Ho Chi Minh City police charge trader over the “Hằng Du Mục” red-dates trademark

Ho Chi Minh City police have charged Sun Yupeng, a Chinese national born in 1976 who also goes by the Vietnamese name Tôn Bằng, with infringing industrial property rights under Article 226(2) of the Penal Code, and have ordered his pre-trial detention. Police announced the case on 18 October. [1], [2], [3]

The “Hằng Du Mục” mark is registered with Vietnam’s Intellectual Property Office to Nguyễn Công Hảo, director of Hằng Du Mục Co., Ltd. According to police, he entrusted the business to his daughter, Nguyễn Thị Thái Hằng, who sold through TikTok, and Sun had imported and traded red dates with her, his former wife, since 2022. Police say Sun knew the mark belonged to Mr Hảo and that he had no right to let anyone else use it. After the divorce he set up his own company, Dịch Dương, with himself as legal representative, and carried on selling red dates under the mark without the owner’s consent. [1], [2], [3]

Officers searching Dịch Dương’s warehouse at 45 Tân Sơn, in Tân Sơn ward, found 28,794 kg of red dates bearing the mark. Police said the dates were of Chinese origin and that no lawful invoices or documents could be produced for them. The goods were valued at about VND 1.5 billion. The dates of the search and of the decision to charge have not been published. [1], [3], [4]

Sun has not been convicted. A decision to charge is an early stage of Vietnamese criminal proceedings. Police say the case is part of the nationwide peak campaign against IP infringement ordered by the Prime Minister’s Official Dispatch No. 38/CĐ-TTg. [1]

This is not a typical counterfeit raid. The person charged had worked inside the business, and the case turns on who owns the mark and who was allowed to use it. The reports do not say whether any written agreement covered use of the mark while the couple traded together. That point is likely to matter as the case goes on, and it is one that brands sold through family members or partners may want to check in their own arrangements.

Sources

1. Ho Chi Minh City Police (official portal). Bắt, khởi tố Sun Yupeng (Tôn Bằng) về tội “Xâm phạm quyền sở hữu công nghiệp”. Published 18 October 2026. Vietnamese. Byline: Ban Biên tập, Cổng thông tin điện tử Công an TP.HCM. Accessed 21 October 2026. Working English title translation: Sun Yupeng (Tôn Bằng) arrested and charged with ‘infringement of industrial property rights’ (working translation).
2. VietnamPlus. Khởi tố, bắt tạm giam đối tượng người Trung Quốc xâm phạm nhãn hiệu “Hằng Du Mục”. Published 2026-10-18 18:17 Vietnam time (UTC+7). Vietnamese. Byline: Khánh Ly. Accessed 20 October 2026. Working English title translation: Chinese national prosecuted and detained for infringing the ‘Hằng Du Mục’ trademark (working translation).
3. Tuổi Trẻ Online. Tôn Bằng: Từ những màn livestream ồn ào đến vụ án táo đỏ. Published 2026-10-18 17:01 Vietnam time (UTC+7). Vietnamese. Byline: Vũ Nguyễn. Accessed 20 October 2026. Working English title translation: Tôn Bằng: from noisy livestreams to the red-dates case (working translation).
4. VietnamPlus. Khởi tố đối tượng Tôn Bằng về hành vi xâm phạm nhãn hiệu “Hằng Du Mục”. Published 2026-10-18 17:55 Vietnam time (UTC+7). Vietnamese. Byline: Hồng Đạt. Accessed 20 October 2026. Working English title translation: Tôn Bằng prosecuted for infringing the ‘Hằng Du Mục’ trademark (working translation).