Law Against Unfair Competition of the People's Republic of China
Author:sipoIssuing Date:2008-01-24 13:26:38Source:sipo
(2) consulting and copying written agreements, account books, receipts, bills, vouchers, invoices, documents, records, business correspondence and other material related to acts of unfair competition;
(3) inspecting property related to acts of unfair competition as stipulated in Article 5 of this Law and, where necessary, ordering the operator under investigation to explain the source and quantity of the goods, temporarily stop selling them pending inspection, and not to remove, conceal or destroy them.
Article 18. When exercising supervision over and carrying Out inspection of acts of unfair competition, members of the supervising and inspecting authorities shall produce warrants of inspection.
Article 19. When the supervising and inspecting authorities are exercising supervision over and carrying out inspection of acts of unfair competition, the operators under investigation, interested parties and witnesses shall truthfully provide them with relevant data or information.
Chapter IV Legal Responsibility
Article 20. Where an operator, in contravention of the provisions of this Law, causes damage to the injured operator, he shall bear the responsibility for compensating the damages. Where the losses suffered by the injured operator are difficult to calculate, the amount of damages shall be the profits gained by the infringer during the period of infringement through the infringing act. The infringer shall also bear all reasonable costs paid by the injured operator in investigating the acts of unfair competition committed by the operator suspected of infringing his lawful rights and interests.
Where the lawful rights and interests of the injured operator are damaged by the acts of unfair competition, he may institute proceedings before a People' s Court.
Article 21. Where an operator passes off the registered trademark of another person, uses the business name or personal name of another person without authorization, forges or falsely uses symbols of quality such as symbols of certification and symbols of famous and high-quality goods, falsifies the origin of the goods and makes false representations which are misleading as to the quality of the goods, he shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the Trademark Law and the Product Quality Law of the People' s Republic of China.
Where an operator uses, without authorization, the name, packaging or decoration peculiar to well-known goods or uses the name, packaging or decoration similar to that of well-known goods so that his goods are confused with the well-known goods of another person, causing buyers to mistake them for the well-known goods, the relevant supervising and inspecting authority shall order him to cease the offense, confiscate the illegal income, and may impose, according to circumstances, a fine of more than twice and less than three times the amount of illegal income; where the circumstances are serious, the said authority may revoke his business license; where an operator sells goods which are counterfeit or of inferior quality, constituting a crime, his criminal responsibilities shall be investigated according to law.
Article 22. Where an operator practices bribery, by using money, gifts or other means to sell or buy goods, constituting a crime, his criminal responsibilities shall be investigated according to law; where the act does not constitute a crime, the relevant supervising and inspecting authority may, according to circumstances, impose a fine of more than 10,000 yuan (RMB) and less than 200,000 yuan (RMB). His illegal income, if any, shall be confiscated.
Article 23. Where a public utility enterprise or any other operator having monopolistic status according to law restricts others to buying the goods of operators designated by it so as to exclude other operators from competing fairly, the supervising and inspecting authorities at the level of provinces or municipalities which are divided into districts shall order it to desist from the illegal acts and may punish it by imposing, according to circumstances, fines of more than 50,000 yuan (RMB) and less than 200,000 yuan (RMB). Where the designated operators take advantage of the arrangement to foist inferior but high-priced goods on buyers or make exorbitant charges, the supervising and inspecting authorities shall confiscate the illegal income and may, according to circumstances, impose fines of more than twice and less than three times the illegal income.
Article 24. Where an operator uses advertisement or other means to give false, misleading publicity to his goods, the relevant supervising and inspecting authority shall order him to desist from the illegal act, dispel the bad influence, and may, according to circumstances, impose a fine of more than 10,000 yuan (RMB) and less than 200,000 yuan (RMB).