Related to the college entrance exam! The map in your hand might be fake!
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"Mom, isn't this map of Zhejiang Province a bit off?" Not long ago, a primary school student's question led to the discovery of a major case involving the production and sale of fake maps, sparking widespread attention.
Recently, the "10·12" major case of producing and selling fake maps, jointly supervised by six departments including the Copyright Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, was tried and sentenced by the Nanhu District Court in Jiaxing, Zhejiang. Considering the criminal facts, nature, circumstances, admission of guilt, acceptance of punishment, and degree of social harm, the court sentenced Wang to five years in prison and Qi to three years and ten months for copyright infringement. Others received sentences ranging from six years to two years and three months for copyright infringement and counterfeiting registered trademarks, with total fines amounting to 2.48 million yuan.
Case review
In September 2020, Ms. Wang purchased a map of Zhejiang Province from an e-commerce platform, marked "First Edition, January 2020" in the lower left corner. Her fourth-grade son, Xiaoxin (pseudonym), noticed that compared to the school's map, this one lacked the reclamation area north of the Jiashao Bridge.
The parent then reported this to the Haiyan County Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism, and Sports, which immediately passed the lead to the public security authorities. The county police investigation uncovered an illegal map production and sales chain led by Wang.
Investigation revealed that Wang, from Shandong, ran a cultural company in Beijing, mainly producing and selling maps and map-based educational supplies. During a casual chat with fellow townsman He, Wang conceived the idea of cutting costs by making pirated maps. He found Qi, who ran a printing company in Heze, Shandong, to use the name of a company with legal publication printing qualifications as the apparent printer for the fake maps. Meanwhile, he contacted He, who operated a laminating factory in Linyi, Shandong, to handle the final lamination process and oversee external sales.
Over five years, under Wang's organization, a fake map production and sales chain was formed, with Qi responsible for illegal printing, He for lamination and sales, and others involved.
By the time the case was uncovered, Wang and others had produced and sold 36 types of counterfeit maps nationwide through online and offline channels, with over 9.6 million copies sold and an illegal business volume exceeding 10 million yuan. Additionally, despite knowing that Qi's company lacked printing qualifications, Wang used the credentials of another printing company to obtain a printing order from Wuhan University Press, printing four types of maps published by Wuhan University Press, including maps of the People's Republic of China. To maximize profits, Wang and Qi printed quantities far exceeding the numbers specified in the printing order.
Furthermore, He and others illegally printed and sold branded puzzles without permission from trademark owners such as Disney, with an illegal business volume totaling over 1.5 million yuan.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 213: Crime of Counterfeiting Registered Trademarks
Whoever, without permission from the owner of a registered trademark, uses a trademark identical to the registered trademark on the same kind of goods or services, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and/or a fine; if the circumstances are especially serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and also a fine.
Article 217: Crime of Copyright Infringement
Whoever, for the purpose of profit, commits any of the following acts of infringement on copyright or related rights, if the amount of illegal gains is relatively large or if there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and/or a fine; if the amount of illegal gains is huge or if there are other particularly serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined:
(1) reproducing, distributing, or communicating to the public through information networks, without permission of the copyright owner, their written works, musical works, artistic works, audiovisual works, computer software, or other works as prescribed by laws and administrative regulations;
(2) Publishing books for which another person has exclusive publishing rights.
(3) Reproducing and distributing, or communicating to the public via information networks, sound or video recordings made by the producer without permission from the producer of such recordings;
(4) Reproducing and distributing audio or video recordings of a performer's performance without the performer's permission, or disseminating the performance to the public through information networks;
(5) Producing or selling works of fine art bearing a forged signature of another person;
(6) Intentionally circumventing or destroying technical measures taken by copyright owners or related rights holders to protect copyright or related rights in their works, audio or video recordings, etc., without the permission of the copyright owner or related rights holder.
[1] The author's perspective
Recently coincides with the college entrance examination period, and since ancient times, education has always been a top priority in our country. Maps, as a teaching tool in the education industry, not only show students the extent of our country's territory but also represent a manifestation of our political culture. It is worth noting that maps cannot be printed arbitrarily; they enjoy exclusive publication rights. Without permission from the copyright owner or the exclusive publication rights holder, arbitrarily reproducing, distributing, or publishing maps constitutes an illegal act. If the illegal gains reach a certain amount or the circumstances are sufficiently serious, it constitutes a crime. The counterfeit maps in this case not only contain drawing errors that mislead students but also infringe on others' copyrights. The circumstances are particularly severe, and such egregious behavior must be severely punished according to the law.
Furthermore, the individuals in this case not only infringed on others' copyrights but also used trademarks identical to registered trademarks on the same type of goods without permission from the registered trademark owner, thereby constituting the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks. As a result, they were sentenced for multiple offenses combined. In summary, do not fail to do good because it is small, and do not do evil because it is small.
