At a police raid of Lepin’s factory, 88 molds and 290,000 boxes were seized. In the following lawsuit, 9 people are sentenced to imprisonment. The main suspect was sentenced to 6 years in prison, as well as a receiving a fine of approximately 14 million US dollars.
The Shanghai Court recently confirmed this decision, stating that copyright infringements are also harmful to the socialist market. In practice, enforcement of IP rights is on the rise in China.
Courts can, by law, impose a fine of 100-500% of the profit gained or 50-100% of the total turnover (depending on the extent of the infringement/loss of the owner). Anticipate this and register your most important IP rights in China, especially if part of the production is placed there.
