Is it illegal to sell a brand of goods without authorization?

It is illegal to sell a brand of goods without authorization. The act of selling genuine products without authorization does not directly infringe the trademark exclusive right of the trademark owner, but the actor uses the brand awareness that the trademark owner has been trying to expand for free to obtain illegal benefits without making any contribution to the product brand, which infringes on the interests of legitimate operators and disrupts the normal economic order, which is an act of unfair competition.

Legal analysis

The most basic classification of tort is general tort and special tort. General tort refers to the tort committed by the actor because of his fault, and the principles of fault liability and tort liability apply, which constitutes a recognized tort. Special tort refers to the tort based on the special provisions of the law, which does not take the subjective fault of the actor, the application of the principle of no-fault or the principle of presumption of fault as the imputation principle. Tort itself is illegal, and the so-called illegality of behavior means that the behavior carried out by the actor violates the prohibition or mandatory provisions of the law and has damage. Damage facts include damage to public property, damage to private property and damage to non-property rights. Causality is the key link to determine tort liability. Causality in tort refers to the objective connection between the illegal act and the damage result, that is, whether the specific damage fact is the inevitable result of the actor's behavior. Only if there is a causal relationship between the two, the actor should bear the corresponding civil liability.

legal ground

Article 165 of the Civil Code of People's Republic of China (PRC) * * * If the actor infringes upon the civil rights and interests of others through fault and causes damage, he shall bear the tort liability. If the actor is presumed to be at fault according to the law and cannot prove that he is not at fault, he shall bear tort liability.

Article 57 of the Trademark Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) commits any of the following acts, which are all violations of the exclusive right to use a registered trademark: (1) using a trademark identical to its registered trademark on the same commodity without the permission of the trademark registrant; (2) Without the permission of the trademark registrant, using a trademark similar to its registered trademark on the same kind of goods, or using a trademark identical with or similar to its registered trademark on similar goods is likely to cause confusion; (3) selling goods that infringe upon the exclusive right to use a registered trademark; (4) Forging or unauthorized manufacturing of registered trademark marks of others or selling forged or unauthorized registered trademark marks; (five) without the consent of the trademark registrant, the registered trademark is changed and the goods with the changed trademark are put on the market again; (6) Deliberately facilitating the infringement of the exclusive right to use a trademark of others and helping others to commit the infringement of the exclusive right to use a trademark; (seven) causing other damage to the exclusive right to use a registered trademark of others.