BANGKOK, 18 June 2012 – The Ministry of Commerce has ordered a crackdown on counterfeit goods around Thailand after receiving complaints from consumers.
Ms Patchima Thanasanti, Director-General of the Department Intellectual Property (DIP), revealed that the Commerce Ministry has instructed all provincial DIP offices to suppress counterfeit products that violate intellectual property rights in all local markets. The order was made after complaints were received from consumers over a number of discounted products that were low in quality, such as coffee, fish sauce, and soy sauce.
Therefore, the DIP will collaborate with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the police and other concerned agencies to take serious action against people involved in intellectual property infringements throughout the country.
At present, the penalty for trademark infringement is 4 years of imprisonment and/or a fine of 400,000 baht. However, for product infringement, the penalty lessens to only 1 year of imprisonment and/or a fine of 2,000 baht, prompting the DIP to consider revising the law, so as to increase the penalty.
