’s registered trademark without the permission of the registered trademark owner. In practice, if the actor does not do it subjectively intentionally, but The crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark due to negligence or the act of counterfeiting another person's registered trademark but not to the serious extent does not constitute the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately grasp the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark.The boundary between crime and non-crime is because the penalties for illegal acts of counterfeiting other people's trademarks and criminal acts are different. Once the wrong identification is made, it will have a great impact on the parties concerned.
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