On October 4, the Police Investigation Agency (PC03) – Economic Police in Hanoi had decided to prosecute two suspects for the crime of “Trading in counterfeits”.
After careful consideration of counterfeit products, and valuation of seizure exhibits to consolidate legal evidences of the case, recently, Economic Police in Hanoi has issued the following Decisions:
- Decision to prosecute criminal case No. 603/QD-CSKT-D6 (according to Article 192 of the Criminal Code);
- Decision to prosecute defendant No. 801/QD-CSKT-D6 against Nguyen Thanh Duc for the crime of “Trading in counterfeits” (according to Article 192, Clause 2 of the Criminal Code);
- Decision to prosecute defendant No. 802/QD-CSKT-D6 against Nguyen Thi Hao for the crime of “Trading in counterfeits” (according to Article 192, Clause 2 of the Criminal Code).
Because the case has been prosecuted and is in the investigation stage at the moment, two suspects in the case, Nguyen Thanh Duc is ordered the temporary detention, Nguyen Thi Hao is ordered the prohibition from residence because of having children. According to the Police, this is a case with a particularly large number of counterfeit goods (quantity and quality). Currently, the Police is conducting an extensive investigation to further clarify the details before issuing an investigation conclusion according to regulations.
Previously, the economic police completed procedures and evidence to prosecute the case for criminal prosecution based on the large quantity and quality of infringing goods based on a huge amount of TITEBOND construction adhesives detected and seized: 720 bottles of Titebond construction glue (Titebond Glue); 624 bottles of rust removal spray, multi-purpose anti-rust lubricant oil brand WD-40 (WD-40 anti-rust spray); 48 bottles of rust removal oil and multi-purpose lubricant brand RP7 (RP7 anti-rust spray). The infringers did not have invoices or documents proving their origin of the above goods, showing signs of being suspected as counterfeit goods.
In efforts to fight against counterfeit products, INVESTIP has been closely coordinating with the Vietnamese enforcement authorities from the beginning of the investigation process. INVESTIP, representative of the trademark registration “WD-40” and “Titebond” in Vietnam, on behalf of the trademark rights owner, has assisted and coordinated with the Economic Police in Hanoi in continuing the in-depth investigation at the target’s premise, aiming at tracing back the origin of the counterfeits for efficient enforcement action.
On 28 September 2023, INVESTIP efficiently cooperated with the Economic Police to make sudden raid action into the automobile by Mr. Nguyen Thanh Duc, which was transporting various kinds of products used in mechanical and construction fields in large quantity, among of which, there are WD-40 multi-use products detected on the seized automobile and also inside their warehouse:
Due to the seriousness of the case and sign of crime, given the large number of counterfeit TITEBOND and WD-40 construction seized – a large scale of infringement, according to our laws, these individuals will bear the strict measure, the infringer is likely to be sentenced to imprisonment. As an Enforcement Department of INVESTIP – a representative of IP rights, we will keep a close watch to follow the prosecution and the enforcement authorities until the destruction of the counterfeit products of this criminal case.
Over the years, based on the characters to distinguish between the counterfeits and the genuines, our enforcement team in INVESTIP has cooperated tightly with many enforcement authorities from various provinces in Vietnam, confront with loads of act of infringement, and handled many cases to ensure legitimate rights of the IP’s owner.
By Vu Le Vy
Enforcement Department
