BANGKOK, Aug 22 – Thai authorities on Thursday destroyed over one million items of counterfeit merchandise, worth more than 1.4 billion baht in the capital Bangkok.
Deputy Commerce Minister Nutthawut Saikua joined this year’s second disposal and destruction of pirated items. This time they tallied 1.6 million pirated articles including clothing, watches, shoes, auto parts, CDs and DVDs as well as cosmetics. The activity was jointly conducted by Department of Intellectual Property and the Royal Thai police.
All 1.6 million items, weighing 90 tonnes, were reportedly worth about 1.4 billion baht, and were confiscated by the authorities during the past year.
Speaking at the disposal event, the deputy commerce minister acknowledged that the Thai government had designated 2013 the country’s “Year of Intellectual Properties Protection”. He called on agencies concerned to raise social awareness of intellectual property (IP), while working with those owning IP goods on increasing economic value and carry on the suppression of all IP violations.
