Guzhen Town in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, is known as the "Lighting Capital of China." The town's industry is primarily centered on lighting fixtures, with sales accounting for over 70% of the domestic market share. Products are exported to more than 130 countries and regions. Over 30,000 lighting and related enterprises are concentrated in the town, forming an industrial cluster worth over 100 billion yuan, radiating from Guzhen Town to the surrounding areas.
(Image caption: Lighting fixtures displayed at the Star Alliance Global Brand Lighting Center in Guzhen Town, Zhongshan City.)
However, the "design-intensive" nature of the lighting industry has also made it a "hotbed" for intellectual property infringement. Faced with an industrial cluster with an annual output value exceeding 100 billion yuan, how can the "flame of originality" be protected in the "fast fashion" lighting industry? Local procuratorates have gone deep into production areas, lighting markets, and e-commerce platforms, accurately investigating clues and analyzing patterns in similar cases, severely punishing trademark infringement with a "zero-tolerance" attitude to safeguard brand value and market order. Recently, The Paper followed the Supreme People's Procuratorate's "New Media Goes to the Grassroots to See the Procuratorate" interview team to Zhongshan, Guangdong, to explore how the local procuratorial organs are using the power of the rule of law to solve the governance problems of "easy infringement, difficult evidence collection, and long rights protection cycle" in the lighting industry.
From "Getting a Certificate in Six Months" to "Authorization in Seven Days"
"Without a patent, our lights might be copied the very next day after they're hung in the showroom," admitted the head of a lighting company in Guzhen Town, Zhongshan City. He explained that lighting products are updated and replaced very quickly, and the ordinary patent application process is lengthy; often, "before the certificate is issued, the popular product has already become an outdated trend."
The prerequisite for rights protection is the confirmation of rights. At the Zhongshan Lighting Intellectual Property Rapid Rights Protection Center (hereinafter referred to as the Rights Protection Center), the "time lag" dilemma that enterprises once faced is being broken.
Zhongshan Lighting Intellectual Property Rights Protection Center.
“Our center’s biggest advantage is our ‘fast-track pre-examination channel’,” explained Liang Dejian, director of the rights protection center. Through this mechanism, the authorization time for design patents has been drastically shortened from six months to as little as seven working days. “You can imagine, the company’s lights might still be on the production line, and they’ve already received their patent certificates.”
Established in June 2011, the rights protection center serves over 30,000 local lighting companies, providing rapid pre-examination, confirmation, and rights protection services for design and utility model patents within its jurisdiction.
This “speeding up” is not only reflected in authorization but also permeates the entire rights protection chain. Liang Dejian vividly compares the rights protection center to a “frontline outpost,” where companies encountering infringement do not need to go directly to court but instead first undergo administrative mediation by the center. “If mediation fails, we have a seamless mechanism connecting administrative mediation with judicial confirmation. The procuratorate also has a studio here, with prosecutors regularly on-site to assist us in providing services.”
“Before, when our lights were counterfeited, we had to go through the hassle of notarization, hiring lawyers, and filing lawsuits ourselves. By then, the lights were long outdated, and the compensation we received wasn't even enough to cover the lawyer's fees. Now it's different. The biggest feeling after the rights protection center and the procuratorate intervened is ‘speed.’ ‘Fast authorization, fast rights protection, fast coordination.’ We submit our evidence to the rights protection center, and they first conduct administrative mediation—mediating what can be mediated first—saving time and effort. If criminal offenses are discovered, the leads are directly transferred to the judicial authorities,” said Guan Kejie, Assistant General Manager of Zhongshan Songwei Lighting & Electrical Co., Ltd.
The Paper learned from local sources that, to bridge the “last mile” of service delivery, the Zhongshan Municipal Procuratorate has established a dedicated “Intellectual Property Protection Studio” within the rights protection center. This is not only a legal service station but also a “green channel” connecting to judicial protection.
Liu Jiaquan, deputy director of the Second Procuratorial Department of the Second District People's Procuratorate of Zhongshan City, told reporters that after the procuratorial organs intervened, the companies no longer had to painstakingly collect evidence on their own. Instead, the procuratorate, public security, and administrative departments worked together to quickly secure evidence and create a deterrent effect.
It's both "firefighting" and "fire prevention"
In the traditional concept of intellectual property protection, combating crime is "firefighting," but in Zhongshan, prosecutors are doing more of a "fire prevention" job.
"Combating crime is not the goal; protection is the primary intention." During the interview, Liu Jiaquan repeatedly emphasized this concept. "We must not only build a solid legal protection barrier for the innovative achievements of rights holders, but also resolutely prevent mechanical or case-by-case handling to avoid affecting the normal operation of enterprises. While severely cracking down on illegal and criminal activities in the lighting industry, we always adhere to the principle of combining leniency with severity in criminal policy, ensuring that justice is both powerful and compassionate."
Liu Jiaquan mentioned the previously handled case of "Chen's counterfeiting of a lighting company's registered trademark." “During the handling of this case, we discovered that the company involved originally held legitimate brand authorization and possessed production capabilities, but its operations were overstepped due to short-sighted profit-seeking. If we had handled the case mechanically, the company might have gone bankrupt,” Liu Jiaquan explained. The procuratorate guided the involved party to voluntarily make restitution in order to seek leniency, and also facilitated a settlement between the two parties. Ultimately, the company was able to survive, the workers' jobs were preserved, and the rights holder received compensation, achieving a “case closed, dispute resolved, and harmony restored.”
This compassionate approach to “protecting businesses” is also reflected in routine “legal checkups.”
“Previously, we always felt that intellectual property protection was just about ‘finding someone after something goes wrong,’ until prosecutors came to our door to give us lectures, and we realized that many things can be done in advance,” Guan Kejie explained.
The “lectures” Guan Kejie mentioned were targeted legal education programs conducted by the procuratorate in conjunction with market supervision departments. From how to sign confidentiality agreements to how to maintain confidentiality in daily operations, the prosecutors covered everything comprehensively. “This is not just helping us ‘put out fires,’ but also teaching us ‘fire prevention,’ which has greater long-term value for businesses,” Guan Kejie said.
To extend its service reach further, Liu Dahao, Deputy Director of the Second Procuratorial Department of the Zhongshan Municipal People's Procuratorate, introduced the "customized legal education" model to reporters. "We have placed specialized legal education manuals on the 'Enterprise Support Station' platform. Enterprises can 'order' according to their needs, scheduling prosecutors to provide on-site intellectual property courses."
From "Going it Alone" to "Collaborative Operations"
The lighting industry is large and has a long supply chain, so intellectual property protection has never been a solo act for the procuratorate.
"We focus on the core needs of enterprises and strengthen the judicial protection of trade secrets from three aspects," Liu Dahao explained. First, a special cooperation mechanism has been established in conjunction with market supervision, public security, judiciary, and the Federation of Industry and Commerce, creating a collaborative pattern of "procuratorial + regulatory + judicial + industry," clarifying rules for information sharing, evidence unification, and two-way case transfer, preventing cases of non-prosecution from "escaping supervision and punishment." Second, comprehensive protection across the entire chain is implemented, both severely punishing infringement crimes through criminal prosecution and simultaneously using civil, administrative, and public interest litigation functions to help enterprises recover losses. Third, professional case-handling teams have been established, and technical experts have been hired as special prosecutor assistants to solve technical difficulties in cases.
To prevent "no punishment without criminal prosecution," the Zhongshan Municipal Procuratorate has implemented a reverse linkage mechanism between administrative and criminal law. Liu Jiaquan explained, "In handling intellectual property cases, some minor infringements are not subject to criminal liability according to law, but this does not mean 'no punishment.'" Since 2020, the procuratorate has transferred 15 cases of illegal activities related to lighting fixtures to administrative organs. By issuing procuratorial opinions, it supervises administrative organs to impose administrative penalties on those who are not prosecuted but should bear administrative responsibility, forming a joint force to combat intellectual property infringement.
Furthermore, the Zhongshan Municipal Procuratorate has continuously expanded the scope of cooperation and strengthened cross-regional collaborative protection.
Liu Jiaquan recalled that in 2023, in handling a case involving the infringement of the copyright of a well-known nightlight brand, the Second District People's Procuratorate of Zhongshan City received a request for cooperation from a district procuratorate in Xi'an City. The two procuratorates immediately launched a cross-regional joint operation, not only identifying the source of the infringing products as Guzhen, Zhongshan, but also jointly issuing procuratorial suggestions targeting regulatory loopholes, achieving the effect of "handling one case and addressing a whole area."
"Before, we were chasing after infringers; now, the procuratorate helps us build a defense before infringements even occur." Guan Kejie's simple answer is the most vivid summary of the work of the Zhongshan Procuratorate. From combating crime to addressing its root causes, from "getting a certificate in 7 days" to "a workshop right at your doorstep," the Zhongshan Procuratorate is using the certainty of the rule of law to offset the uncertainty of business innovation, safeguarding the lights of thousands of homes in the "Lighting Capital of China."
