Text | Liu Xuan, Wang Fangling
"A cup of Longjing tea, drink all the Jiangnan spring." West Lake Longjing Tea is one of the top ten famous teas in China, and it is also one of the most recognizable "golden business cards" in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.
The West Lake Scenic Area Tourism Court of the People's Court of Xihu District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province is located in the first-class core production area of Longjing tea in West Lake, and is the only professional people's court established in Zhejiang Province in the world cultural heritage area. Since its inauguration at the end of 2021, the West Lake Scenic Area Court has adhered to and developed the "Fengqiao Experience" in the new era, focused on the judicial protection of the West Lake Longjing tea brand, actively performed its duties in accordance with the law, and escorted the development of the tea industry.
Based on the function of adjudication
Build a solid barrier for judicial protection
"West Lake Longjing" has been registered as a geographical indication certification trademark, and it has clear requirements on the geographical scope, specific shape and processing technology of tea production using the trademark, and it is not allowed to hang, print and use it without the authorization and permission of the trademark owner.
The Xihu Court is one of the first batch of "three-in-one" grassroots pilot courts for intellectual property adjudication in Zhejiang Province. Over the years, the West Lake Scenic Area Court has laid a solid foundation for professional trials. Protecting the "West Lake Longjing" brand and helping the high-quality development of the tea industry has become one of the important responsibilities of the West Lake Scenic Area Court since its establishment.
Since its inauguration, the West Lake Scenic Area Court has concluded 12 cases of making and selling counterfeit "West Lake Longjing" trademarks, punished 22 people who violated the law and committed crimes, and sentenced a fine of more than 900 yuan.
In a case of selling goods with counterfeit trademarks "Xihu Longjing", Zhu used his convenience as an online car-hailing driver to solicit customers to help a tea company sell goods that he knew were counterfeit registered trademarks such as "Xihu Longjing" and "Shifeng", and received kickbacks of more than 120,000 yuan within three years, with personal illegal gains amounting to more than 60,000 yuan. The West Lake Scenic Area Court held at trial that the defendant Zhu helped others sell goods that he knew were counterfeit registered trademarks, and the amount was relatively large, and based on the circumstances of the defendant's crime and his admission of guilt and acceptance of punishment, the defendant Zhu was sentenced to one year and ten months in prison, suspended for two years, and fined 63,000 yuan for the crime of selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks. The case was selected as a typical case of the 100-day law enforcement action of 'doubles protection enterprises' in Zhejiang Province in 2023.
"We insist on cracking down on the whole chain of illegal and criminal acts of producing and selling counterfeit 'West Lake Longjing' trademark goods, which is a 'comprehensive disinfection' of the breeding ground for intellectual property infringement crimes, and helps to protect the brand value of 'West Lake Longjing'." Zhu Xiaoqiong, a judge of the West Lake Scenic Area Court, said, "Infringement and criminal acts should be cracked down, and short-sighted behaviors that destroy the growing climate and destroy forests to grow tea must also be corrected." ”
In handling a number of illegal logging cases, the West Lake Scenic Area Court adhered to ecological priority and green development, implemented a compensation system for ecological and environmental damages, and issued a "repair bill" while sentencing criminal offenders, and sentenced them to publicly apologize in the media. In order to further improve the effectiveness of case handling and do a good job in the "second half of the article", the West Lake Court and the District Procuratorate have set up a digital judicial practice base for public welfare protection of "Guarding Tea and Protecting Forests" to effectively enhance the ecological well-being of the people.
Innovate legal popularization publicity
Cohesion of brand protection
Judge Chen Rugan of the West Lake Scenic Area Court found that the defendants in such cases were basically small and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households in the industry, and the illegal and criminal acts were mainly to use the same or similar logo of "West Lake Longjing" in the conspicuous position of the tea packaging boxes and handbags sold, and the weak awareness of trademark protection and lack of legal knowledge were the main reasons for the occurrence of such cases.
Before the mining of Longjing spring tea in West Lake in 2024, the court of West Lake Scenic Area accurately met the legal needs of tea farmers and tea enterprises, and arranged a special mock court, in which college students simulated the trial process, and the judge explained the law and reasoned after the trial.
"Legal popularization activities play an important role in promoting and improving the self-discipline mechanism of the industry." Chen Rudang said, "In order to build a consensus on the brand protection of 'West Lake Longjing', we must invite in and go out for legal popularization activities." ”
In daily work, the West Lake Scenic Area Court organized cadres and police officers to actively visit tea farmers and tea enterprises, and carried out "à la carte" law popularization publicity activities in the mode of "entering tea gardens + tea factories + visiting tea enterprises", and cooperated with Xihu Street, where the jurisdiction is located, to build the first shared court in Zhejiang Province featuring "West Lake Longjing" tea protection, extending services such as mediation guidance and law popularization publicity to the front line of tea farmers and tea enterprises to increase their income and get rich.
On March 29, 2024, police officers from the West Lake Scenic Area Tourism Court of the Xihu District People's Court in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, preached legal knowledge to tea farmers at the tea garden in Longjing Village, West Lake District
"The court of the West Lake Scenic Area took the initiative to meet the needs of industrial development and the requirements of rural revitalization, and wrote a 'high-score answer sheet' for protecting the fragrance of tea by actively popularizing the law to tea farmers and tea enterprises." Fan Shenghua, a deputy to the National People's Congress and the inheritor of the national intangible heritage project "West Lake Longjing Picking and Making Skills", "praised" the work of the court.
Strengthen cross-domain collaboration
Help the healthy development of the industry
"In addition to accumulating good experience in trial practice and theoretical discussions, the West Lake Scenic Area Court has also made great efforts to promote the judicial protection of the tea industry to a new level." Ni Huigang, vice president of the West Lake Court, introduced.
In 2021, the West Lake Court co-organized the seminar "West Lake on Tea - Practical Forum on the Protection and Application of Geographical Indications", where more than 100 experts, scholars and representatives of the practice community from all over the country gathered together to discuss in depth the legal and practical issues related to the protection of geographical indications. Up to now, the "West Lake on Tea" seminar has been successfully held for two sessions.
"In recent years, with the contact point for the protection of geographical indications set up by the Intellectual Property Division of the Zhejiang Provincial High People's Court in the West Lake Scenic Area Court, the West Lake Court has continuously strengthened cross-regional judicial coordination and woven a dense network of cooperation for the protection of the tea industry." Ni Huigang said.
On April 21, 2023, the West Lake Court and the People's Court of Shuangjiang Lahu Wa Brown Dai Autonomous County in Yunnan Province, the core production area of Mengku large-leaf tea, signed the country's first "Framework Agreement on Judicial Cooperation on the Protection of Famous Tea", creating a new situation of cross-domain linkage, overall coordination and systematic governance of the protection of famous tea brands.
A piece of tea, well-known at home and abroad, has inherited a thousand-year-old culture and benefited the people. The people's courts are duty-bound to protect the healthy development of the tea industry. Mao Zhijun, President of the West Lake Court, said that in the future, the West Lake Scenic Area Court will effectively identify the combination and entry point of work, take "excellent professional trials, help grassroots social governance, and ensure the healthy development of the industry" as an important part of the active performance of duties, and strive to make "green" the most touching color of the court with high-quality judicial support and service for the high-quality development of characteristic industries.
Cover and table of contents of this issue
China Trial, Issue 11, 2024
China Trial News Semi-Monthly, No. 345
Editor/Min Sun