Over 11.7 million foreign cigarettes suspected of infringing intellectual property rights

	Proactively control counterfeit goods and infringing intellectual property rights
	Deputy Director General Nguyen Van Tho: Gathering force to fight against smuggling effectively
	Hard to deal with fake motorcycles and spare parts

Customs officers of Team 4 inspected the shipment of cigarettes suspected of infringing intellectual property rights on April 17, 2023

On April 17, 2023, Team 4 presided over and coordinated with Saigon port area 1 Customs Branch to conduct a physical inspection for the shipment of cigarettes in container number: OOLU8155201 on the declaration 500389166620 dated March 18, 2023, and discovered 1,173 boxes of cigarettes, including 11,730,000 cigarettes of all kinds, brands of MARLBORO (red), MARLBORO Gold, ESSE and SEVEN suspected of infringing intellectual property rights.

This shipment is from KH (Cambodia), declared and transported by Hung Long Shipping Company Limited (tax code: 0315689802), address: 12th Floor, Hai Au Building, 39B Truong Son, Ward 4, Tan Binh District, City, Ho Chi Minh from Cambodia through Xa Mat border gate (Tay Ninh) to Cat Lai port (HCMC) for export to Shenzhen Peace & Glory mountain international trade co., ltd, Shenzhen, China. The exporter of this shipment is Chheang Lada Import Export co., ltd; Cambodia.

According to the customs declaration of Hung Long Shipping Co., Ltd., the number of cigarettes includes: MARLBORO RED 300 boxes, MARLBORO WHITE 220 boxes, SEVEN STARS 14 MR 200 boxes, ESSE EXPLODE THE BEADS 453 boxes, weighed 16422 KGM, HYS NUMBER: 721893097130, valued at US$129,030.

Cigarettes are taken out from the transit container for inspection

Through physical inspection, four types of cigarettes were detected, including: MARLBORO brand cigarettes (red): 300 boxes (type of 50 boxes/carton) containing 3,000,000 cigarettes; the contents on the boxes show that Marlboro, Made under authority of Philip Morris Brands Sàri, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Barcode on label: 7622100910107 (Swiss GS1 Barcode);

Cigarettes MARLBORO Gold brand: 220 boxes (type of 50 boxes/carton) including 2,200,000 cigarettes; the contents on the boxes show that Marlboro gold, Made under authority of Philip Morris Brands Sàri, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Barcode on label: 7622100913320 (Swiss GS1 Barcode);

ESSE brand: 453 boxes (type of 50 boxes/carton) including 4,530,000 cigarettes; the contents on the boxes show: ESSE CHANGE 4mg, KT&G MADE UNDER AUTHORTY OF KT&G, KOREA. Barcode on label: 8801116005581 (Korean GS1 Barcode);

And SEVEN brand: 200 boxes (type of 50 boxes/carton) including 2,000,000 cigarettes; the contents on the boxes show: SevenStars Charcoal Filter 14, 2023.06 K632S11 13017196, JT, Japanese text. Barcode: 4902210102009 (Japanese GS1 Barcode).

Mr. Bui Xuan Dieu, Acting leader of the Anti-Smuggling and Intellectual Property Rights Protection Team (Team 4) said at the time of the physical inspection of goods, the Hung Long Shipping Company Limited could not provide documents related to the authorization of import, export and transportation of the goods that are cigarettes of MARLBORO, SEVEN, ESSE brands of trademark owners (PHILIP MORRIS BRANDS SARL, ROTHMANS OF PALL MALL LIMITED, KT & G Corporation) who have been authorized in Vietnam.

What are notes about intellectual property rights protection in the new context?

Currently, Team 4 has taken the above samples for industrial property assessment at the Institute of Industrial Property Science and sent a written notice to the trademark owners of MARLBORO, SEVEN and ESSE.