HCMC’s market monitoring agency and French fashion firm Louis Vuitton Melletier (LV) on April 1 signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation to enforce intellectual property rights.

The MOU aims to crack down on counterfeited LV products and infringements of the famous brand in 2015-2016, and protect consumer rights.

The cooperation between businesses and authorities like this will help effectively clamp down on counterfeit trading thanks to exchanges of information on suspected violations, Nguyen Van Bach, deputy head of the agency, told the Daily on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.

Bach said LV is the first major brand having a cooperation deal with the local authorities to prevent fake products.

In the coming time, the agency will join hands with more enterprises, individuals and business associations to counter fake products and protect their brands in the city and the country as a whole.

Valerie Sonnier, global intellectual property director at LV, said fighting fake products is the responsibility of enterprises as this does not only help protect their intellectual property rights and the quality of their products but also consumers.

Local market monitors usually find it hard to fight counterfeits as they do not get much support from enterprises. In many cases, enterprises refuse to help authorities confirm the quality and identity of suspected counterfeits.

The agency said 517 Louis Vuitton brand infringements have been found in Vietnam since 2009.