It is difficult to protect Intellectual Property Rights for exported fruit

Recently, Ho Chi Minh Customs Department has faced obstacles in protecting Intellectual Property Rights for red dragon fruit.

Illustrative photo. Internet

According to Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department, after receiving dossiers for IPR protection for red dragon fruit type LD1, Customs units at border gates have processed, however, they are facing obstacles in identifying items subject to protection.

In fact, although export declarations of red dragon fruits are classified into Yellow Channel (dossier check) or Red Channel (physical inspection), Customs officials cannot identify the signs of IPR infringement. Specifically, for this case, it is difficult to identify whether this is red dragon fruit type LD1 or not, because the fruit is widely grown in many regions of the country.

Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City said that the identification of red dragon fruit type LD1 is very difficult and cannot be implemented by manual method, even if there is a photo to compare with. The identification of dragon fruit type must be implemented in the laboratory to analyze the genetic code to compare with the genetic code of the dragon fruit type that is protected to identify the infringement.

In addition, dragon fruits are fresh fruits and the time for preservation is short and they are easily damaged if the preservation does not meet standards. The stop for Customs procedures and genetic verification prolong Customs clearance time and easily damage fruits and consume cost for import enterprises, and put pressure on the Customs authorities, leading to complaints.

For this problem, Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department has proposed the Director General to ask the Department of Crop Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to protect plant variety, specifically, for the red dragon fruit type LD1 of the owner of the plant variety protection certificate in the direction of protecting the IP rights for the plant variety in the region where the plant variety is used, so as not to affect the finished agricultural product for exports.