Prosecution of Director for 'Infringement of Industrial Property Rights'

Previously, on July 4, 2024, the Police Department of Investigation of Crimes on Corruption, Economy, Smuggling, and Environment of Nghe An Provincial Police coordinated with the Market Management Department of Nghe An Province to conduct an inspection at the production workshop of ECOTECH Investment and Trading Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as ECOTECH Company) directed by Nguyen Thanh Dan (born in 1975), residing in Trung Do Ward, Vinh City, Nghe An Province.

During the inspection, it was discovered that at the ECOTECH Company factory, a number of workers were producing tile adhesive products and packaging the finished products in packages labeled with the "crocodile" logo - showing signs of fraud.infringement of industrial property rights.

At the factory, there are many types of tile adhesive and grout products packaged with the image of a "crocodile" printed on them, and many types of packaging with the "crocodile" brand printed on them used to package finished tile adhesive products, along with machinery, equipment and raw materials to serve the production and packaging of products.

Nghe An Provincial Police Department temporarily detained the related evidence for verification. After the arrest, the authorities conducted an emergency search of the tile adhesive business establishments of ECOTECH Company in many different localities and temporarily detained the evidence at ECOTECH Company and related tile adhesive business establishments including: 62,120 kg of CROCODILE GREEN, RED, BLUE, GERTECH tile adhesives and TILE GROUT grout all with the image of a "crocodile".

In addition, more than 25,170 packaging of various types printed with the "crocodile" trademark and evidence related to the production process were seized, including: 01 truck; 01 set of electric and heat-using packaging presses; 01 hand-held machine used to sew packaging; 01 machine stamping the date, month, and year of manufacture.

At the Investigation Agency, Nguyen Thanh Dan confessed to all of his crimes. Accordingly, in 2022, when he saw that the "crocodile" brand was a product brand of a Thai-made tile adhesive company that was popular in the market, Dan came up with the idea of ​​using packaging with images, colors, and the "crocodile" brand representing the above Company on the product packaging designed by the subject himself to increase sales.

Currently, the case is being further investigated and expanded for handling according to the provisions of law.