Combating Intellectual Property Infringement: Still Many Difficulties

08:01, 01/06/2023

Counterfeit goods and goods that infringe intellectual property rights (IPR) are a problem in many countries, including Vietnam. Meanwhile, fighting violations in this field still faces many difficulties and challenges.

"Strong hand" with infringement

Intellectual property infringement is becoming more and more complicated in many areas. Especially in the digital age, businesses are facing more and more risks of intellectual property infringement.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, Director of N&H Agricultural Products Joint Stock Company (Buon Ma Thuot City) said that when participating deeply in the market, the commitment to intellectual property rights is the top priority of the enterprise. Since its establishment, the company has focused on registering trademark protection, registering QR code stamps..., but the company's products are facing the risk of infringement. Recently, the company discovered that another company's products were similar to its own products, with the packaging stating that they were produced by N&H Agricultural Products Joint Stock Company.

Market Management Team No. 3 ( Dak Lak Market Management Department) inspected goods with signs of intellectual property rights infringement displayed for sale at a business establishment in Phuoc An town (Krong Pac district).

Infringement of intellectual property rights is one of the complicated forms of commercial fraud in both traditional and online business methods, e-commerce. Recently, on May 11, through monitoring the trading of goods on e-commerce platforms, the E-commerce Task Force under the Dak Lak Market Management Department discovered that the establishment run by Mr. Lam Minh Thuc (No. 47 Nguyen Duc Canh, Thang Loi Ward, Buon Ma Thuot City) was displaying many sports shoes with the NIKE brand and images (protected for footwear, according to a copy of the National Trademark Register No. 3440 in Official Dispatch No. 2771/SHTT-SCVB of the Department of Intellectual Property dated April 6, 2021) without the permission of the trademark owner. Mr. Thuc confessed to buying goods floating on the market, then posting them on his personal Facebook to sell for profit.

In order to combat violations in this field, from 2021 to present, Dak Lak Market Management Department has sanctioned 47 violations related to intellectual property, collected more than 1.1 billion VND for the budget, and the value of confiscated and destroyed goods was nearly 445 million VND. In addition, Dak Lak Market Management Department also transferred a case of trademark counterfeiting to the police investigation agency for handling according to regulations.

Challenges in implementation and handling

Although the provincial authorities have increased inspection and control, violations in the field of intellectual property rights still occur. The “battle” to prevent and repel counterfeit goods and goods that infringe upon intellectual property rights has never been easy.

Mr. Mai Manh Toan, Director of Dak Lak Market Management Department, shared that although the unit has actively implemented the enforcement of intellectual property rights and achieved some results, there are still many difficulties and challenges. That is, the inspection process still has many problems.

Specifically, when detecting signs of intellectual property violations, the authorities must take preventive measures by temporarily seizing the exhibits. However, temporarily seizing exhibits requires sufficient grounds for administrative violations. This requires confirmation from the owner of the property rights or conclusions from competent authorities. However, that amount of time is enough to create an opportunity for violators to disperse the exhibits.

Not to mention, IP appraisal takes a lot of time and high costs, which also significantly affects the handling process of the authorities.

Training to distinguish genuine and fake goods for market management forces and related units.

In addition, some rights holders still lack cooperation with the authorities due to fear of counterfeit product information appearing on the market, making consumers wary of their products. This is one of the main reasons why the production and trade of infringing goods still exists and is increasingly expanding its scale of operations.

In particular, recently, violations of intellectual property rights in the e-commerce environment have been increasing, while businesses in the e-commerce environment often do not have a fixed location, change many sales accounts on Facebook, Tiktok... This poses a significant challenge for the authorities in inspection and handling.

The Market Management Department believes that improving the ability to enforce intellectual property rights is one of the important requirements in the work of protecting intellectual property rights. To maintain market stability, protect the rights and interests of consumers and legitimate businesses, the fight against counterfeit goods and goods that infringe intellectual property rights is identified as the main and central task of the entire force. In addition to the task of inspecting and controlling the market, the Department will closely coordinate with relevant authorities in inspecting and handling violations in the field of counterfeit goods and goods that infringe intellectual property rights; promote monitoring and inspection at fixed business locations and online businesses, on digital platforms.

Tram Anh

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