Case Study-The factory name and trademark of the foundry 3C products are illegal

Date：2020/8/28　　Clicks：1568

There is a 3C certificate, even if it is an OEM, it is completely legal to label your own factory name, trademark and model; if you have to label the client’s factory name, trademark, you must reapply for the 3C certificate of the OEM product, otherwise it will Is considered uncertified.

Original title: The influence of the manufacturer's name and trademark on the certification validity of the foundry product-Take a case where the manufacturer's 3C certificate cannot cover the foundry product as an example

Author: Dongguan City Market Supervisory Authority Kundi

Authorized by the author, reprinted from the third issue of 2020 of "Quality and Certification" magazine

             

Brief Introduction

In February 2019, the Dongguan Municipal Supervision Bureau received a letter of transfer of clues from the non-local municipal supervision department, reflecting that a "Bluetooth Speaker with Cup Bottom" produced and sold by Company X in the jurisdiction to Company Y in other cities was not marked with the CCC logo and The label content is inconsistent with the information in the X company’s CCC certificate.

After investigation, it was actually company Y that received an order from another company D in the city to produce a batch of "selfie bluetooth speaker cups" for it. Company Y produced plastic water cups on its own (has obtained a production license) and purchased company X's "cup bottoms". "Bluetooth speakers" are assembled, and the assembled products will be inspected, packaged and sold by D Company.

Because the water cup and speaker can be used independently, the speaker at the bottom of the cup is also labeled and marked with the registered trademark of D company "TAYOXXX".

After multiple investigations and full demonstrations, the law enforcement officers finally determined that the batch of "Bluetooth speakers at the bottom of the cup" was not only unlabeled and irregular in content, but was not certified. 

(product picture)

Speaker, water cup, overall certification

Regarding the "Cup Bottom Bluetooth Speaker", regardless of the special installation structure, it is an ordinary active small speaker with the functions of playing music and Bluetooth communication. It can be indirectly connected to the 220V mains through the USB power adapter, so it belongs to the scope of CCC certification. This is no doubt, and the manufacturer X company obtained the corresponding CCC certificate as early as 2017. The certified product name is "Cup Bottom Bluetooth Speaker" and the model specification is "XO-8951. Input: DC5V 500mA (sold without power adapter) )".

As for the overall "selfie bluetooth speaker cup", whether it belongs to the scope of CCC certification should be assessed from the aspect of expressing the main functions.

Judging from the product name, webpage and manual introduction, the product takes the initiative to juxtapose the "selfie stand", "Bluetooth speaker" and "water cup" as its main functions, regardless of priority.

Among the three main functions, "selfie stand" and "water cup" are not within the scope of CCC certification, while "Bluetooth speakers" belong to the 0801 category "active speakers" in the CCC catalog, so the overall "selfie bluetooth speaker water cup" should It belongs to the scope of CCC certification. However, according to relevant regulations, if the "Bluetooth Speaker at Cup Bottom" part of the product as a whole has been CCC certified, then the product as a whole does not need CCC certification.

Because X company had previously obtained the CCC certificate of "Bluetooth Speaker at Cup Bottom", the municipal supervisory department where company Y was located determined that the "self-portrait Bluetooth speaker water cup" as a whole does not need to be certified; but because the speaker involved has no factory name and model, and the parameter DC 5V 500-1000mA It is inconsistent with the original CCC certificate, so it is transferred as a clue.

Very important to clearly indicate the factory name, trademark, etc.

Upon investigation, the order contract signed by Company X and Company Y agreed to produce 2016 "Bluetooth Speaker Bases" for them, and they had all been delivered when they were investigated. The delivered products use all English logos in accordance with the requirements of Y company, without labeling the factory name, address and model, only the D company’s trademark "TAYOXXX" and built-in battery, audio output, power input and other parameters.

Because the cup-bottom speaker can be detached from the water cup and used separately, consumers will come into contact with the cup-bottom speaker and the water cup respectively, and their perception will be directly affected by the labels of the two. According to conventional understanding, consumers will think that the cup The bottom speaker is a product of the registrant of the "TAYOXXX" trademark, that is, company D or the actual manufacturer of the water cup, company Y, which is easy to be confused.

In fact, for this situation, the Supreme People’s Court has clearly stated in the "Approval on Whether the Victims of Product Infringement Cases Can Use the Product's Trademark Owner as the Defendant to File a Civil Action" (Fa Shi [2002] No. 22), "After research, We believe that any company or individual that embodies its name, name, trademark or other identifiable logo on a product, indicating that it is a product manufacturer, belongs to the "General Principles of Civil Law of the People's Republic of China" 122 The "product manufacturer" specified in the Article and the "producer" specified in the "Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China"".

According to the judicial interpretation, because the above-mentioned cup-bottom speakers are not marked with the name of the manufacturer and are uniquely marked with the "TAYOXXX" trademark, the manufacturer (producer) in the legal sense is the trademark registrant Company D. This shows that the manufacturer is clearly marked with the product. Importance of information such as names and trademarks.

The same certificate cannot contain different manufacturers

After investigation, D company has never obtained any CCC certificate for Bluetooth speakers. Can the original CCC certificate of X company cover the cup bottom speakers involved?

The "Compulsory Product Certification Implementation Rules (Details) Audio and Video Equipment" clearly stipulates that products of different manufacturers (producers) should be used as different application units when applying for CCC certification, that is, they must be applied separately and cannot be placed in the same sheet. In the certificate; law enforcement officials have also sent a letter to the certification body to verify that the manufacturer with the CCC certificate is OEM for other people’s products, and the manufacturer (producer) is clearly stated as the client, not to apply for the original certificate change, but must Re-apply for a new certificate.

In this case, the CCC certificate of "XO-8951 Cup Bottom Bluetooth Speaker" obtained by X company has stated that "manufacturer (producer)" is only X company and does not include D company. The original CCC certificate cannot cover the OEM label " "TAYOXXX" trademark cup-bottom speakers, so the law enforcement officers finally determined that the batch of cup-bottom speakers were not only "unmarked and irregular content", but actually completely uncertified products. After this point was clarified, there was no need for anymore. Go deep into the difference between models and power parameters.

During the investigation and handling of the case, law enforcement officers learned that, in fact, X company was clear about the above certification requirements. In addition to its own CCC certificate as a manufacturer and production company, the company also handled 2 certificates from 2017 to 2018. The CCC certificate of the foundry product, the product name is "Cup Bottom Bluetooth Speaker", but the manufacturers listed in the certificate are two companies from other provinces, that is, when Company X is producing cup bottom speakers for these two companies , I already know that because the product must be marked with the customer’s factory name, trademark and other information, my original certificate cannot be overwritten, and I must apply again.

When X company found the cup bottom speakers with the "TAYOXXX" trademark this time, because the order quantity and amount were small, and only required to mark the trademark without the name of the factory, it neglected the request for a while.

In this case, the speaker at the bottom of the cup was determined to be uncertified, which resulted in the overall “self-portrait bluetooth speaker water cup” being uncertified.

As a manufacturer of cup-bottom speakers, company X's illegal activities include "non-certified Bluetooth speakers" and "failing to label the products as required" , dongguan Municipal Bureau of Supervision has been in accordance with the "certification and accreditation regulations" , "product Quality Law" and other laws and regulations to deal with the corresponding. In fact, the punishment of x company is completely avoidable, as long as it still marked its own certified factory name and model, or as for other customers, in advance of the application for "Tayoxxx" brand 3C certificate.

As the manufacturer of the whole set of products, Company D constituted an illegal act of "selling uncertified self-portrait Bluetooth speaker cups", and related information was also reported to its local municipal supervision department for investigation and punishment according to law.

Company Y only purchased uncertified cup-bottom speakers as accessories for assembling a complete set of products, and it is not an express manufacturer of the complete set of products. According to the “Regarding the Production and Sales of Products with Non-Compulsory Product Certification as Accessories” "How to qualitatively reply" (Jibanzhenghan [2017] No. 179), its behavior does not constitute an illegality.