Thailand: Annual destruction ceremony of infringing goods

On 23 August 2023, the Department of Intellectual Property held an annual destruction ceremony of intellectual property infringing goods at the Antiaircraft Artillery Regiment 1, Don Mueang, Bangkok. The participants in the destruction ceremony to witness the destruction of infringing products include the representatives from public and private sectors. Our LEXEL team has been invited to attend the destruction ceremony.

There are 1,249,588 items of infringing goods (including clothing, bags, cosmetics, auto parts, electronic devices, food, etc.) being destroyed in this ceremony which were infringing goods from the final cases rendered by the courts which were seized during raid actions by police and DSI officials, and Customs interceptions at various Customs ports by Customs officials. The total value of the infringing goods was more than 325 million Baht (around 9 million USD).

The destruction ceremony provides the continued effort of the Thai government in prioritizing the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights and taking serious action against intellectual property infringing goods from the Thai market in both physical and online to protect the consumers from negative impacts of substandard and low-quality infringing goods, and in an effort to be removed from the Watch List of Section 301 Special of the US Trade Act. The destruction ceremony should cause the awareness to the involved persons on getting involved in intellectual property infringing activities and infringing goods.

Authors: Praewpan Hinchiranan (Am) / Thaniya Anuchitolarn