Many sophisticated forms of counterfeit production related to foreign factors

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A representative guides a customer to distinguish between real goods and counterfeit goods. Photo: Nguyen Hue.

According to statistics on counterfeiting inspections of the Ho Chi Minh City Branch of Market Management, in the first 11 months of 2016, the Branch conducted physical inspections of 587 violated cases related to trademark counterfeiting and IP infringement.

In particular, there were 116 cases of 7,437 pairs of counterfeit shoes; 174 cases of counterfeit bags, purses, pouches and belts with 5,768 units; 93 cases of 5,314 counterfeit watches. Most of the counterfeit goods were based on famous brands.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Branch of Market Management, the production and trade in counterfeit goods is increasing in scale with more sophisticated technology and tactics. Thus, any products sold in the market can be counterfeit goods related to trademark counterfeiting and IP infringement.

In recent times, there have been more and more sophisticated forms of counterfeit production related to foreign factors. Counterfeit goods originating from abroad have been imported into Vietnam for processing, packaging, mixing and assembling for consumption in the domestic market. Or counterfeit goods have been produced in foreign countries as incomplete products, then they continue to be assembled and packed in Vietnam to be complete products. When enterprises receive orders, counterfeit goods are labeled with famous brands to deceive customers.

With counterfeit goods produced in the domestic market with fake trademarks and similar designs, they have been even marked with labels including geographical indications. The most worrying problem is that many counterfeit goods such as consumer goods, food and medicines have a direct and huge impact on the health of citizens.

According to a representative of Bitex company - the exclusive distributor of Casio products from Japan in Vietnam, in over the past decade, although this company has had a lot of drastic efforts in the fight against counterfeiting, the counterfeiting of Casio calculators has remained very popular due to increasingly sophisticated tricks. According to Bitex’s statistics, from 2005 to date, the functional authorities have detected and handled more than 1,900 cases; seized 110,805 counterfeit Casio calculators and issued an administrative penalty of 2.5 billion vnd. In which, Ho Chi Minh City authorities handled 206 cases, seized 37,700 counterfeit goods with an administrative penalty of 703 million vnd and prosecuted 3 crime cases.

According to experts at the conference, the reason for a great number of counterfeit goods was the large profits from producing and trading of counterfeit products which made more and more enterprises join. In addition, many people have had a preference for foreign goods and the functional authorities have not yet paid much attention to solve shortcomings in the management of financial institutions as well as in the fight against counterfeiting, which facilitate the growth of the counterfeit industry.

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In order to tackle these problems, many experts said that, in addition to completing legal documents and the Law of authorities, there was a need for participation and coordination of the business community and consumers to gradually solve problems related to counterfeit goods.