Counterfeit and infringing intellectual property rights goods

Over the years, functional forces have recognized and handled many cases of counterfeiting and infringement on the intellectual property of famous brands. However, this infringement is becoming increasingly complex.

Counterfeit and infringing intellectual property rights goods are increasingly complex and sophisticated

Sharing at the Seminar "Protecting brands against counterfeit goods and intellectual property infringing goods" organized by Industry and Trade Magazine on June 30, Mr. Tran Huu Linh - General Director of Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance (DMS) – said that from mid-2022, the problem of counterfeit goods and goods infringing intellectual property rights began to be active again. Through the inspection and control of the market, the DMS force found that the pain of counterfeit goods and goods infringing intellectual rights is becoming more and more complex and sophisticated. This is reflected in 3 aspects: First is the brand, the brand of the product; the second is the type of product that is counterfeited and infringes upon intellectual property rights; and the third is the method of trading counterfeit products and imitation goods.

Regarding issues related to brands and trademarks, Mr. Tran Huu Linh said that in the past year or so, we have continuously received requests, questions and requests for cooperation from large firms in the world or have production plants in Vietnam.

Mr. Tran Huu Linh cited, recently in a meeting with the General Department of DMS, Ajinomoto company produces MSG and Acecook company of Japan produces instant noodles - two products that are consumed a lot by Vietnamese people - reflected in the market more and more MSG as well as instant noodles counterfeiting, even counterfeiting each seasoning package in the noodle package. Or the famous brands of Procter & Gamble Group such as cosmetics, shower gel, soap... are also counterfeited a lot in the domestic market. 

“Even the children's toys of a very famous brand in the world, Lego from Denmark, have worked with us twice in the past month on the infringement of the intellectual property rights of Lego products in the Vietnamese market” - Mr. Tran Huu Linh said.

As for Vietnamese product brands, Mr. Tran Huu Linh said, counterfeit goods are also produced directly in the domestic market a lot. Vietnamese goods, even those related to food and drinks, are manufactured and counterfeited in the domestic market.

“Thereby we see that brands and trademarks are faked more and more sophisticatedly,” commented Mr. Tran Huu Linh.

Regarding counterfeit products, Mr. Tran Huu Linh said that in the past, it was common to see fake goods a lot of clothes, cosmetics, and shoes, but now even very sophisticated items such as dietary supplements are being counterfeited. .

For the method of trading in counterfeit products, imitation goods, counterfeit goods originating from smuggled or smuggled goods from countries bordering with Vietnam into the domestic market and the source of domestically produced counterfeit goods. However, Mr. Linh said that, after 2 years of the Covid-19 epidemic, people's buying and selling on e-commerce is very normal. E-commerce on social networking platforms and e-commerce trading platforms is now the main channel for consuming counterfeit goods and goods infringing intellectual property rights. In the first 6 months of the year, the DMS force checked nearly 3,000 cases related to counterfeit goods and fined nearly 30 billion VND. However, these cases, we think, are still not enough to illustrate the current problem of counterfeit goods.

Mr. Tran Huu Linh - General Director of Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance 

All entities must take responsibility in the fight against counterfeiting

As can be seen, counterfeit goods, goods infringing intellectual property rights, the first damage is the consumer. However, according to Mr. Tran Huu Linh, from the business perspective, we see that the business is very damaged. For foreign-invested enterprises, FDI affects and loses trust. The fact that there are so many fake goods in the country makes investors feel uneasy about Vietnam's business investment environment. As for domestic enterprises, the business's brand is greatly damaged. 

“Brands are faked, counterfeited and most dangerously eroding the production capacity of businesses when they have to compete with fake goods, fake goods are cheap, people still compromise in buying fake goods. Therefore, the company's product brand is suffering from many disadvantages due to the current problem of counterfeit goods," said Mr. Tran Huu Linh.

Therefore, in order to combat counterfeiting and infringement of intellectual property rights, Mr. Linh said that in the coming time, the DMS force will focus on 3 main tasks to protect the brand. Firstly, implementing a key plan on anti-counterfeiting in more than 20 provinces and cities with many prominent locations for counterfeit goods. Second, synchronously deploying prevention and control measures in the Internet space. Third, organize seminars to unexpectedly check sales objects on social networks.

"We would like to affirm that the inspection and review of counterfeit goods online will be the top priority of the market management force from now until 2025," emphasized Mr. Tran Huu Linh.

In the past time, in terms of legal policy, General Director of Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance has been assigned by the Ministry and Prime Minister to develop many documents at the level of decrees and circulars to take measures to check as well as there are sanctions at the level that can deter counterfeiters and most of the current administrative penalties for counterfeit goods are the highest framework, that is in terms of policy.

In terms of enforcement, in the past 3 years, the force has organized to fight counterfeiting by building key routes and key areas. In the area where there are prominent places for counterfeit goods, priority should be given to dealing with those places first. 

Mr. Linh cited, we all know that in Hanoi there was a very long time in Hoan Kiem area, around the Ho Lake, Hang Gai, Hang Bong, Dong Xuan market, Hang Ngang, Hang Dao... selling fake goods a lot. and buyers are domestic and foreign tourists. But now we can see that the rate of selling counterfeit goods, infringing intellectual property rights in what we call prominent local routes has decreased a lot. Or in Ho Chi Minh city, in district 1, in centers such as Ben Thanh market or Saigon Square... the force also regularly and continuously strengthens the inspection and sanctioning.

Along with that, the General Department has implemented many forms of visual propaganda to help people distinguish counterfeit goods and goods infringing on intellectual property, for example, organizing a showroom of fake and imitation goods at 62 Trang Tien, Hoan Kiem District, and Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi.

Therefore, in order to combat counterfeiting and infringement of intellectual property rights, Mr. Linh said that it is necessary to pay much attention to prevention, because the inspection by DMS forces or functional forces such as police or customs ... is just the top, when you see signs, go check. In addition, the subjects, from the seller, the producer to the consumer who are the buyers, have to be responsible in this fight against counterfeiting.

In the same opinion, lawyer Nguyen Tien Lap, an arbitrator of the Vietnam International Arbitration Center also said that the fight against counterfeiting is not the sole task of the management agency, but needs the cooperation of enterprises. Enterprises who want to protect their brands need to improve their "proactive spirit" rather than waiting for authorities, and consumers want to protect themselves, consumers have to rely on associations who represent them, or lawyers into a multi-party cooperation mechanism between all parties to solve common problems, I think that is the way, the way.

On the business side, Ms. Bui Thi Thu Hien - Representative of the Legal Department, URC Vietnam Co., Ltd. shared, is an enterprise that directly manufactures products associated with consumers' health, prevention work, anti-counterfeiting is the company's focus. URC has implemented brand identity guidelines for agents, distributors and consumers, actively encouraging consumers to check product logos, labels and stamps, helping consumers to identify the company's brands so that consumers can choose the right company's genuine products such as C2, Red Dragon and other URC brands.

At the same time, URC Vietnam proactively contacted the authorities to handle violations when detecting signs of infringing or infringing on the company's intellectual property, determine whether these acts are infringing Intellectual Property or not and then take appropriate action. “We wish to speed up the handling of violations, and at the same time increase the penalties for the subject of intellectual property infringement, especially repeated violations in order to increase deterrence for those who commit such violations," suggested Ms. Bui Thi Thu Hien.

In the first 4 months of 2023, Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance detected more than 4,700 violations related to counterfeit goods, goods infringing on intellectual property and goods of unknown origin; sanctioning administrative violations over 43 billion dong, with the value of infringing goods more than 45 billion dong.