What is the standard for determining the amount of illegal business in intellectual property criminal cases
Chapter 3 of my country's "Criminal Law" The crime of "infringement of intellectual property rights" is stipulated in the "crime of undermining the order of the socialist market economy". Taking the crime of selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks as an example, my country's "Criminal Law" stipulates that a relatively large "sales amount" is one of the elements of the crime. In the "Opinions of the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases of Intellectual Property Infringement" issued in January 2011, the crime of selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks has not been The “value amount” of goods sold is stipulated.
"Supreme People's Court" issued in December 2004 , The Interpretation of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases of Intellectual Property Infringement (hereinafter referred to as "Interpretation" 1) stipulates the specific sentencing standards for intellectual property crimes. The sentencing standards involve the "amount of illegal business operations" concept.
In the trial of intellectual property criminal cases, for The calculation of the sales amount that has been sold is often based on the specific sales amount that has been ascertained, and the perpetrator is convicted and sentenced based on this, which is not controversial in judicial practice. As for the calculation standards for the value of goods that are manufactured, stored, transported or not yet sold, due to the inconsistent application of standards and common difficulties in identification in practice, the company hasThe law is quite confusing. The standard for determining the amount of illegal business operations is directly related to major issues such as the crime or non-criminality of the perpetrator, the severity of the crime, etc. Therefore, the certainty of its application urgently needs to be further unified and clarified.
For the determination of "illegal business amount", there are three standards for calculating the value of infringing products that are manufactured, stored, transported or not yet sold: the price, the actual average sales price of the identified infringing products and The mid-market price of the infringed product.
The price can be commonly understood as being marked on the infringing product The price of. In practice, some reflect the value of the infringing product, and some may reflect the value of the infringed product. Although this method is easy to calculate in the investigation and handling of intellectual property criminal cases, its inherent uncertainty may also lead to uncertainty and unreasonableness in the outcome of the case.
Use the actual sales of the identified infringing products Using the average price to determine the amount of illegal business operations is essentially a presumption of guilt for the perpetrator. In practice, it is a calculation method that best reflects the compatibility of crime and punishment. However, there may be certain problems with this method. That is, the higher the actual selling price of the infringing product, the better the quality of the corresponding product and the lower the harm to society. However, the criminal suspect may be detained because of the high selling price. impose heavier penalties and vice versa.
The standard of the middle market price of the infringed product Although it is the most controversial in practice, its formulation has certain legal rationality. In practice, the market median price of the infringed product is often higher than the actual sales price of the perpetrator. This calculation standard reflects the value of the intellectual property rights attached to the infringing product through the amount itself, which can be said to be a more severe criminal sanction standard. In addition, this standard has the characteristics of stability and operability, and the publicity of the market price of the infringed products also facilitates investigation by the investigative agencies. The disadvantage of this method is that there may be calculatedThe value of the goods is too high, and the fine based on this may exceed the reasonable range and fail to fully reflect the principle of proportionality of crime and punishment.
The editor’s summary ends here, if you If you have more questions in this regard, you are welcome to consult the Legal Savior Network. The Legal Savior Network provides professional legal consulting services, and a professional team of lawyers will answer your questions.
