Counterfeit Disney dolls infringe on IP, with criminal sentencing
The fake Disney dolls were sold by social media celebrity Zhu and his team.
Counterfeit Disney dolls with Mickey Mouse shape patterns were deemed to infringe on commodities, with six people facing criminal sentencing, the Jing'an District's procuratorate said on Thursday.
It is the first time that the pattern was protected as a figurative trademark in a criminal case of intellectual property (IP), the Shanghai Disney Resort mentioned in a letter of acknowledgment for the procuratorate.
An online celebrity, surnamed Zhu, has 200,000 followers on the short-video platform Douyin. He and his wife sold fake Disney dolls and other accessories at a low price during livestreaming sales in 2021 and 2022, involving over 3 million yuan (US$436,300).
The market price for an original heartthrob LinaBell is about 200 yuan, but because demand is exceeding supply, one doll can cost between 2,000 and 3,000 yuan in a private transaction. But in Zhu's store, one fake toy only cost 40 yuan.
A worker of the procuratorate and a citizen, surnamed Liu, found their offense and reported it to the authorities last year. The group was arrested in August, and over 800 counterfeit products were seized by the police.
Zhu pleaded guilty and said they made fake English certificates and avoided calling the names of the Disney dolls during the live broadcast to avoid punishment.
The fake Mickey Mouse shape pattern on a product
The procuratorate said the toys with fake Disney logos can be identified as infringing products, but those without the logo are hard to confirm.
After communicating with the company and checking the certification of its trademark registration, the authority noticed that the Mickey Mouse shapes on the counterfeits without logos infringed its IP as well.
Zhu has been jailed for one year and 10 months with a fine of 800,000 yuan. And the other five people were sentenced to around one year with probation and fines, the district's court announced.
The manufacturers of these toys were also caught and the following investment is ongoing, the procuratorate said.
In recent years, the local judicial authorities have focused on the infringement of IP, because these cases are related to technical and leading issues. Professional offices or teams have been established in all local district-level procuratorates last year, and five people are listed in the national IP brain bank, the city procuratorate said on Wednesday.
Many authorities can handle cases from four directions, administratively, criminal and civil investigation, and public-interest litigation, increasing efficiency and all-around protection, it added.
Two workers of the Jing'an District's procuratorate check the counterfeits.
