From January 2016 to August 2022, the defendant, a technology company based in Shantou, Guangdong province, replicated Lego building block toys bearing Lego logos for sale without authorization.
An assessment confirmed that 54 sets of the company's building blocks were virtually identical to Lego's, establishing a clear replication link. An audit revealed that the company's illicit sales exceeded 1.11 billion yuan ($153.58 million), with unsold inventory valued at over 30 million yuan.
In the initial court ruling, the defendant company was found guilty of reproducing and distributing copyrighted works without permission for profit, resulting in an illegal business volume surpassing 1.1 billion yuan — categorized as extremely serious.
Both the company and the defendants were convicted of copyright infringement. Principal offenders Chen A and Chen B were singled out, while Chen C, Chen D, and Zhu were deemed accessory offenders.
Consequently, the defendant company was fined 600 million yuan for copyright infringement. Defendants Chen A and Chen B received prison sentences of nine and eight years, along with fines of 20 million yuan and 15 million yuan, respectively. Defendants Chen C, Chen D, and Zhu were sentenced to four years, three and a half years, and one and a half years of fixed-term imprisonment, and were fined 2 million yuan, 1.5 million yuan, and 200,000 yuan, respectively.
This case involves the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of works without the copyright owner's consent on a significant scale, leading to considerable societal repercussions. The court's ruling represents a strong crackdown on copyright infringement, demonstrating a criminal policy that balances leniency with severity.
