More consumers regard them as heroes, but some people think they are making profits for themselves.

Sociologist Xia Xueluan compares those "professional counterfeiters" who aim at making profits to "parasites bred by bad business life". Because they are fake, they have room to live.

Objectively speaking, these people have indeed played a positive role in purifying the market, but they are not really consumer representatives. "Counterfeiters" should also keep a certain bottom line while claiming compensation.

Sometimes there is a fine line between legal and illegal. Professional counterfeiting is like playing the edge ball, but it also faces risks.

With the growth of 15, "professional counterfeiters" have become more proficient in their own anti-counterfeiting skills, means and relevant laws and regulations in the consumer field. But what we don't want to see is that some people in this group make a living by making profits or even extortion, and "confuse the fake with the real", taking advantage of the legal gap and the psychology of merchants seeking peace.

solution

After the professional counterfeiters buy fakes, more than 50% of the "professional counterfeiters" will settle accounts with the merchants. The rest will be reported to the industry and commerce or brought to court. In Beijing, there are more than 30 lawsuits every year, but many of them are not prosecuted in the name of "professional counterfeiters". Objectively speaking, only losing money can touch the interests of businesses and urge them to correct problems. And those enterprises that do not change after repeated education are the targets of his attack.

"Professional counterfeiting" can indeed bring some benefits. Mr. Xie said that the deduction cost of his annual anti-counterfeiting income is at least 50,000 to 60,000 yuan. According to the reporter, some of them are even higher and can be described as "considerable".

For merchants, these "professional counterfeiters" make them feel a headache. The person in charge of a famous shopping center in Beijing told reporters that after these people bought the problem goods, they usually called the shopping mall first to ask for "personal settlement". "In fact, it is asking for money."

When asking for "reconciliation", these people often ask for compensation that is several times higher than the price of the goods, and sometimes they throw out threatening language such as "exposing the media" and "resorting to the law will not have good results". For the sake of commercial reputation, if the goods are really defective and the shopping malls are unwilling to go to court, they will generally choose "reconciliation". "They took the opportunity to extort money and make a living from it."

Legal rights protection

The Supreme Law of Professional Counterfeiters issued the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Food and Drug Disputes, which made it clear that "buying while knowing that it is fake" can be protected by law; Online shopping consumers can claim rights from online platforms and other issues. The regulations also apply to cosmetics and health care products, and will be implemented on March 20 14 and 15.

Article 3 of the Regulations stipulates: "If there is a dispute over the quality of food and medicine, the buyer claims rights from the producer and seller, and the producer and seller argue that the buyer still buys the food and medicine knowing that there are quality problems, the people's court will not support it."

Sun said that this means that the behavior of "knowing the fake and buying the fake" will not affect consumers' protection of their own rights and interests. He said that under normal circumstances, shoppers should be recognized as consumers and can demand punitive damages. Confirming its qualification as a consumer is of positive significance for cracking down on illegal businesses and safeguarding consumers' rights and interests, and is conducive to purifying the food and drug market environment.

In fact, before the promulgation of the "Regulations", China's laws did not clearly stipulate "buying fakes while knowing them".

According to the provisions of Article 49 of China's current Consumer Law, "if an operator commits fraud in providing goods or services, it shall increase the compensation for the losses it has suffered according to the requirements of consumers, and the amount of compensation shall be twice the price of the goods purchased by consumers or the cost of receiving services". Since the implementation of the Consumer Law, the wave of fake goods purchase claims represented by Wang Hai has prevailed throughout the country. This phenomenon is called "Wang Hai phenomenon", and Wang Hai's practice has become a controversial topic in the legal field.

"Whether the court supports the punitive compensation request of' knowing the fake and buying the fake' has different understandings in both legal circles and trial practice. Some courts support it and some don't. The judicial interpretation issued this time supports the idea of' knowing fakes and buying fakes', which is of great significance for unifying judicial standards, cracking down on illegal businesses, safeguarding consumer rights and purifying the food and drug market environment. " Yang Lixin, a professor at Renmin University of China Law School, said.

"But for the so-called professional counterfeiters, and even some companies that have formed' knowing fakes and buying fakes', the judicial interpretation is not clearly defined and is still in the process of exploration." Zhang Yongjian, president of the First Chamber of the Civil Trial of the Supreme Court, said, "Professional counterfeiting is a double-edged sword in itself. On the one hand, it can restrict and curb counterfeiting, but it may also cause some moral hazard or market order problems.

reference data

Professional counterfeiters are "nitrifying bacteria" in the circulation field. Red Net [reference time 2018-1-1]