Join hands to fight against counterfeit goods and intellectual property violations

E-commerce (EC) has developed explosively, besides the convenience, many people take advantage of e-commerce platforms to sell fake, counterfeit, and poor quality goods on the internet. Recently, authorities in many localities have inspected and discovered many violations. However, due to the exploitation of anonymity, it is very difficult to detect violations on e-commerce platforms. To protect businesses and consumers from the above problem, state management agencies and businesses have joined hands to find effective measures to protect goods and prevent this situation.

Identification

On November 11, the Market Management Department of Can Tho City inspected the business location of Thi's House, in Ninh Kieu Ward, Can Tho City. The inspection team discovered many types of "made in Thailand" cosmetics that could not present invoices and documents to prove the legality of the goods and the business household had not completed the registration procedures to be granted a Business Registration Certificate by the competent authority. The authorities temporarily detained the above goods. This is just one of many cases in which the authorities of Can Tho City inspected and discovered violations.

Representatives of foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam instructed the functional forces of Can Tho City on how to distinguish genuine and fake goods of some foreign brands doing business in Vietnam.

The representative of Thi's House business location said that through this inspection, it showed that the business location still had many shortcomings, from which it was understood that in business, it is necessary to clearly understand the origin of the products as well as understand more about the regulations in business activities to avoid violations.

In the market, any product is at risk of being counterfeited, from consumer goods, cosmetics, clothing and fashion accessories, consumer goods, food, functional foods, medicines... In particular, the more prestigious, branded, and popular the company is, the more counterfeited and imitated it is. Counterfeit products (often called F1, F2 products) are so sophisticated that it is difficult for consumers to recognize them without professional expertise, as well as the contribution of the manufacturer itself. On e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, Tiki and social networking platforms (Facebook, TikTok, Zalo...), it is not difficult to find advertisements selling products with signs of major trademark infringement.

The production and trading of counterfeit, fake, poor quality and unknown origin goods is still widespread and complicated in terms of scale, fields and production methods and consumption organization. Subjects take advantage of online platforms (websites, social networks, e-commerce platforms) to operate, making the situation complicated and difficult to control. Most notably, the number of infringing goods is increasing, including food, medicine, milk and health food.

According to managers, the main reason for the appearance of counterfeit, fake, poor quality and unknown origin goods in recent times is the super profits gained from the production and trade of these goods; while intellectual property owners have not really paid attention to their legitimate rights and interests, but only care about regulations on quality standards announcement, product labeling and forget to register product trademark protection. Many businesses have not cooperated with authorities, considering handling violations as the task of law enforcement agencies.

In addition to consumers mistakenly buying fake goods because it is difficult to distinguish between real and fake goods, many consumers know they are buying fake, low-quality goods but still accept them because they fit their budget. However, according to the authorities, by doing this, consumers indirectly support the distribution and consumption of fake, low-quality, and unknown-origin goods.

Building defense solutions

From a series of cases of commercial fraud, counterfeit goods, and imitation goods discovered, it is clear that the cause is not only due to the sophistication of counterfeiters, but also because the authorities have difficulty in covering the entire market, especially in the online environment. Therefore, businesses - brand owners are the first to be able to detect and determine which products are genuine and which are counterfeit, and need to join hands with the authorities in inspection and supervision.

Can Tho City is not a key production area, but the trade of counterfeit goods, poor quality goods, and goods of unknown origin is still complicated with many sophisticated methods and tricks. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hien, Head of the Market Management Department of Can Tho City, said: The Department has directed 13 Market Management Teams in the city to conduct market inspections and controls, make a list of business locations, in order to develop a plan to coordinate with local authorities and related units to closely monitor the area to implement the work of combating counterfeit goods, trade fraud, intellectual property violations, as well as poor quality goods to achieve high efficiency. Enterprises need to widely deploy the application of anti-counterfeiting technology on products and boldly propagate to consumers, at the same time coordinate with functional forces to update information about products as well as how to distinguish genuine and fake goods. These are considered important activities that contribute to improving the professional capacity and operational efficiency of functional forces in the fight against counterfeit goods and infringement of intellectual property rights of enterprises.

Ms. Tran Kim Ngoc, Association for Anti-Counterfeiting and Protection of Intellectual Property Rights of Foreign-Invested Enterprises in Vietnam (VACIP) recommends that, in the face of the increasingly diverse online sellers, many subjects have taken advantage of mixing fake, counterfeit, and poor quality goods to do business, so when shopping online on e-commerce platforms, consumers need to know how to select, that is, choose "Malls" confirmed from e-commerce sites as well as websites from genuine distributors and brands circulating on the market. In addition, it is also necessary to look at the review section and sales history to have the best choice for yourself.

According to the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development (Ministry of Industry and Trade), in the coming time, the unit will increase periodic inspections and thematic inspections at e-commerce platforms and social networks; apply traceability technology and violation detection software. Improve the effectiveness of inter-sectoral coordination between market management, police, customs and technology platforms. Along with that, require e-commerce platforms to be transparent in their censorship policies, publish product control criteria, etc.

According to experts, for the fight against counterfeit goods to be truly effective, there needs to be close coordination between management agencies, businesses and consumers. Businesses should not consider the fight against counterfeit goods as the responsibility of the authorities. Management agencies need to create mechanisms to encourage and protect businesses that dare to speak up; receive information flexibly and quickly from businesses (establishing a hotline or specialized electronic information portal for each industry will help shorten the processing time). At the same time, there needs to be a policy of identity security and legal support for businesses that report. In addition, the State can consider financial support mechanisms or tax incentives for businesses that invest in anti-counterfeiting technology. Consumers also need to have certain knowledge to recognize genuine and fake goods to avoid damage to themselves.

Article and photos: KHÁNH NAM

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/chung-tay-chong-hang-gia-hang-vi-pham-quyen-so-huu-tri-tue-a194731.html