All of a sudden! Get caught impersonating Starbucks!

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On March 1, Shanghai Qingpu police successfully smashed a fake trademark gang of well-known coffee brands during the "sharpen Sword 2024" special operation, and arrested 17 suspects, involving more than 40 million yuan.

The incident began in November 2023, when the Qingpu police received a report from Mr. Yang, a merchant from other provinces and cities, that they had seen an advertisement about the "Starbucks Coffee Service" in May 2023, claiming that they could help open the store all the time, so they signed a contract with him. Unexpectedly, after only two months of operation, the store received a letter from Starbucks's lawyer, saying that his store was suspected of trademark infringement and then called the police.

According to the clues provided by the informant and confirmed with the brand company, the Qingpu police carried out investigation, analysis and judgment on shops suspected of infringing trademarks, a criminal network chain integrating manufacturing, warehousing and transportation, business training, and marketing consultation has gradually become clear. ‍ January 15, 2024, Shanghai Qingpu police carried out a unified network operation, smashed a criminal gang led by Yin in other provinces and cities, and arrested 17 suspects.

(shop photo of Mr. Yang, the informant)

After investigation by the Shanghai police, since May 2023, Yin and Zhang have made illegal profits and falsely claimed to have the qualification of the coffee shop under the name of "Starbucks Coffee Service" without the authorization of the brand company. and attract franchisees online with a franchise fee of 100000 yuan per store.

After joining, they instructed franchisees to use the relevant trademarks and logos of the coffee shop to set up fake coffee shops all over the country. During this period, Yin and Zhang recruited 15 people, including Chen, Gong and Feng, to be responsible for financial management, advertising design, procurement and warehousing, marketing promotion, business training and so on.

As of the case, more than 50 coffee shops have been opened nationwide, involving a total amount of 40 million yuan.

On February 8, 2024, the suspect Yin and nine others were arrested by the Shanghai Qingpu District Procuratorate on suspicion of counterfeiting registered trademarks. Wei and eight others were taken criminal compulsory measures by the Qingpu police in accordance with the law, and the case is under further processing.

According to Article 213 of the Criminal Law, whoever uses the same trademark on the same goods or services without the permission of the registered trademark owner shall, if the circumstances are serious, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, and concurrently or independently be sentenced to a fine; if the circumstances are especially serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than ten years, and concurrently be sentenced to a fine.

The police said that in the next step, they will continue to dig and expand the line, strive to hit the chain and source, comprehensively and severely crack down on such illegal and criminal acts, and remind the general public to be vigilant and rational when investing on the Internet and joining the chain. choose formal and qualified partners, you can log on to the government public websites of commerce, Gongxin and other departments to inquire about relevant websites and company registration. To understand its business qualification, business scope, business status and other information.

In addition, the police also remind investors not to take a chance to participate in such investments, let alone fantasize about "getting rich overnight", so as not to fall into the fraud trap of lawbreakers.

Picture from: Internet

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