IP enforcement and anti-counterfeiting: administrative action after the 2025 restructuring, civil litigation, provisional measures and damages, criminal prosecution under Articles 225 and 226 of the Penal Code, customs recordal and border measures, online takedowns and platform duties, evidence and expert assessment, with a worked counterfeit case

Four routes, one strategy

Article 199 of Law No. 50/2005/QH11 on Intellectual Property provides four remedies against infringement: civil measures ordered by a court, administrative measures, criminal measures, and border control measures. They can be combined. A typical campaign against counterfeits in Vietnam starts with investigation and evidence, uses an administrative raid or customs suspension to seize goods quickly, escalates to criminal referral when the quantities justify it, and reserves civil litigation for cases where the owner wants damages, a permanent injunction or a precedent. The choice depends on the type of right, the scale of infringement, the evidence available, the speed required and the cost the owner will bear.

Every route starts from a valid right. Registered rights are proved by the certificate of registration, or for Madrid marks the certificate of protection; copyright by a registration certificate or other evidence of authorship and ownership; trade secrets and unfair competition claims by proof of the facts. Owners should register first and keep certified copies of certificates, licences and assignments ready (Trademarks and brand protection).

Administrative enforcement after the 2025 restructuring

Administrative action remains the most used route because it is fast and inexpensive for the owner. The owner files a petition with evidence of the right and the infringement, the authority inspects the premises, seizes goods and imposes fines and remedial measures such as destruction of counterfeit goods, removal of infringing elements and confiscation of the means of production. Fines for industrial property infringement are set by Decree No. 99/2013/ND-CP, as amended by Decrees No. 126/2021/ND-CP, No. 46/2024/ND-CP and No. 186/2026/ND-CP, and for copyright by Decree No. 131/2013/ND-CP as amended; the Law on Handling Administrative Violations caps fines in the IP field at VND 250 million for an individual and twice that for an organisation. Law No. 131/2025/QH15 makes storage of counterfeit goods an express violation alongside production, import, transport and sale, and requires counterfeit and pirated goods to be destroyed except in cases the Government defines.

The agencies changed in 2025. The General Department of Market Surveillance ceased to operate in its former model on 1 March 2025; its central functions passed to the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development of the Ministry of Industry and Trade under Decree No. 40/2025/ND-CP, and the provincial market surveillance departments were handed to the provinces as market surveillance sub-departments of the provincial Departments of Industry and Trade. The Law on Inspection No. 84/2025/QH15 folded the separate specialised inspectorates into the general inspection system from 1 July 2025. Decree No. 186/2026/ND-CP, in force from 15 July 2026, now gives sanctioning power for industrial property infringement to the Director General of IP Viet Nam, who may fine up to VND 250 million, suspend licences and business in the infringing goods, confiscate goods and order remedial measures, and to the heads of inspection teams set up by IP Viet Nam or the Minister of Science and Technology. The economic police, customs and People's Committees also act, and Law No. 131/2025/QH15 replaced the old list of agencies with a general reference to authorities competent under the Law on Handling Administrative Violations. In practice the owner should choose the agency that has jurisdiction where the goods are and the capacity to act quickly, which is usually the provincial market surveillance force for shops and warehouses.

Civil litigation, provisional measures and damages

A civil action is brought in the People's Courts. Since the courts were reorganised on 1 July 2025 under Law No. 81/2025/QH15, IP cases at first instance have been concentrated in specialised intellectual property courts within Regional People's Court No. 2 in Hanoi, for the northern and north-central provinces, and Regional People's Court No. 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, for the southern and south-central provinces; the owner should confirm the competent court for the defendant's location before filing. The court can order the infringer to stop, publicly apologise, perform civil obligations and pay damages, and can order destruction or non-commercial disposal of infringing goods and the means used to make them (Article 202). Law No. 131/2025/QH15 adds a new remedy: the court may order the removal, hiding or disabling of access to infringing information, content, accounts, websites, applications and internet addresses.

Provisional measures, such as seizure, attachment, sealing or a prohibition on changing the goods, can be requested with or after the claim where delay would cause irreparable harm or evidence may be destroyed (Articles 206 and 207 and the Civil Procedure Code), against security posted by the applicant; the amended law adds provisional measures directed at online infringement. Damages cover actual material loss, including lost profit and the costs of preventing infringement, and reasonable lawyers' fees. Where the loss cannot be quantified, the court may award statutory damages of up to VND 1 billion, raised from VND 500 million by Law No. 131/2025/QH15, and moral damages of 10 to 100 times the base salary (Article 205, as amended). Litigation takes longer than administrative action, often one to two years at first instance, and judgments must then be enforced through the civil judgment enforcement system (Vietnamese courts and litigation).

Criminal prosecution

The Penal Code (Law No. 100/2015/QH13, as amended) makes two IP offences criminal. Under Article 226, intentionally infringing industrial property rights in a trademark or geographical indication protected in Vietnam is a crime where the illegal profit is VND 100 million or more, the damage to the owner VND 200 million or more, or the infringing goods are worth VND 200 million or more; individuals face fines of VND 50 million to VND 500 million or non-custodial reform for up to three years, and in aggravated cases fines up to VND 1 billion or six months' to three years' imprisonment. Under Article 225, infringing copyright or related rights for commercial purposes is a crime where the illegal profit is VND 50 million or more, the damage VND 100 million or more, or the infringing goods are worth VND 100 million or more, with imprisonment of up to three years in aggravated cases. Both articles allow commercial legal entities to be prosecuted, with fines of up to VND 5 billion under Article 226 and VND 3 billion under Article 225 and suspension of operations. Patents and designs are not covered; manufacturing and trading counterfeit goods that imitate the function or quality of genuine goods may instead fall under the counterfeit goods offences beginning at Article 192.

The owner files a denunciation with the economic police or the procuracy, or the market surveillance force refers a case after a raid; the owner then acts as the injured party and can claim damages in the criminal proceedings. Criminal referral is the strongest deterrent against repeat and organised infringers, but the owner loses control of timing once the case is with the police.

Customs recordal and border measures

A rights holder may file an application for customs supervision, commonly called recordal, with the Customs Department, supported by the registration certificate, product descriptions, photographs of genuine and suspected goods and known infringers, under Circular No. 13/2015/TT-BTC as amended by Circular No. 06/2026/TT-BTC from 1 March 2026. Customs must respond to a complete electronic dossier within 20 working days, and online filing is now the default. A recordal is commonly valid for two years and renewable. When a shipment matching the recordal arrives, customs notifies the holder, and on the holder's request and security, of 20% of the value of the goods or at least VND 20 million where the value is unknown, suspends clearance for ten working days, extendable to 20 (Articles 217 and 218 of the IP Law), during which the holder must start administrative or civil proceedings or the goods are released.

Circular No. 06/2026/TT-BTC added a new Article 10a allowing customs to suspend clearance of suspected counterfeit trademark goods, pirated goods and other infringing goods on its own initiative, without a prior request; the holder is then notified, within eight working hours of the decision, and must act. Customs must compensate the importer if a suspension on its own initiative proves unfounded, so officers act more readily where a right is recorded and the owner has trained them to identify fakes.

Online infringement, takedowns and platforms

Online sales and digital piracy are now the largest source of complaints. Law No. 131/2025/QH15 extends the duties of internet service providers and digital platform operators to all IP rights, not only copyright, requiring them to take technical and organisational measures to prevent infringement in cyberspace, including cloud, over-the-top and social media services, and to cooperate with authorities and rights holders; a safe harbour protects intermediaries that meet the prescribed conditions (new Article 198b). Authorities and courts may order infringing content, accounts, websites and apps removed or disabled, and Decree No. 186/2026/ND-CP adds blocking of access to infringing domain names as a remedial measure. The E-commerce Law (Law No. 122/2025/QH15) separately requires platforms to remove infringing listings and livestreams and to verify sellers (E-commerce, digital platforms and consumer protection). In practice an owner should use each major platform's notice procedure first, keeping screenshots and test purchases as evidence, and escalate to the authorities for repeat sellers and stand-alone pirate sites.

Evidence and expert assessment

Vietnamese authorities decide largely on documents. An enforcement file usually contains the certificate of registration and any recorded licence; evidence of the infringement, such as test purchases with invoices, photographs, the infringer's business registration details and, where useful, a record of the facts made by a bailiff (vi bằng) or a notarised record of website content; a comparison of genuine and infringing products; and an expert assessment opinion (giám định sở hữu trí tuệ). Assessment is carried out by licensed IP assessment organisations and assessors, such as the Vietnam Intellectual Property Research Institute, on whether the goods or sign fall within the scope of protection; IP Viet Nam can also give opinions to enforcement authorities. Authorities are reluctant to act on a trademark case without an assessment where similarity is arguable, and a patent case almost always needs one.