On August 22, the Xiangfan Intermediate People's Court in Hubei Province ruled that a supermarket in Xiangfan should compensate 30,000 RMB yuan to Parker Pen (Shanghai) Limited for selling counterfeit Parker pens .
In 2006,
Parker Pen Limited started a campaign against counterfeit Parker pens in China. In June 2006, Parker Pen (Shanghai) Limited bought a Parker pen in the defendant's supermarket with the presence of notary officials. The plaintiff later tested the pen and confirmed that the pen were counterfeit pens bearing the trademark representation of Parker.
The supermarket argued that it sold the
pens on consignment by a stationary company and it did not know about the trademark infringement.
The court held that, although the defendants signed a sales agreement on consignment with the stationary company, it should not be exempted from the liability for infringement. In the agreement with the stationary company, the defendant did not request the company to provide trademark registration certificate and other essential certificates for the goods, which demonstrated that the defendants did not fulfilled its duty to check the source of the goods. Therefore, the court ordered that the defendant should bear the civil liability for trademark infringement and make compensation to the plaintiff.