5 months detention, 10,000 RMB fine and permanent suspension. This is the final result of a procedure faced by a Chinese IP agency based in Chongqing for forging official documents.
The agency was reported by its client to CNIPA for counterfeiting the documents of trademark registration acceptance.
On February 2020, Chongqin Qixin IP agency delivered the notice of trademark registration acceptance to its client. However, the notice was later found to be fake, and it was discovered that the applicant's name and address were only modified from an official electronic notice.
Well along, it was also proved by the CNIPA that they did not issue any notice for acceptance of those trademarks.
On March 2021, the legal representative of Chongqin Qixin IP agency was sentenced for forging official government documents (P.R.C. Criminal Law Article 68.1.1) by People's Court of Chongqin City Changrong District. Namely, the legal representative will face 5 months of criminal detention and 10,000 RMB fine.
In late December 2022, the CNIPA issued the administrative penalty decision stating that the agency is permanently suspended (P.R.C. Trademark Law Article 68.1.1; 68.2; R.P.C Trademark Regulation Article 90) since the counterparty did not attend nor submit any paper argument during the hearing procedure.
In addition, the IP agency was put in the List of Serious Violations and Dishonesty by CNIPA (Article 9.2 Measures for the Administration of Market Supervision and Administration of the List of Serious Violations and Dishonesty).
This penalty decision is a signal of the new policy trend in this coming year: the news was also put on the homepage of CNIPA website in order to warn the IP agencies about the serious consequences of forging official documents.
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