A case of copyright infringement in the Vietnamese beer industry concluded on March 16, 2023, when Le Dinh Trung was fined VND700 million (US$29,787) by a Vietnamese court for making and selling almost 9,000 boxes of beer with branding that infringed the Saigon Beer trademark.
Saigon Beer is a trademark of Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corporation (Sabeco). Trung, a former employee of Sabeco, had set up his venture, Saigon Vietnam Beer Group Jsc., in 2019 to produce similarly named Saigon Beer Vietnam.
Distribution of Saigon Beer Vietnam began in May 2019. That same month, Sabeco noticed similarities between the packaging and brand name of the two beers and requested the Vietnam Intellectual Property Research Institute to investigate.
Bia Saigon is the flagship brand of SABECO (Photo: SABECO)
In June that year, the Institute found that the design of Saigon Beer Vietnam cans infringed Sabeco’s trademark, upon which Sabeco requested market authorities to intervene. In the resulting investigation, thousands of Saigon Beer Vietnam boxes were found in several localities throughout Vietnam.
Prosecutors said that the copyright infringement had damaged Sabeco’s brand reputation and misled customers into purchasing the wrong product. The investigation continued until Thursday’s verdict closed the book on the case.
Trung had set up his company with an authorized capital of VND30 billion (US$1.28m). The capital was put up by Trung, his partner Tran Thi Ai Loan, a former Saigon Beer distributor, and an unnamed third person.
Loan had signed a contract with BiVa brewery in Ba Ria-Vung Tau to produce 8,912 boxes.
When distribution started in May 2019, 3,300 boxes were sold to three customers for VND578 million (US$24,600). Each box was sold at VND159,300 (US$6.78), nearly 12% lower than Sabeco’s Saigon Beer.
The BiVa brewery claims that they only produced the beer to the requirements of Saigon Beer Vietnam and was not aware of any copyright infringement.
Another factor in the case was that Trung had registered his company at the same address as Sabeco. Although this was changed later to a different location in Binh Thanh District, the packaging on his beer carried the old address, confusing customers.
Following the verdict, Saigon Beer Vietnam has suspended operations.
(Lead Photo: Le Dinh Trung stands before the Ba Ria-Vung Tau People’s Court, March 16 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Truong Ha)
