Watch store owner in Vietnam charged for selling 2,134 counterfeits of upscale brands
13 November 2026
Police authorities in the northern Vietnamese province of Hung Yen have prosecuted Pham Van Duong, owner of a watch and eyewear store suspected of selling 2,134 counterfeit watches with an estimated value of more than D490 million (US$19,000).
The alleged counterfeit watches used trademarks by the following brands: Rolex, Tissot, Casio, Versace, Omega, Seiko, Hublot, Rado, Longines and Orient.
According to Son Doan, founding and managing partner at IP Max in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, establishments found selling counterfeit items in the past would receive an administrative fine and then continue operating soon after.
“This time, the police and the market surveillance force worked together, and the owner has been charged under Article 226 of the Penal Code, which deals specifically with IP crimes. More than 2,100 watches under 10 brands must come from a bigger supplier, and I hope the police will trace the source,” said Doan.
Under Article 226, the penalty based on the counterfeit watches’ value which translates to D230,000 (US$9) per watch, is a fine or a non-custodial sentence.
However, fines have been low. “At two well-known markets in Ho Chi Minh City, 71 cases were handled in the first five months of this year, and the average fine was only about D4.3 million ($170). For the sellers, such a fine is just a business cost,” Doan revealed.
Fortunately, this problem is being addressed. A resolution by the Supreme People’s Court is underway to guide the application of Articles 225 and 226. This includes the determination of ‘commercial scale’ and the value of infringing goods.
The Hung Yen incident is not an isolated case, said Doan and added that IP enforcement has become a lot stronger since the Prime Minister’s directive in May 2026. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, as reported by the Vietnam News Agency, 244 criminal IP cases were initiated in the first nine months of 2026, posting an increase of about 467 percent from the entire 12 months of 2025. In the same period, about 8,200 cases were handled by administrative action. “In my 30 years of IP practice in Vietnam, I have not seen this level of enforcement before,” Doan revealed.
Counterfeiting is a problem across the region. In the case of Vietnam, part of the problem is its long land border. Doan explained: “Vietnam has a long land border with the world’s largest source of counterfeits. Many of these goods are not for the Vietnamese market. This year Customs has stopped several shipments of fake luxury goods in transit from the northern border to Cambodia and Laos. In practice, some of these goods come back into Vietnam through other routes, and others go on to other countries.”
This problem will soon be addressed by the amended Customs Law, which was passed in August 2026 and will allow customs authorities to suspend customs procedures for goods in transit beginning in March 2027.
Additionally, the National Steering Committee 389 said recently that the agencies are connecting their data so that seller accounts can be identified and goods can be traced. Commonly, these sellers hide their identity and then open a new account when the old one is removed.
“What Vietnam needs is a long-term and comprehensive approach: penalties that really deter, tracing goods back to the source, better control at the border and online, shared data between agencies and close cooperation with brand owners,” Doan stated.
- Espie Angelica A. de Leon
