Wuhan uncovered "case of counterfeit Italian famous brand lighting fixtures"

　　The Wuhan Municipal Procuratorate had previously cooperated with other departments to carry out multiple special activities citywide. In 2009, the procuratorate launched a six-month special case-filing supervision activity titled "Protecting People's Livelihood, Promoting Harmony, and Combating the Manufacturing and Sale of Counterfeit and Substandard Products." During this campaign, it handled the case of Hu Chengsheng selling counterfeit Italian famous brand "SIMES" lighting fixtures, with the amount involved exceeding 5.4 million yuan.

　　In August 2009, prosecutors from the procuratorate discovered case leads while visiting the Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce and reviewing its records. In 2007, Hu Chengsheng from Wuhan Foguang Lighting Technology Co., Ltd. privately contacted manufacturers in Beijing, Shanghai and other places to produce 895 sets of counterfeit "SIMES" brand lighting fixtures, and forged the brand's registered trademark and related documents, selling the counterfeit lighting fixtures to Wuhan Real Estate Group for use in a Cultural Square project, with sales amounting to more than 2.8 million yuan.

　　Judging that Hu Chengsheng and his company were suspected of the crime of selling goods with counterfeit registered trademarks, the Investigation Supervision Division of the Wuhan Municipal Procuratorate immediately initiated case-filing supervision procedures, supervising the administrative authority in transferring the case and urging the public security authority to file the case. After the case was filed, the case handlers further guided the public security authority to supplement and improve the evidence.

　　The sufficient and complete evidence led to the successful resolution of the case. In July 2010, the court sentenced in first instance Hu Chengsheng to three years of imprisonment with a three-year suspended sentence and a fine of 2 million yuan, and imposed a fine of 2 million yuan on Foguang Company. The successful handling of this case protected the legitimate intellectual property rights of well-known foreign brands and received recognition and praise from the infringed manufacturers.

(Responsible editor: zhouboone)