Recently, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Qixia District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, issued an administrative penalty decision (Ningqi City Supervision and Punishment [2025] 00012 No.), imposing a fine of 50000 yuan on Jiangsu Yixianghua Building Material Trading Co., Ltd. for its illegal act of selling counterfeit "CONCH" (Conch Brand) registered trademark cement. In this case, the enterprises involved took the initiative to admit punishment, actively rectify and compensate for the loss of the obligee, and eventually got a lighter punishment, which triggered a heated discussion on trademark protection and compliance management in the industry.
Case review: Forged " Conch Cement " measurement sheet and sold more than 1500 tons
of counterfeit products. After investigation, in October 2021, Jiangsu Yixianghua Building Materials Trading Co., Ltd. Employees were organized to forge "CONCH" brand cement metering sheets and sell low-priced bulk cement as "conch cement" to the A4 section of Nanjing and Yanlu River-crossing Tunnel Project of China Railway Tunnel Co., Ltd., involving more than 1500 tons of cement, with an illegal business volume of more than 960000 yuan and an illegal income of more than 50000 yuan.
The trademark owner identified and confirmed that the cement involved in the case was a counterfeit product, and the "Conch Brand" and "CONCH" logos used were identical to the registered trademarks No.350722 and No.996978, which constituted an infringement stipulated in Article 57 of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China. The key to
lighter punishment: voluntary surrender, compensation and compliance rectification
. The clues of this case were transferred by Nanjing Railway Procuratorate. According to the procuratorial organ, although the enterprises involved constitute the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks, they are not subject to criminal punishment but administrative punishment because of the minor circumstances and the lighter circumstances such as voluntary surrender, confession of guilt and punishment, return of stolen goods and compensation, and completion of compliance rectification. After three investigations and evidence collection, Qixia District Municipal Supervisory Bureau confirmed that the enterprise had paid compensation and obtained the understanding of the trademark owner, and submitted a compliance rectification report and a third-party evaluation certificate.
According to Article 60 of the Trademark Law and Article 32 of the Administrative Punishment Law, the regulatory authorities, taking into account their attitude towards rectification, finally made a decision to order the cessation of infringement and impose a fine of 50000 yuan. As the leading brand in the domestic building materials industry,
"Conch Cement" has long been facing the impact of counterfeit and inferior products. The investigation of this case demonstrates the determination of the market supervision department to protect intellectual property rights, and also sounds an alarm for the building materials industry. This punishment is not only a punishment for infringers, but also embodies the law enforcement concept of "tempering justice with mercy". Building materials enterprises should take precautions to strengthen the awareness of trademark compliance and put an end to "hitchhiking" behavior. When purchasing bulk building materials such as cement, consumers also need to identify regular channels to avoid potential engineering safety hazards. The original text of the penalty decision is as follows:
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