The News of intellectual property in July 2021

Collected By ELITE LAW FIRM

We have collected newsletters on intellectual property in Vietnam this July for foreign readers. Please follow this post

1. Protecting the geographical indication “ICHIDA GAKI/ICHIDA KAKI/HONG ICHIDA” for dried persimmons

Source: MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE OF VIETNAM

On June 14, 2021, the Director of the National Office of Intellectual Property issued Decision No. 2176/QD-SHTT on the issuance of the Certificate of registration of geographical indications No. 00107 for the geographical indication “ICHIDA GAKI/ICHIDA KAKI” /ICHIDA persimmon” for dried persimmons. Minami Shinshu Agricultural Cooperative Association is the organization that manages geographical indications.

Dried persimmons “ICHIDA GAKI/ICHIDA KAKI/HONG ICHIDA” is one of three products bearing geographical indications in the pilot project to implement the Memorandum of Understanding on geographical indications cooperation between the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam under the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam and the Food Industry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan. This is the second Japanese GI to be protected in Vietnam after the geographical indication “KAGOSHIMA KUROUSHI/KAGOSHIMA WAGYU/BEET KAGOSHIMA” for beef products.

Dried persimmons “ICHIDA GAKI” in Nagano Prefecture (Japan) have a long history of production. It is said that the cultivation of astringent persimmons and the production of dried persimmons on skewers have been practiced in Iida city, Shimoina district, Iijima town and Nakagawa village in Kamiina district, Nagano prefecture since the Kamakura period. The variety of dried persimmon “ICHIDA GAKI” is an ancient persimmon tree located in the grounds of the Ise shrine, located in the land of Shimoichida (Takamori – machi, Shimoina – gun, Nagano) in the 1800s. The story described that, the people of the village found out that the persimmons harvested from this tree tasted delicious when baked, thus, this persimmon tree was grafted and propagated throughout the village. When it was released to the market in Tokyo in 1921, it was named “ICHIDA GAKI” after its place of origin. Today, the dried persimmon “ICHIDA GAKI” has become a preserved food to be eaten from January to February and has become a seasonal tradition of the geographical area.

Geographical area:

 – Nakagawa village and Iijima town in Kamiina district, Nagano prefecture, Japan;

 – Shimoina District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan;

 – Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.

2. The situation of selling perfumes, cosmetics, clothes, etc. counterfeiting famous brands is complicated and tends to increase in number of infringement cases

In the past month, in Vietnam, there have been quite many cases of selling counterfeit goods such as perfumes, cosmetics, clothes, even COVID-19 test kits. These cases will be summarized below:

a) On June 3, the Market Surveillance Unit No. 1 – Hanoi Market Surveillance Agency inspected the medical equipment store of Lam Khang General Joint Stock Company at No. 151 C3 Dai Kim Urban Area, Hoang Mai District, Hanoi. At there, inspectors discovered 29 boxes of COVID-19 test kits bearing “Testsealabs COVID-19 Antigen Test Cassetle” mark. The back of the box also showed the information “HANGZHOU TESTSEA BIOTECHNOLOGY CO.LTD CHINA”. The owner of the store was unable to present the legal invoices and documents and at the same time confessed that he had purchased goods floating on the Internet without invoices and documents. According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Le – Deputy Director of the Department of Market Surveillance Operations – Vietnam Directorate of Market Surveillance (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the quick test kits sold on the market are mainly floating goods, of unknown origin and not licensed and assessed by the competent authority.

b) On June 4, Dong Nai Market Surveillance Agency informed that they had just issued a decision to sanction administrative violations against Quynh Quynh store (group 13, zone 13, Long Duc commune, Long Thanh district, Dong Nai) over VND 50 million for selling counterfeit goods. This is Mrs. Ta Thi Quynh Anh’s shop, whose husband is Mr. Le Duong Bao Lam – a famous comedian in Vietnam. This store sold more than 10,300 cosmetic products of all kinds, including fake Gucci and Chanel perfumes.

c) On June 7, the Economic Crime Unit of the Bac Tu Liem District Police discovered a line of production and consumption of fake famous brand cosmetics and seized nearly 1 ton of cosmetics packed in 1,500 large boxes and many machines, tools to label the “DAKAMI” brand. After that, the Bac Tu Liem District Police issued a decision on criminal detention for the violators to investigate acts of manufacturing and selling counterfeit goods.

d) On June 11, the Market Surveillance Unit No. 1 coordinated with the Market Surveillance Unit No. 6 – Hanoi Market Surveillance Agency has inspected the store of ALT Transport Trading Company Limited in Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi. The inspectors temporarily seized all goods that could not be presented with relevant legal invoices and documents, with a total of 2,255 products of all kinds including health foods, skincare products, face washes, led lights, and perfumes bearing the Chanel, Boss, Levis mark and Gucci label. The Market Surveillance Unit No. 1 is completing documents to handle the case in accordance with the law.

f) On June 16, the Market Surveillance Unit No. 11 – Hanoi Market Surveillance Agency in coordination with Thanh Oai District Police, suddenly entered the warehouse suspected of producing fake cosmetics with protected foreign brands. At there, inspectors discovered a large number of boxes, labels showing the origin of products in Korea, France, … bearing marks of COCO CHANEL, COLLAGEN X12 OLIVE, Pink Lady Shower,… Cosmetics and perfumery products were prepared by hand with a variety of floating chemicals, and stored in buckets and pots. Statistics on the spot, the Police seized nearly 10,000 bottles of shower gel and cosmetic boxes and 2,300kg of shampoo of unknown origin. All goods at the warehouse did not have legal invoices and documents proving the origin, therefore showing signs of contraband and counterfeit trademarks.

g) On June 22, the Directorate of Market Surveillance (Ministry of Industry and Trade), carried out a large-scale “total attack” on warehouses in Hanoi and Hung Yen, seizing dozens of tons of products, mainly cosmetics, functional foods, fashion and household items of unknown origin, which were traded mainly on e-commerce platforms. This “total attack” directly targeted 8 huge livestream warehouses, is one of the large-scale interprovincial inspections carried out under the direct instruction of the Directorate of Market Surveillance.

h) On June 24, the Market Surveillance Unit No. 14 coordinated with Hang Bo Ward Police to suddenly inspect the JENNIFER NHU LUXURY store located at 91 Hang Ga street, Hang Bo ward, Hoan Kiem district. This is considered as one of the major distribution points for perfume products on the Hanoi market. At the time of inspection, the owner of the store failed to present documents proving the legal origin of the goods, and at the same time did not cooperate with inspectors during the inspection process. The Market Surveillance Unit No. 14 then discovered and carried out procedures to temporarily seize 4,250 perfume products of all kinds bearing the Gucci, Chanel, Dior, etc. mark to determine if the goods are genuine or counterfeit. According to the prices listed at the store, the above goods are estimated to be worth billions of Vietnamese dong.

3. Facebook sues California marketing firm, Vietnamese group for online scams

Source: Tuoitrenews

Facebook Inc on Tuesday sued a California marketing company and its representatives as well as a Vietnam-based group of individuals in separate lawsuits for running deceptive and unauthorized advertisements on its platform.

The first lawsuit was against N&J USA Incorporated, Mohit Melwani and Vishaal Melwani, Facebook said in a blog post.

The social media giant said the defendants ran misleading ads that promoted the sale of merchandise including clothing, watches and toys. As soon as someone clicked on the ads, they were directed to a third-party website to pay for their purchase.

But once the payment was completed, users either never got any merchandise or the delivered item was not what they ordered for or it was of a poor quality, Facebook said.

The company also sued a group of individuals based in Vietnam who it said “misled the victims into self-compromising their accounts” and ran over $36 million in unauthorized ads.

Keywords: Newsletter Intellectual property in Vietnam, ELITE LAW, ELITE LAW FIRM, counterfeit trademark goods, trademark and trademark infringement