Who handles trademark infringement?
According to Article 60 of the Trademark Law, infringement of trademark Rights-related acts shall be handled by the industrial and commercial administrative organs and the people's courts.
Anyone can make a complaint or report to the industrial and commercial administration authority at or above the county level where the infringer is located or where the infringement occurred. General infringement cases are investigated and handled by the county-level industrial and commercial administration departments, while foreign-related cases or major cases are handled by the prefecture-level or provincial-level industrial and commercial administration departments. The location of the infringer refers to the location of the infringer's domicile, residence or the location of the infringer's unit; the place of infringement refers to the place where the infringer commits the infringement.
Those who are dissatisfied with the handling of the industrial and commercial administrative organs may file a lawsuit in the People's Court. The person who has been infringed may also file a lawsuit directly with the People's Court. my country’s Trademark Law does not clearly provide for the territorial jurisdiction over trademark infringement. However, Article 28 of the Civil Procedure Law stipulates that lawsuits filed due to infringement shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court at the place where the infringement occurred or where the defendant is domiciled. If a party files a lawsuit in a people's court because he is dissatisfied with the handling of the administrative agency for industry and commerce, the administrative case shall be under the jurisdiction of the people's court where the administrative agency that originally made the specific administrative action is located. Cases that have been reviewed may also be under the jurisdiction of the people's court where the reconsideration agency is located.
Industrial and commercial administrative agencies and courts have different handling of trademark infringement cases. The main manifestations are as follows.
1) The parties requesting the processing are different. According to the provisions of the Trademark Law, anyone can accuse or report trademark infringement to the industrial and commercial administration authorities, either The infringed party may also be someone other than the infringed party. The party requesting the People's Court to handle a trademark infringement case must be the infringed party. The court will not accept lawsuits from others. Of course, consumers can also sue the People's Court in accordance with the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, but this involves the operator's infringement of consumers' rights and interests, not the legal relationship arising from trademark infringement.
2) Different industrial and commercial administrative agencies are required by the defendant to provide only the existence of infringement facts when accepting trademark infringement cases, and the defendant may not be very clear; and the People's Court requires invadedWhen the right holder files a lawsuit, he must provide a clear defendant, otherwise the case will not be accepted.
3) Different acceptance principles. The industrial and commercial administrative agencies proceed from protecting the interests of consumers, stopping unfair competition, and maintaining normal social economic order. Even if no one accuses or reports, We should also “actively investigate and deal with” trademark infringements. The People's Court implements the principle of "no complaint, no response". The People's Court will not handle trademark infringement cases without being sued by the infringer.
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