Director prosecuted for 'Industrial Property Rights Infringement'
The Investigation Police Department of Nghe An province has just issued a decision to initiate a criminal case and prosecute Nguyen Thanh Dan - Director of ECOTECH Investment and Trading Company Limited, located in Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city, Nghe An province, for the crime of "Infringing Industrial Property Rights".
Previously, on July 4, 2024, the Department of Criminal Investigation of Corruption, Economic Crimes, Smuggling, and Environmental Crimes of the Nghe An Provincial Police, in coordination with the Nghe An Provincial Market Management Department, conducted an inspection at the production facility of ECOTECH Investment and Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ECOTECH Company), headed by Nguyen Thanh Dan (born in 1975), residing in Trung Do Ward, Vinh City, Nghe An Province.
During the inspection at the ECOTECH factory, it was discovered that several workers were producing tile adhesive and packaging the finished products into containers bearing the "crocodile" logo – indicating suspicious activity.infringement of industrial property rights.
The factory contained various finished tile adhesive and grout products bearing the "crocodile" logo, as well as numerous packaging materials with the "crocodile" logo used for packaging the tile adhesive, along with machinery, equipment, and raw materials for production and packaging.
The Investigation Police Department of Nghe An Province temporarily seized the related evidence for verification and clarification. Following the arrest, authorities conducted an urgent search of ECOTECH's tile adhesive businesses in various locations and temporarily seized evidence at ECOTECH Company and related tile adhesive businesses, including: 62,120 kg of various types of tile adhesives (CROCODILE GREEN, RED, BLUE, GERTECH) and tile grout, all bearing the "crocodile" image.
In addition, authorities seized over 25,170 packaging bags of various types bearing the "crocodile" logo and other evidence related to the production process, including: one truck; one electric and heat-based packaging machine; one handheld sewing machine for packaging; and one date stamping machine.
At the investigative agency, Nguyen Thanh Dan confessed to all his criminal acts. According to his confession, in 2022, seeing that the "crocodile" logo, a trademark of a tile adhesive company from Thailand, was popular on the market, Dan came up with the idea of using packaging featuring the image, colors, and logo of the "crocodile" – the company's representative trademark – on products he designed himself in order to increase sales.
Currently, the case is under further investigation and expansion to be handled according to the law.