More than 4,500 violations of intellectual property rights worth tens of billions of Vietnamese dong were discovered in the past five years and nearly VND20 billion in fines has been collected.

   
This information was released by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) at a June 12 conference in Hanoi to review the action plan for preventing and handling intellectual property rights violations in the 2006-2010 period.

Addressing the meeting, MoST Deputy Minister Chu Ngoc Anh said with effort and collaboration of ministries, agencies and localities nationwide, the law-making activities for protecting intellectual property rights have seen significant changes, reflecting Vietnam’s strong commitment to settle the issue when joining the WTO.

The action plan has helped prevent intellectual property rights violations, he said.

Anh said the review of the action plan offers a chance for his ministry and related agencies to share experiences in managing and collaborating to prevent and combat violations of intellectual property rights.

The review focused on communication to raise public awareness of the need to comply with intellectual property laws, as well as inspecting, detecting and handling violations.

Participants in the event emphasized the importance of adhering to international commitments on intellectual property and ensuring a mechanism for enforcing intellectual property laws through close collaboration with State management agencies and the participation of the judiciary.

They said it is essential to establish a joint coordination mechanism to strengthen the inspection and handling of intellectual property violations in order to improve the plan’s effectiveness.

Also at the conference, the Ministries of Science and Technology; Culture, Sports and Tourism; Agriculture and Rural Development; Information and Communications; Finance and Public Security, as well as the Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuracy signed a collaboration action plan for preventing and combating intellectual property rights violations in the 2012-2015 period.

Source: VOV