The 2011 anti-counterfeiting campaign results were unanimously applauded. Some of the sentences were particularly severe, especially when the counterfeiting concerns the production of products for human consumption.

In December 2010, the International Federation of Spirits Producers' investigators that act on behalf of several foreign alcohol brand owners found a factory located in the Jin'An District of Fuzhou City and seized, with the Fuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, more than 1,400 bottles bearing foreign famous brands, among which 42 are semi-finished. The value involved, including the finished and the semi-finished, added up to Rmb 575,635 Yuan. Two suspects were arrested on the spot.

Wan Hui Da, representing the collective interests of several foreign brand owners, followed up the case before the PSB, the Procuratorate and represented the brand owners before the Criminal Court, and provided legal opinion on the case to the authority.

On December 2011, the Fuzhou Gulou District Court rendered its judgment. The court held that, the act of the defendants constituted crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark; the principal defendant, Guan Yuanqing, is sentenced to a fixed term of 5 years in prison and a fine of 290,000 Yuan.

Comment

This is one of the most severe criminal sentences rendered in an IP case. The court calculates the value involved in accordance with the price of the genuine goods. Furthermore, the semi-finished products are included in the value involved, which is an improvement of the judicial technique.

It is also important to note that the defendant is sentenced to a fixed term of 5 years in prison without being let off with probation.