Pirated BingDwenDwen, who will take the blame? Who is responsible for pirated goods?

Rubbing “Bingdundun” like this is a bit wild!
During the Spring Festival, Bing Dundun, the mascot of the Winter Olympics, became popular. Not only Chinese people like it, but even international friends were fascinated by the cute Bing Dun Dun and praised him for his cuteness. This fire has made many businesses smell business opportunities, knowing that it will bring fines and criminal penalties to them, but they still take risks and gamble.

(The picture comes from Weibo People’s Daily)
On November 23, 2021 this year, the comprehensive law enforcement team for market supervision in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province listed the following typical cases of unscrupulous merchants making illegal profits from cottage Bingdundun. A clothing company in Zhejiang Province used its own production workshop to produce works such as “Bing Dun Dun” and “Xue Rong Rong” with the mascot logo of the Beijing Winter Olympics. The total number of all items is as high as 1,084, and they are sold through the Internet. platform, etc. for sale. According to the Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols, the parties involved in the production and sale of mascots infringing the exclusive rights of the Olympic symbols. Due to the same illegal act, the Shijingshan Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau has filed a case on December 8, 2021. According to the provisions of Article 60, Paragraph 1, Item 5 of the “Regulations on Administrative Penalty Procedures for Market Supervision and Administration”, the Dongyang Municipal Bureau will The Zhejiang-based Garment Co., Ltd. was transferred to the Shijingshan Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on suspicion of illegal production and sales of mascots infringing the exclusive rights of the Olympic logo.
Coincidentally, some people also purchased 15,000 masks with the slogan of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, of which 7,500 have been used for online sales. The illegal business volume of the parties was 4,500 yuan and the illegal income was 375 yuan, violating the “Olympic Symbols Protection Regulations”. ”, the Yiwu Market Supervision Bureau imposed an administrative penalty of “confiscation of the infringing articles on record, 375 yuan of illegal gains, and a fine of 10,000 yuan” according to law.

Then do you know what rights protection umbrella Bingdundun has?
The first: patent rights
On September 18, 2022, on the national intellectual property official website, an article “Welcome to the East Olympics Intellectual Property First” clearly pointed out that the work of the Legal Department of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics Organizing Committee personnel. On the same day, on behalf of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, they formally submitted 8 design patent applications including the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot and the Beijing Winter Paralympic mascot image, including labels, signage, and graphical user interface (GUI) in the reception hall. . (National Intellectual Property Network: https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2019/9/18/art_53_115890.html)
The second: the right to use the logo
According to the Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols, the names and their abbreviations, mascots, anthems, and torch shapes of the Olympic Games held in China are all Olympic symbols. On September 18, 2022, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee submitted the first batch of Olympic and Paralympic logo registration applications to the Trademark Office of the State Intellectual Property Office. It is understood that the logo submitted by the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee includes 14 Olympic logos and 4 Paralympic logos.
Article 4 of the Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols stipulates that only the owner of the Olympic symbol can enjoy exclusive rights, and the symbol cannot be used for commercial purposes (that is, for profit) without the authorization of the owner of the Olympic symbol.
In particular, the following for-profit forms:
(1) Use the Olympic logo on commodities, commodity packaging or containers, and commodity transaction documents;
(2) use the Olympic logo in service projects;
(3) Use the Olympic logo in advertising, commercial exhibitions, commercial performances and other commercial activities;
(4) Selling, importing and exporting commodities containing the Olympic logo;
(5) Manufacture or sell Olympic symbols;
(6) Other acts of using Olympic symbols for profit.
The third: trademark rights
On February 14, 2022, the State Intellectual Property Office attached great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights in the Winter Olympics and the Winter Paralympics, and continued to carry out a special campaign against malicious trademark registration. The emblem and the emblem of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games shall be protected by special symbols, and the trademark registration protection of “Bingdundun” and “Xuerongrong” applied by the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, and pointed out that it is necessary to strictly crack down on malicious registration of trademarks. The high-pressure situation has continuously strengthened the strict protection of Olympic hot words, including the names of the Winter Olympics mascots and athletes. (National Intellectual Property Network: https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2022/2/14/art_2073_173306.html)
Fourth: Copyright
In a case disclosed on February 14, 2022, retailer Ren was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 40,000 yuan for selling fake Beijing Winter Olympics mascots. This is the first criminal case in China infringing the copyright of the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot. (Quoted from 2022-02-16 China Daily https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2022/2/16/art_55_173215.html)
Fifth: NFT digital intellectual property
What is NFT? Simply put, it is the authentication of the ownership of items in the virtual world. Only in this way can transactions in the virtual world be established. Only with this NFT can we prove that this virtual product is my own.
On February 9, 2022, it was displayed on nWayPlay that the International Olympic Committee officially authorized the Bingdun Dun digital blind box (according to the official website, the blind box contains 3 officially authorized digital brooches, an epic EPIC and two rare ones). Rare, whose content includes 15 versions of the official authorized mascots, namely Bing Dun Dun, etc.), will be on sale at 1:00 am on February 12, Beijing time, with a total of 500 pieces, each of which is $99, and each person is limited to 5 pieces. This also shows that our Olympic mascot has NFT protection. The official website to buy BingdunDun NFT is https://nwayplay.com/, but it is estimated that it is already sold out!

BingdunDun’s Fair Use VS Statutory License
1. Difference
Mainly in free use and paid use. Free use refers to the behavior that the person who makes BingdunDun related products just wants to appreciate it and does not use it for commercial purposes, which is called the free use of fair use. Statutory licenses refer to products that have been licensed by the Olympic Organizing Committee and can be sold for profit, which is called paid use.
2. Similarities
– All are based on the express provisions of the law.
– All for published works
– None of the other rights of the original copyright owner shall be violated.

For those of you who are thinking illegally, let Bing Dundun go, or you won’t be able to afford the consequences…
1. Seller
Article 12 of the Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols, without the permission of the owner of the Olympic symbol, uses the Olympic symbol for commercial purposes without authorization, or uses a similar symbol that is enough to cause misunderstanding, that is, infringes the exclusive right of the Olympic symbol and causes a dispute. If the parties are unwilling to negotiate or the negotiation fails, the owner of the Olympic logo or an interested party may file a lawsuit with the people’s court, or may request the market supervision and administration department to deal with it. When the market supervision and management department finds that the infringement is established, it shall order to stop the infringement immediately, confiscate and destroy the infringing goods and the tools mainly used to manufacture the infringing goods or make the Olympic logo without authorization for commercial purposes. If the illegal business volume is more than 50,000 yuan, a fine of less than 5 times the illegal business volume may be imposed concurrently, and if there is no illegal business volume or the illegal business volume is less than 50,000 yuan, a fine of less than 250,000 yuan may be imposed concurrently. If the party concerned is not satisfied with the handling decision, he may apply for administrative reconsideration in accordance with the Administrative Reconsideration Law of the People’s Republic of China, or he may directly file a lawsuit in the people’s court in accordance with the Administrative Litigation Law of the People’s Republic of China. At the request of the parties concerned, the market supervision and administration department handling the matter may conduct mediation on the amount of compensation for infringement of the exclusive rights of the Olympic logo: if mediation fails, the parties may file a lawsuit in the people’s court in accordance with the Civil Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China. If the use of Olympic symbols to conduct fraud and other activities constitutes a crime, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.
Also according to this regulation, for acts that infringe the exclusive rights of the Olympic logo, the market supervision and management department has the right to impose administrative penalties or criminal penalties on relevant personnel according to the amount of sales.
2. Buyers
Article 14 of the “Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols” If the imported and exported goods are suspected of infringing the exclusive rights of the Olympic symbols, the customs shall investigate and deal with them with reference to the “Customs Law of the People’s Republic of China” and the “Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on the Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights”.
Article 15 The amount of compensation for infringement of the exclusive rights of Olympic symbols shall be determined according to the losses suffered by the right holder due to the infringement or the benefits obtained by the infringer due to the infringement, including reasonable expenses paid to stop the infringement: If it is difficult to determine the loss or the benefit obtained by the infringer, it shall be reasonably determined with reference to the license fee for the Olympic logo. Selling goods that are not known to infringe the exclusive rights of the Olympic logo, can prove that the goods are legally obtained by oneself and explain the supplier, and shall not be liable for compensation.

Finally, I hope that while pampering Bing Dun Dun, you must also remember that a gentleman loves money in a proper way 🙂
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