Counterfeit Items | Replicas

[Steve]

Product Piracy - 45,000 Counterfeit items seized nationwide in one month

Fake Gucci handbags, Nike shoes and Prada sunglasses with low price tags can be found around every corner of almost every market in Thailand and are easily identifiable from their real counterparts. Counterfeit items are popular with locals and tourists alike, but the Department of Intellectual Property wants to make an example that selling fake brand names in Thailand is illegal. In January alone, 45,000 counterfeit items were seized nationwide.














































Fake Products

The Royal Thai Police seized nearly 43,500 items and the Customs Department seized a further 3000 items, including handbags, shoes, garments, hats and eyewear. The police arrested 113 people in total for selling counterfeit goods.

The operation was a joint effort by the Royal Thai Police, the Customs Department, the Department of Special Investigation and Intellectual Property owners, according to the DIP’s Director-General Jittima Srithaporn.

Anyone violating trademarks registered in Thailand is liable to face imprisonment of up to four years, a fine of up to 400,000 THB, or both. Those violating unregistered trademarks can face up to three years in prison, a fine of up to 6,000 THB or both.

[Sundance2020]

Product piracy crackdown on intellectual property as tourism grows













































Fake Gucci, Chanel, Prada and Tods Handbags

With tourism now beginning to return to Thailand, the Intellectual Property Department pledged to be more strict in cracking down on pirated goods. Experts believe that the market will be flooded with fakes in popular tourist destinations as shady sellers see new potential customers pouring into the country. The IPD is coordinating with the Customs Department, the Department of Special Investigation, and the Royal Thai Police to work together with major intellectual property owners as well as the owners of popular trading and vending areas in order to create guidelines to protect, supervise, and suppress IP violations. The deputy director-general of the IPD made a statement about the plans to stop pirated goods being sold to tourists.

“After the country’s reopening on June 1 to support tourism, a flood of foreign tourists is anticipated. Sales of pirated products may rebound in tourist areas following the reopening. The department, in cooperation with allies in the public and private sectors, wants to intensify measures to prevent and suppress IP violations.”

Markets that are already well known to be selling pirated items and red zone tourist areas will be subjected to more frequent and more thorough inspections. Silom Road in Bangkok, Patong Beach in Phuket, Koh Samui, Surat Thani, Chiang Mai, and Rong Kluea market in Sa Kaeo on the Cambodian border were specifically named as points of interest increased scrutiny would occur. The crackdowns will extend online also, as large international shopping platforms like Lazada, Shopee, and JD Central as well as many others have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Business Development Department at the beginning of last year along with 25 IP owners in Thailand and abroad to protect online intellectual property rights.

Those 3 biggest online platforms have seen a significant decrease in unofficial products being sold on their sites now that intellectual property owners can directly report any violations that are found and have items removed immediately. Now the IPD will expand this programme to include many more intellectual property owners and cover many more online sales platforms including Facebook and YouTube where content copyright infringement including music is still a major problem. Statistics suggest that the amount of pirated goods in Thailand may be decreasing, as the first 5 months of 2022 saw just over 438,000 pieces impounded, 88.2% less than the same time period in 2021. Arrests were down 23.1% as well, from 954 in 2021 to 734 so far this year.

[Sundance2020]

Police seize fake designer products worth 50 Million THB in central Thailand



Thai police yesterday seized 50 Million THB worth of fake “designer” products in the central province of Nakhon Nayok. Officers from the Department of Special Investigation found 60,000-70,000 fake products following raids on 15 warehouses in the main city district. The products had counterfeit logos of some of the world’s most famous, pricey brands, including Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Coach, and Longchamp.

The police have now arrested the warehouse keeper, a Cambodian man known as Heng. They arrested two other unnamed suspects as well. The police brought all of the suspects to Bangkok for questioning. The police had to put the massive number of products into fertiliser bags, and then lug the bags onto 10 trucks. The same group of suspects had been arrested three times in the past, with lawsuits underway. Even though this is their fourth time arrested, the value of the goods seized is higher this time than the value of goods in previous arrests.

This isn’t the first time that criminals in Thailand have been caught with fake designer goods. Last year, a Chinese man was arrested for allegedly importing three million pairs of fake designer sunglasses worth around 300 million baht. Police found the sunglasses in raids of two locations in Bangkok’s Thonburi area. As with the recent raid in Nakhon Nayok, the sunglasses had major brand names. These included Ray Ban, Gucci, Oakley, Chanel, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Cartier, Mont Blanc, Marc Jacobs, Armani, Fendi, and Versace.

[Virus]

Thai cops bust Chinese man over counterfeit electronics worth 20 Million THB

Thai cops busted a Chinese man in Bangkok over counterfeit electronics that cost over 20 Million THB Officers from the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) found fake phones and electronic devices in a raid at a warehouse in the Don Mueang district on Friday. The team searched three buildings and found Huang Yiqun, a 56 year old Chinese national, working as the warehouse caretaker and four Laotian workers. Huang revealed that he was hired by an unidentified Chinese businessman to manage the products in the warehouse. He admitted that the items were counterfeit products sold online, The Pattaya Newsreported. Huang was paid a monthly salary of 30,000 THB, which he said was enough to live on and better than what he could earn in China.


The police arrested Huang and charged him with possession of counterfeit products. Police are now searching for the primary owner of the illegal business. This news comes just a week after Thai police swooped on yet another illegal Chinese business operation. Officers from the Consumer Protection Division (CPD) in Thailand conducted searches in two different locations in Prawet District in Bangkok and Samut Prakan province. They seized counterfeit cosmetics and low-quality medical supplies worth an estimated 14 Million THB

Some 67,000 counterfeit cosmetics, fake toothpaste, and substandard medical equipment and rubber gloves were found at the warehouse in Samut Prakan and the packaging office in Prawet District. During the raids, a Chinese national was discovered at one of the two locations and was taken into custody. The arrested individual, identified only as “Zhong,” claimed to be merely an employee tasked with caring for the products, which had been imported from China. The most high-profile incident of illegal Chinese operations in Thailand in recent months involved Chinese businessman Chaiyanat “Tuhao” Kornchayanant. Tuhao and 40 accomplices were indicted in Bangkok on January 19 on a wide variety of charges, including drug trafficking and money laundering.

As long as some foreign idiots are buying counterfeid items the Chinese copy industry will succeed !