Part I: The hardships of Nam Dan soy sauce village

(Baonghean) - Nam Dan soy sauce products are famous throughout the country. However, few people know that countless bottles of high-quality soy sauce originating from the Nam Dan traditional soy sauce village that are circulating on the market violate trademarks.

The information came to us during a trip to bring friends from the North on a pilgrimage to Uncle Ho's hometown. After satisfying their desire to visit the scenery, the friends were very excited about the products here, including Nam Dan soy sauce. Seeing that, a member working at the Department of Science and Technology said: This product is popular in the market but is violating the trademark! The "violation" as revealed by a friend in the province's Science and Technology sector, is that the "Nam Dan soy sauce" trademark was granted to a business in the province by the Intellectual Property Office a long time ago; while the soy sauce products sold in Nam Dan clearly show that they originate from the craft village.

On one occasion, we went to Nam Dan Traditional Soybean Soybean Village (Phan Boi Chau block, Nam Dan town) for work. Here, through the stories of the villagers, we fully felt the pain of the people who live and die with… soy sauce!

Finished soy sauce products of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ty's family carry the Nam Dan Soy Sauce brand.

Many people in the soy sauce village said that a soy sauce making process takes about 70 days. During those 70 days, soy sauce makers sweat profusely. From the first step of choosing and buying soybeans to the final step of sticking the label “Nam Dan Soy Sauce” on the product. To make soy sauce, one must use a special type of soybean found in the districts of Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Tan Ky, Anh Son, grown along the Lam River alluvial plain. Thanks to the breed and alluvium, this type of soybean has a very high quality, worth 5 or 7 times more than regular soybeans. To buy soybeans, one must dry them in the sun, then carefully select each type of bean, big or small; any broken or damaged beans must be removed.

Roast the soybeans to create a fragrant aroma. The fire used to roast the beans must be dry wood, only red and simmering, stirring constantly until the beans turn golden brown. From here, sift them clean and move on to cooking the beans with filtered rainwater. After a whole day of boiling the beans, transfer them to a large, clean, dry jar and leave them to ferment for exactly 7 days (daily skimming off the foam that floats to the surface). Then, season with salt and a yeast made from fragrant sticky rice and cover tightly. Exactly 60 days later, the thick, sweet, and seductively fragrant dipping sauce from soybeans is ready!

Going to the house of the village chief - Mr. Pham Hai Duong to ask for clarification, meeting his wife, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ty, who was scooping soy sauce foam with one hand and scooping the other, said that he and the town voters were meeting with the provincial People's Council delegates. "Last night I saw him write down on paper the things that needed to be reflected because I heard that the provincial leaders were attending. It seemed that there was also the content of the Nam Dan Soy Sauce brand" - Mrs. Ty openly said. She said that her children had left, only the two of them were attached to the soy sauce profession. Most of the products produced were collected by businessmen.

She is proud to be one of the people who regularly bring the village's soy sauce products to fairs across the country. "I just returned from a fair at Ho Chi Minh Square (Vinh City). This time the sun was so strong that there were few customers, only a few hundred liters were sold. In previous fairs, customers bought more products..." - she said. Her finished soy sauce bottles, also branded as Tuong Nam Dan, are beautifully presented and printed. When asked if she has ever been "made difficult" by people because of this brand, Mrs. Ty replied in a not-so-happy voice: "You should ask my husband, he will be more specific. Just go to the town's cultural house, ask someone to call him and he will come out right away!...".

Traditional Nam Dan soy sauce product of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ty's family is in the fermentation stage.

During the meeting, Mr. Pham Hai Duong was very excited when someone "asked" about the traditional Nam Dan soy sauce craft village. But the excitement only passed and then gave way to "pain", because as he said: "The pain is that the place that produces Nam Dan soy sauce has to use the Nam Dan soy sauce brand illegally. I also know that the brand we are using is illegal. If the company that owns the Nam Dan soy sauce brand does not sue, then that's fine, but if it does, tens of thousands of bottles of soy sauce sold in and outside the province will have to have their labels removed. Today, I have 9 contents to present to the Provincial People's Council delegates, including the content about the brand of the craft village. I hope that the provincial leaders attending the meeting with voters will have an answer to this issue...".

In the whole Nam Dan district, as Mr. Duong estimated, there are about 250 households with over 500 workers producing soy sauce according to the traditional process with an output of over 900 tons, an average revenue of about 23 billion VND/year. In particular, the Nam Dan traditional soy sauce craft village, after being recognized by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 198/QD.UBND dated December 29, 2009, has consolidated and improved product quality.

The craft village has 29 households with more than one hundred people participating in soy sauce production; in 2015, it produced nearly 400,000 liters of soy sauce with a total revenue of 3.5 billion VND; Sa Nam soy sauce cooperative has been established to handle related tasks, focusing on food safety and hygiene and brand building. Also from 2009 to now, the People's Committee of the district and town has paid great attention to promoting and introducing soy sauce products in the province, in the main consumption areas such as Kim Lien Relic Site, Vinh City, Cua Lo Town...; and other provinces, especially in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong.

Head of Nam Dan traditional soy sauce craft village, Mr. Pham Hai Duong and Deputy Head of Nam Dan Economic and Technical Department Le Van Sy talked with reporters of Nghe An Newspaper.

Paying attention to the craft village, since mid-2012, the People's Committee of Nam Dan district has issued a decision to establish a project to build the Nam Dan traditional soybean paste brand; in 2014, it directed the Department of Industry and Trade to guide Sa Nam Cooperative to register to preside over the project "Creating, managing and developing the collective brand "Nam Dan soybean paste" for soybean paste products of the district.

However, plans for brand building have been stalled because the trademark “Nam Dan Soy Sauce” has been granted to the enterprise by the Intellectual Property Office (Ministry of Science and Technology). “A brand is something that any type of product needs to have so that consumers can recognize it and make a choice. Only by building a brand can the market be maintained and developed. Therefore, when they heard about this information, not only the members of Sa Nam Cooperative but also all the soy sauce producers and related management officials in Nam Dan district were very sad…” - Mr. Pham Hai Duong confided.

The enterprise that was granted exclusive protection for the Nam Dan Soy Sauce trademark by the Intellectual Property Office, as Mr. Duong informed, is Nghe An Seafood Joint Stock Company. This company is not located in the area; there is only one family that used to be an employee of the company living in Phan Boi Chau block (Nam Dan town) that produces and supplies soy sauce. The company trades in soy sauce products.

“Recently, I represented the craft village at a fair to introduce soy sauce products. Surprisingly, the booth of Nam Dan Traditional Soy Sauce Craft Village was next to the booth of Nghe An Seafood Joint Stock Company. Both booths displayed products with the same label “Nam Dan Soy Sauce”. Someone from that side told me: “The craft village is using the trademark that our company has granted exclusive protection rights to. This is against the law, the company will have an opinion on this matter!”. As far as I know, Nam Dan district also requested the Department of Science and Technology to organize a meeting with this company to find a solution, but the meeting did not take place…” - The head of the craft village, Mr. Pham Hai Duong, could not hide his sadness.

(continued)

Nhat Lan - Khanh Ly