On December 3, functional units of the General Department of Market Management discovered and temporarily seized more than 200,000 Red Bull cans with signs of infringing on trademark rights protected in Vietnam, preparing to be released to the consumer market.
These products are manufactured at the branch of Viet My Food and Beverage Processing Joint Stock Company (address: Ca Quarter, Ho Ward, Thuan Thanh Town, Bac Ninh Province).
This information immediately attracted public attention, because for many years now, the issue of trademark infringement and the trade of counterfeit goods in the Vietnamese market has become a "hot spot" with many violations discovered.
Statistics from the General Department of Market Management also show that in the first 9 months of 2024, the Market Management force detected and handled 3,961 violations and imposed administrative penalties for trademark infringement, with a total fine of VND 54.3 billion, the value of infringing goods was VND 12.2 billion.
Localities with high number of cases handled include Hanoi (1,035 cases), Ho Chi Minh City (947 cases), Quang Ninh (176 cases), Da Nang (159 cases), Thai Nguyen (128 cases), Thanh Hoa (118 cases).
What is worrying is that in recent times, although the authorities have made efforts to prevent, detect and handle many violations, the situation of production and trade of counterfeit goods and goods that infringe trademark rights is still complicated.
Not only causing economic and reputational damage to the trademark owner, trademark infringement also causes consumers to lose money and suffer.
More seriously, the recurrence of these behaviors in the long term can affect the integration process and attract foreign investment to Vietnam. Because in reality, no brand will want to invest in a country where trademark infringement is common.
Mr. Tran Huu Linh - General Director of the General Department of Market Management said that over the past year, the General Department of Market Management has continuously received requests, questions and requests for cooperation from large companies in the world or those with factories in Vietnam.
“Regarding the business method of counterfeit products, fake goods, counterfeit goods originating from smuggled and smuggled sources from countries bordering Vietnam into the domestic market and counterfeit goods produced right in the country. We assess that the arrests are still not enough to fully illustrate the current problem of counterfeit goods,” said Mr. Linh.
Recently, the General Department of Market Management has been assigned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Prime Minister to draft many documents at the decree and circular levels to have inspection measures as well as sanctions that can deter counterfeiters, and most of the current administrative penalties for counterfeit goods are at the highest level.
"In terms of implementation, we have ways to organize to fight against counterfeit goods by building key routes and key areas. In the area, if there are any prominent hotspots for counterfeit goods, we will prioritize handling those hotspots first.
We all know that in Hanoi, for a very long time, in the Hoan Kiem area, around Hoan Kiem Lake, Hang Gai, Hang Bong, Dong Xuan market, Hang Ngang, Hang Dao… there were many fake goods sold and the buyers were domestic and foreign tourists.
But now, we can see that the rate of selling counterfeit goods and goods that infringe intellectual property rights on what we call prominent routes has decreased a lot,” said Mr. Linh.
