小鳄鱼会咬人
尚法 勤勉 精专 共赢
JL Trade Ltd. (hereinafter as JL) is a customs broker company based in Guangzhou. In 2016, the company submitted application to customs to export some goods. The officers in Shenzhen inspected and found 908 pairs of CROCS(CROCS.INC, hereinafter as CROCS) shoes which obviously were fake .The president of JL , Mr. Zhao, soon resigned and appointed Mr. Hu as the new president who did not own any share in JL Trade Ltd.
广州JL贸易有限公司（以下简称“JL”）是一间报关企业。2016年，JL公司向海关申报出口货物。文锦渡海关查验发现了908双假冒CROCS鞋（美国克罗克斯公司注册商标）。JL公司法定代表人赵某很快辞职，改由胡某担任，而胡某在JL公司并不占有股份。
张 捷 律师
广东金桥百信律师事务所
CROCS soon sued JL to court for trademark infringement ,as well Mr. Zhao and Mr. Hu. The American shoemaker demanded 70,000RMB(USD11,290) to cover the loss and other reasonable legal expenses. The defendants argued that JL was only a broker and did not own the shoes so they should not be liable for the infringement. Mr. Hu, the new president, declared that he did not have any share in the company and had no idea of what was going on. Mr. Zhao, as the predecessor of Mr. Hu, said he should not have liability because it was the responsibility of JL company, not his personal fault. The defendants also argued that the amount of compensation CROCS asked for was groundless.
克罗克斯公司很快将向法院起诉三被告（JL、赵某、胡某）侵犯注册商标，并要求赔偿经济损失及合理开支共7万元人民币。三被告辩称JL公司仅仅是代理商，并非涉案物品的货主。新的法定代表人胡某辩称其并不拥有任何股份，并且对案情一无所知。公司前法人代表赵某，声称其过错在于JL公司，其作为个人不能为公司过错承担责任。三被告均辩称原告请求赔偿金额过高。
After trial, the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court ruled that the knock off shoes had infringed the registered trademark of CROCS. JL, as the one who shipped the goods,had not been honest when filing reports to the customs and it failed to prove the shoes were obtained through legal channel. Therefore, JL should be liable for the compensation. Considering all factors, the court levied the compensation to be 35,000RMB (USD5,645). Referring to the stipulations of the CORPORATION LAW OF PRC, Mr.Hu should not bear join responsibility while Mr. Zhao, as the former president and main shareholder, should be held jointly liable for the 35000RMB
.
经过庭审，广州知识产权法院判决假冒的产品已经侵犯了克罗克斯公司的注册商标。JL公司作为涉案产品的发货人，没有如实向海关申报产品，也不能证明产品是从合法渠道取得。因此，JL公司需做出赔偿。综合考虑各种因素，法院判决被告赔偿35000元人民币，根据中华人民共和国公司法，胡某无需承担连带责任。而赵某作为公司前法定代表人和主要股东，应对这35000元赔偿承担连带责任。
Case Brief
张律师点评
Unlike many Westerners think, China does have laws to protect IP rights and they are enforced. In most cases, the plaintiff do win and can get some kind of compensation, though insufficient sometimes.
What is interesting about this case is the joint responsibility of Mr. Zhao. He, as the former president of JL, was also liable for the 35,000RMB.That means CROCS can request him to pay the 35,000RMB with his personal property. This has become a trend in IP lawsuits in China recently.
与许多西方人认为的不同，中国在保护知识产权方面确实有法可依并且执法严格。在大多数情况下，虽然赔偿金额也许并不足够，原告还是多数都会胜诉并且可以获得一定程度的赔偿。本案中值得我们关注的，是赵某需要承担连带责任。他作为公司前法定代表人，也对这35000元承担赔偿责任。这意味着克罗克斯公司可以要求执行他的个人财产以赔偿这35000元。
Traditionally, a company is considered to be separate from the shareholders. If someone holds a stake in a limited company, he or she should not be liable for the debt of the company. However, recently, at least for IP cases, it is not that uncommon for Chinese courts to rule that the shareholders be held joint liability. Of course, there are certain standards for court to pierce the corporation’s veil which we will discuss later.
CROCS can bite, so can you.
传统说来，有限责任公司和公司的股东是相互独立的。如果某人在有限责任公司持有股份，他对于公司的债务无需承担责任。但是近几年，至少在知识产权类案件中，中国的法院判决股东承担连带责任并非罕见。当然，要“刺破公司面纱”，是需要满足一些特定标准的。对于这一点，我们将在今后进行讨论。
小鳄鱼可以咬人，你也可以！
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