Since the 2000s, the counterfeiting and low-quality goods are present in many segments of the market in every corner of Vietnam, from the grocery stores in traditional markets in remote areas to the urbans, even find their ways to luxury shopping centers in such metropolitans as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, etc., which “challenge” the knowledge of consumers and trademark protection in Vietnam.
In Vietnam, the counterfeing and low-quality goods manifest in “diverse” models, “flexible” in term of price and even more dangerous that their categories are abundant for consumer’s selection. At present, there is no research on the “frequency of use and impact level of counterfeiting and low-quality goods to the social life” so it is difficult to draw an accurate conclusion on how counterfeiting and low-quality goods “meet” the demand of each Vietnamese consumer. However, in the current context, it is clear to see that most reputable and well-known trademarks which favored by the consumers, are at risk of being counterfeited. In term of economics, the counterfeing goods have a great impact on the profitablity of the genuine manufacturers and trademark right holders. The first negative impact is that the counterfeiting behaviors discredit the right holders whose products counterfeited, mislead the consumers to turn their backs on genuine products. On the other hand, the advantage of “flexible” price of the counterfeiting goods compared to the genuine ones cause great loss in term of revenue to the trademark right holders in Vietnam.
The recent years have witnessed the establishment of the National Steering Committee against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit (Steering Committee 389) and a numerous efforts to improve the legal systems , which promulgate the management and prevention of counterfeiting and low-quality goods to Customs units at border areas, to Market Surveillance Forces, Economic Police and IP Inspectorate in the domestic markets. However, the struggle against counterfeiting, low-quality goods and trademark protection in Vietnam has never been easy for numerous reasons, notably, the long land border of approximately 1,281km shared between Vietnam and China with many large and small-scale border gates and trails across the border which may facilitate the penetration of counterfeiting goods into the domestic market of Vietnam.
Ageless IP Attorneys & Consultants (Ageless) fully understand the concern of clients on the prevention of counterfeiting goods to protect their legitimate rights in Vietnam, therefore, we want to further enhance the protection of their registered trademarks by pioneering in officially requesting the Department of Drug and Crime Prevention (an under unit of Command of Border Defense Force, Ministry of Defense) to establish a mechanism against the penetration of counterfeiting goods into Vietnam. Despite, anti-counterfeiting goods is not an official and main obligation of the Border Defense Force, with their extensive experience, surveillance systems, intelligent information and human resources, we opine that they will be an effective force in the struggle against counterfeiting, low-quality goods and trademark protection in Vietnam.
Source: Border Defense Force’s website
Realizing that Ageless’ request is reasonable and consistent with the assigned functions of the unit, by the offiicial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on July 27, 2017; the Department of Drug and Crime Prevention has accepted our request and informed the Provincial Commands of Border Defense Force in the country, especially in Lang Son, Cao Bang, Lao Cai and Quang Ninh provinces (well-known as hot spots of smuggling counterfeiting goods) to highly pay attention to the list of concerned trademarks in Vietnam provided by Ageless.
It is believed that the participation of the Department of Drug and Crime Prevention, the prevention and arrest of counterfeiting goods will be perform better. On this ground, IPRs holders are encouraged to contact and provide us with the information of concerned trademark protection in Vietnam.
