Thailand: Destruction of infringing goods by the Thai Customs

The Customs Department in collaboration with the Department of Intellectual Property, the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) of the Royal Thai Police, the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) of the Royal Thai Police, and the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) held an annual destruction ceremony of infringing goods on 16 July 2024 at the Customs Department. Our LEXEL team has been invited to attend the destruction ceremony to witness the destruction of infringing products.

There are 1,093,000 items of infringing goods to be destroyed in this ceremony which were infringing goods seized during Customs interceptions at various Customs ports throughout Thailand. The total value of the infringing goods was around 39 million Baht (around 1.1 million USD). The infringing goods will be strictly secured and guarded by the officials to be shredded, crushed, and burned at the incineration facilities in environmentally friendly manner on 16 – 17 July 2024 which the Thai government absorbed all costs related to the destruction.

This ceremony reflects the continued effort of the Thai government in taking serious action against infringing goods at the Thai border. To carry on tackling down of IP enforcement activities to protect the consumers’ health from unsafe and poor-quality goods, holding a destruction ceremony in a public manner should cause the involved persons of infringing goods to refrain from getting involved in infringing activities.

Authors: Praewpan Hinchiranan (Am) / Thaniya Anuchitolarn