On January 8, more than 800 files in file bags were stacked on top of the cabinet in Chen Zhiqiang's room. When all the materials are piled up, it is taller than him who is 1.82 meters tall.
In January 2003, Chen Zhiqiang was born in Xuwen County, Guangdong Province. As a "post-2000" generation, when he was still underage, he made professional anti-counterfeiting his life goal. After his 18th birthday in January 2021, in less than a year, Chen Zhiqiang sued merchants for more than 800 claims.
Just when Chen Zhiqiang was "satisfied", on December 27, 2021, the Xuwen County People's Court issued a "Civil Ruling", finding that Chen Zhiqiang "used the court to sue as a means to take advantage of the panic of the merchants, force them to compromise, and repeatedly demanded Business money, and the amount is huge", has been suspected of extortion. Currently, the Xuwen County Public Security Bureau has launched an investigation into Chen Zhiqiang on suspicion of extortion.
Chen Zhiqiang has become the focus of public opinion. The pride of having “a long history of case files” could not overcome the panic caused by a ruling. He was worried that the police would take coercive measures at any time. Chen Zhiqiang’s journey as a “professional crackdown on counterfeiters” has also come to an end.
On January 10, 2022, Chen Zhiqiang went to the Xuwen County Public Security Bureau to learn about the progress of his case. Photo by Beijing News reporter Nie Hui
First acquaintance with anti-counterfeiting
In a village on the edge of the county seat of Xuwen County , Chen Zhiqiang lives alone in the attic on the second floor. The room of about 20 square meters is both a bedroom and his anti-counterfeiting studio.
The tea leaves purchased to fight against counterfeiting were piled in the corner, and a change of clothes was thrown beside the bed. A year's worth of professional anti-counterfeiting case files were packed in file bags and placed at the top of the wardrobe and bookcase. This is Chen Zhiqiang's "result", "I am 1.82 meters tall, and the combined materials are taller than me."
Chen Zhiqiang’s journey against counterfeiting began in 2019, when he was still underage.
In January 2019, while reading news on the Internet, Chen Zhiqiang noticed a case where he successfully obtained compensation during an anti-counterfeiting campaign: the client spent more than 10,000 yuan to buy coffee, sued because the product was substandard, and received a compensation of more than 100,000 yuan. The high compensation attracted Chen Zhiqiang, and he came up with the idea of fighting against counterfeiting in the profession.
Chen Zhiqiang’s life plan is recorded in the notebook he used to copy math exercises in high school. “Professional anti-counterfeiting” is the most important content in his adult life.
In 2019, Chen Zhiqiang spent 920 yuan to buy 20 kilograms of honey online. He filed a lawsuit with the Xuwen County People's Court on the grounds that the product did not have a product label, claiming 10 times the compensation. The father was worried that he would be retaliated against, so he withdrew the lawsuit before the trial.
Chen Zhiqiang spent 920 yuan of pocket money and had to give the honey to relatives.
’s first failure in cracking down on counterfeiting did not affect Chen Zhiqiang’s continued crackdown on counterfeiting.
Within one year of 2019, he sued five merchants, but all of them voluntarily withdrew the lawsuit. Chen Zhiqiang’s explanation is that filing a case in court when he was a minor required his father’s cooperation, but his father did not support him in cracking down on counterfeiting. “Study hard first, and it will not be too late to start working again in three years.”
Chen Zhiqiang is the eldest son in the family, and his mother rarely interferes with his affairs. Chen Zhiqiang's mother didn't bother playing with friends outside or taking guests in and out of the house. Chen Zhiqiang's father hopes that his son can find a serious job.
Chen Zhiqiang speaks casually when communicating with netizens, and netizens accuse him of being profit-seeking. His father advised him to communicate with others in another way, but Chen Zhiqiang refused to accept it. Even when being interviewed by reporters, he still argued with his father many times and insisted on his own way of doing things, "I am an adult now."
On January 10, 2022, Eternal Life Supermarket , two kilometers away from Chen Zhiqiang’s home. Photographed by Beijing News reporter Nie Hui
More than 800 lawsuits a year
Chen Zhiqiang’s 18th birthday is the day he has been looking forward to for a long time. In Chen Zhiqiang's view, after that day, he will be able to enter the court as an adult and start the long-planned anti-counterfeiting career. He counted down the time in his circle of friends one month in advance.
On January 28, 2021, Chen Zhiqiang, who was on campus, posted a picture in his circle of friends to celebrate his "coming of age".
On the second day after becoming an adult, Chen Zhiqiang began to look for “prey” to fight against counterfeiting.
He found an expired bacon at the Yongheng Supermarket in Xuwen County. The price was less than ten yuan. Chen Zhiqiang bought 20 packs in 20 orders.He found his target at the first supermarket, and Chen Zhiqiang "thought he had won a prize."
According to our country's laws, consumers who purchase substandard food can apply for up to 10 times compensation. If the compensation amount is less than 1,000 yuan, it will be calculated as 1,000 yuan. According to Chen Zhiqiang's calculations, if each claim is 1,000 yuan, 20 orders can earn 20,000 yuan in income.
This is the first time in his adult life that Chen Zhiqiang has sued the court in the name of a consumer.
Huang Ruhu, the owner of Yongheng Supermarket, has been running the supermarket for many years. This is also the first time he has received a summons from the court. Huang Ruhu told a reporter from the Beijing News that expired products in supermarkets will be taken off the shelves in advance, but sometimes mistakes are made and expired food is not sold intentionally. If a customer purchases expired food, the supermarket will return it for a refund.
Yongheng Supermarket is two kilometers away from Chen Zhiqiang's home, adjacent to the vegetable market, and the store is bustling with customers. Huang Ruhu regarded Chen Zhiqiang as a child and thought he was deliberately looking for trouble. Huang Ruhu didn't want to cause trouble, so he arranged for his employees to contact Chen Zhiqiang to settle the matter.
On February 7, 2021, through negotiation, Yongheng Supermarket paid 500 yuan in compensation, and Chen Zhiqiang withdrew the lawsuit after receiving the money.
But Chen Zhiqiang said that although the first single was successful in counterfeiting, it did not make any money. He sued 20 times for the same reason and paid 500 yuan in legal fees after withdrawing the suit.
According to Chen Zhiqiang’s plan, making money is not the main goal in the first year of the professional anti-counterfeiting campaign. He plans to fight a thousand cases. "With more cases, the influence will be greater, and it will be easier to do whatever you want."
According to statistics from the Xuwen County People's Court, from February 2021 to December 23, 2021, Chen Zhiqiang There are more than 800 litigation cases involved in this court.
According to Chen Zhiqiang, among the more than 800 cases, two to three hundred were negotiated for compensation, and he lost all the cases that went to trial. There is no standard for negotiating the amount of compensation. For goods worth tens of yuan, the compensation is generally three to five hundred yuan.
Chen Zhiqiang said that after one year of fighting against counterfeiting in his profession, although he received nearly 200,000 yuan in compensation, all the money was used to purchase goods and continue to fight against counterfeiting. "He paid more than 100,000 yuan in legal fees." In the end, he still owed two Thirty thousand yuan.
In 2020, Chen Zhiqiang filed a petition regarding the scope of published judgment documents on the Internet. Photographed by Beijing News reporter Nie Hui
"Legal Person"
Not long after he started fighting counterfeiting, Chen Zhiqiang changed his online name and added the prefix "Legal Person". Some netizens also called him "lawyer" when contacting him.
Chen Zhiqiang explained that he engages in legal work and helps write legal documents or provide legal advice, but he is not a lawyer. The term "legal person" is more accurate.
Chen Zhiqiang has been interested in law since junior high school, and he also bought legal books to read. When
was applying for a technical secondary school, he once chose to major in law, but later chose an ordinary high school. After graduating from high school, my classmate went to work in a factory with a monthly salary of 5,000 to 6,000 yuan. Chen Zhiqiang hates hands-on work and his ideal is to be a lawyer. In his opinion, being a lawyer can make more money.
When trying to crack down on counterfeiting in 2019, Chen Zhiqiang was blocked from entering the court because he was under 18 years old. Chen Zhiqiang began to petition, asking for correction. According to the online addresses of petition bureaus in various cities in Guangdong Province, Chen Zhiqiang sent hundreds of materials to these petition bureaus. The Xuwen County People's Court later told Chen Zhiqiang that minors could enter the court, but they needed approval to enter the court to observe.
After becoming familiar with the petition process, Chen Zhiqiang also helped others petition.
Huang from Xuwen County, in a traffic accident case, the court ordered the other party to compensate him more than 300,000 yuan, but it has not been implemented for more than ten years. In July 2020, Chen Zhiqiang helped Huang file a petition, hoping that the court would enforce it. Chen Zhiqiang said that Huang had promised to pay him after receiving the compensation.
In 2020, Chen Zhiqiang started another petition. When Chen Zhiqiang received the court's notice of accepting the case, he discovered that the court did not inform the parties in the notice which judgment documents would be published on the Internet. Chen Zhiqiang asked the court to correct it through a petition. The People's Court of Xuwen County made corrections after accepting the case and rewarded him with two law books. Chen Zhiqiang applied to the court for a cash reward of 10,000 yuan, but was rejected by the court.
The petition made Chen Zhiqiang a "celebrity" in Xuwen County, and his professional crackdown on counterfeiting brought him national attention.
In addition to personally fighting counterfeiting, Chen Zhiqiang also claimed that he has rich experience in fighting counterfeiting and anti-counterfeiting and can help others safeguard their rights.
In April 2021, Chen Zhiqiang was trying to crack down on counterfeit coffee when he purchased it online, but his claim to the customer was rejected. During the communication process, the merchant claimed that he had difficulty safeguarding his rights after registering for the training class and paying the fee, and asked him to help recover the training fee. Chen Zhiqiang called the training institution in the name of the merchant's client to request a refund, otherwise he would sue in court. The training institution returned 2,000 yuan, and Chen Zhiqiang received half of it.
Chen Zhiqiang also helped supermarket owners "anti-counterfeiting" in the name of employees. In June 2021, a merchant in Guangxi was sued by professional counterfeiters for compensation of 30,000 yuan for selling substandard beef jerky . The merchant contacted Chen Zhiqiang and hired him for 7,000 yuan to respond to the lawsuit in the name of an employee. In the end, the local court determined that the other party was a professional anti-counterfeiter and rejected the request for 10 times the compensation.
Chen Zhiqiang was very emotional. He successfully helped merchants fight against counterfeiting, not because of his own ability, but because of the lack of support from the law. In his opinion, the other party faced the same situation as he did when he was fighting counterfeiting. "The court did not review whether the beef jerky was qualified, just because the other party was fighting counterfeiting professionally, so the court rejected it."
Chen Zhiqiang also created a paid communication group, and the price of joining the group was 388 yuan. He shared his experience in litigation cases with his friends and guided them in combating counterfeiting. 18-year-old Chen Zhiqiang has become a "strong brother" in the anti-counterfeiting circle. During the interview, Chen Zhiqiang continued to receive inquiries from other anti-counterfeiters about issues related to anti-counterfeiting. In the nearly half a year since
was founded, Chen Zhiqiang has only recruited a dozen people. Regarding the recruitment of anti-counterfeiting students, Chen Zhiqiang is unwilling to talk more, "it's a bit (legally) on the edge."
On January 8, 2022, the petition information saved by Chen Zhiqiang showed that he had petitioned many times on one issue. Photographed by Beijing News reporter Nie Hui
Anti-counterfeiting " Sanbanax"
Chen Zhiqiang's area of anti-counterfeiting is limited to food. In Chen Zhiqiang’s view, if you fight against food counterfeiting, you can apply for 10 times the compensation. If you take small measures to make big gains, you will get higher “profits”.
At the beginning of the crackdown on counterfeiting, Chen Zhiqiang usually purchased food through local supermarkets and sued for compensation. However, Chen Zhiqiang found that it is difficult to find "prey" through offline shopping malls and supermarkets to fight counterfeiting.
After the professional crackdown on counterfeiting began in 2021, Chen Zhiqiang positioned the “anti-counterfeiting target” as food sold by e-commerce.
"First, there are many prey on the Internet; second, considering personal safety, the risk is reduced through the Internet (purchasing goods)." Chen Zhiqiang speaks very fast, and is used to breaking down the rules when it comes to legal issues. Tell.
When purchasing goods online, Chen Zhiqiang usually looks at product reviews and chooses products with more negative reviews as his target.
Chen Zhiqiang once bought 1,000 yuan of goat milk online. The product did not have any labels. He sued the court, and after negotiation, the merchant compensated him 7,000 yuan. "The first pot of gold in life is a big pot of gold, and I also made a thousand yuan of goat milk."
Chen Zhiqiang said that cracking down on counterfeiting does not mean that the food involved is inedible. In April 2021, he spent 900 yuan to buy six bags of tea from a local supermarket and sued the merchant. The court dismissed his lawsuit. Chen Ziqiang gave some of the tea leaves to his friends and kept one bag for his own drinking.
Chen Zhiqiang also spent more than 1,000 yuan on the Internet to buy cooked goose meat, and found that the merchant's food production license was "false". After receiving the goods, he negotiated with the merchant and asked for 8 times the compensation but was rejected. Chen Zhiqiang told the other party that he would complain to the industrial and commercial department, "Industry and commerce are not a joke. When the day of punishment comes, it will be useless for you to plead with me." The merchant finally compensated 5,000 yuan.
In Chen Zhiqiang’s mind, the anti-counterfeiting claims process has certain routines. In addition to directly suing for compensation after purchasing substandard goods, Chen Zhiqiang also has his own "three axes": call and talk to the merchant first, complain to the regulatory authorities if the negotiation fails, and then file a lawsuit in court if the complaint is unsuccessful.
According to online shop owner Li Mingming, Chen Zhiqiang’s behavior is extortion in the name of fighting counterfeiting. In July 2021, Chen Zhiqiang purchased children's snack soufflé from her online store, and sued the Xuwen County People's Court on the grounds that the product did not have an entry cargo inspection and quarantine certificate.
Li Mingming was a little confused when she received the notice to respond. She believed that the soufflés she sold did not contain imported raw materials and did not require an entry cargo inspection and quarantine certificate. Soon, Chen Zhiqiang contacted her by phone and asked for 1,000 yuan to keep her private. "He said that he was a breadwinner (anti-counterfeiting), and if he didn't accept mediation, he would make me wait."
On November 9, 2021, the Xuwen County People’s Court rejected Chen Zhiqiang’s lawsuit after hearing. The court held that “the plaintiff (Chen Zhiqiang) disrupted the normal business environment of operators, caused trouble to legal operators, and attempted to use some people to challenge laws and regulations. "
In response to the phenomenon of professional anti-counterfeiters using punitive damages to make profits or take the opportunity to extort money, in May 2017, the General Office of the Supreme People's Court responded to the suggestions of the National People's Congress deputies and stated that it did not support it. This kind of governance model punishes evil with evil. The courts will gradually restrict the profit-making anti-counterfeiting activities of professional anti-counterfeiters, except in the food and pharmaceutical fields.
Chen Zhiqiang himself also knows that the rationality of professional anti-counterfeiting is controversial. Professional anti-counterfeiters he is familiar with are often dismissed by the courts. But some successful cases against counterfeiting gave him hope again.
Shandong professional anti-counterfeiter Han Moumou bought red wine from a supermarket and sued for compensation. The court of first instance rejected the claim, and Han Moumou appealed. In September 2019, Qingdao Intermediate People's Court overturned the first-instance judgment and ordered the merchant to compensate more than 200,000 yuan.
"A fake holiday once is a good thing, but a fake holiday ten times cannot turn into a bad thing." The Qingdao Intermediate People's Court's words in the judgment are often quoted by Chen Zhiqiang.
On January 8, 2022, Chen Zhiqiang stored the anti-counterfeiting materials in the wardrobe. Photographed by Beijing News reporter Nie Hui
was filed by the police
From cracking down on counterfeiting "for justice and money" to being suspected of committing a crime, it was completely unexpected by Chen Zhiqiang.
On December 27, 2021, the "Civil Ruling" issued by the Xuwen County People's Court stated that Chen Zhiqiang "used lawsuits in court as a means to take advantage of the panic of merchants, force them to compromise, and repeatedly demanded money from merchants in extremely large amounts." The court found that Chen Zhiqiang was suspected of extortion and transferred clues about Chen Zhiqiang's extortion to the public security organs.
A reporter from the Beijing News found that the judicial circle has not yet reached a conclusion on whether professional anti-counterfeiters’ claims for knowingly buying counterfeit products are legal, and the people’s courts in various regions have different rulings.
In 2014, the Supreme People's Court issued the "Regulations on Several Issues Concerning the Applicable Law in the Trial of Food and Drug Dispute Cases", "When a dispute arises due to food or drug quality issues, the buyer claims rights against the producer or seller, and the producer or seller The people's court will not support the defense on the grounds that the purchaser knew there were quality problems with food or medicine but still purchased it."
On April 19, 2021, Liang Mingzhou from Guangdong purchased 120 bottles of liquor online and was later sued on the grounds that it did not meet national food safety standards. The merchant claimed that Liang Mingzhou was a professional anti-counterfeiter who knowingly bought counterfeit goods and demanded high compensation, and requested the court to reject his lawsuit. The Yubei District People's Court of Chongqing rejected the merchant's defense and ordered the merchant to refund the product and pay ten times the compensation.
Li Mouyu from Beijing purchased weight-loss health food online and later sued for compensation because of problems with the ingredients of the product. The first instance of the Beijing Internet Court held that Li Mouyu frequently purchased products with problematic labels or ingredients and demanded ten times the compensation. His awareness of similar defects in the products was much higher than that of ordinary consumers, and similar product flaws and defects were no longer enough. It misled him and rejected his request for compensation of ten times the loss.
Du Peng, a lawyer at Beijing Zhongkai (Shanghai) Law Firm, said that legal anti-counterfeiting objectively represents consumer rights protection, has elements of public interest litigation, is conducive to purifying the food market and promoting food safety, and should be supported. If the relevant food has label defects or meets food safety standards, the relevant court can dismiss the plaintiff's claim. Multiple judgments on the
Judgment Documents website show that when the Xuwen County People's Court heard Chen Zhiqiang's case of knowingly purchasing counterfeit goods, it did not delve into whether the merchant was responsible, and dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that Chen Zhiqiang was a professional anti-counterfeiter.
html On January 10, a reporter from the Beijing News came to the Xuwen County People's Court and wanted to interview Chen Zhiqiang on the case. The staff of the court's publicity center refused the interview on the grounds that they needed approval from higher authorities. The Beijing News reporter then contacted the Zhanjiang Intermediate People's Court, but as of press time, had not yet received a reply.At present, the Xuwen County Public Security Bureau has made a decision to file a case to investigate Chen Zhiqiang on suspicion of extortion.
Chen Zhiqiang hired a lawyer to issue a legal opinion, hoping that the public security organs would cancel the investigation into him. On January 10, Chen Zhiqiang came to the Xuwen County Public Security Bureau to learn about the case, but was rejected.
The police handling the case told the Beijing News reporter that Chen Zhiqiang’s suspected extortion case is still in the criminal investigation stage, and the specific circumstances cannot be disclosed.
Many merchants who were targeted by Chen Zhiqiang said that after Chen Zhiqiang was put on file for suspected extortion, they received a call from the Xuwen County Public Security Bureau to learn the details of the case.
On January 10, 2022, Chen Zhiqiang came to the Xuwen County People’s Court to communicate about the case. Photo by Beijing News reporter Nie Hui
Anti-counterfeiting and "fake crackdown"
The Xuwen County People's Court's 2020 work report shows that the court accepted a total of 2,186 civil and commercial cases throughout the year. According to this number, Chen Zhiqiang has filed more than 800 lawsuits in Xuwen County People's Court on the grounds of "product seller liability disputes," accounting for almost one-third of the number of cases accepted by the court in previous years.
Multiple civil rulings issued by the Xuwen County People's Court show that supporting Chen Zhiqiang's claims will give society a wrong direction, lead to the proliferation of such lawsuits, and cause a huge waste of judicial resources.
Lawyer Du Peng believes that the law does not stipulate a limit on the number of citizen lawsuits. According to the basic principle of "anything is allowed unless prohibited by law", Chen Zhiqiang cannot be deemed to have occupied judicial resources just because he has sued more than 800 times.
When dining at a restaurant, Chen Zhiqiang called the young waiter "kid." Chen Zhiqiang rarely plays with his peers, does not play games, and does not follow TV dramas. In addition to lawyers, most of his daily contacts are friends who are engaged in anti-counterfeiting.
Wang Hai, a well-known domestic "anti-counterfeiter" , has also been labeled as "extortioner". He is also paying attention to Chen Zhiqiang's situation. On January 6, he had a live broadcast with Chen Zhiqiang. "Fake beatings are illegal and criminal, and intentional blind beatings are also fake beatings." During the live broadcast, Wang Hai said, "If he is defined as a professional anti-counterfeiter, the court must first admit that there is manufacturing and selling of counterfeit goods."
Wang Hai told the Beijing News reporter that the production and sale of counterfeit goods is harmful to the rights and interests of consumers. The motivations of anti-counterfeiters do not affect the public welfare of anti-counterfeiting. The court cannot dismiss the prosecution of anti-counterfeiters because of their professional anti-counterfeiting.
Wang Hai said that if the counterfeiters do not understand the relevant laws and regulations, and there is no sufficient evidence, they will sue the counterfeiters and sellers to the court for compensation, which is a blind attack. Counterfeiters deliberately make numerous false starts and claim huge sums of money, so they are suspected of extortion.
As public opinion fermented, Chen Zhiqiang was put on file for extortion due to anti-counterfeiting and became a hot topic in society. Chen Zhiqiang said that he had been cut off from his financial resources and his road to combating counterfeiting had come to an end. If he can land smoothly this time, he will continue to study law or work as an assistant to a lawyer.
"We are all adults" is a common phrase used by Chen Zhiqiang. After the police filed a criminal case for suspected extortion, Chen Zhiqiang did not want the matter to affect his family and was willing to take full responsibility himself. If you need to compensate the merchant, "you can only owe it first, and you may work to pay back the money after you are released from prison."
Beijing News reporter Nie Hui editor Yuan Guoli proofread Zhao Lin
