Facebook Live targeted in crackdown on trading in counterfeit goods

Thosapone Dansubutra, director-general to Intellectual Property Department, said to crack down on the practice via Facebook Live, the department had asked Facebook’s head office in Singapore to help provide information on its users who had breached intellectual property-right laws. 
Thosapone said the department would ask for copyright owners to report violations to the government so fake-goods traders using online websites or Facebook Live can be punished for breaching intellectual property right laws including |the Copyright and Trademark acts. 
It has been discovered that the most popular counterfeit goods traded online are brand-name bags, wallets, watches, and sunglasses, as well as movies and music. 
Thosapone said the government team involved in the crackdown is positioned to take legal action in three cases for the alleged trading of fake goods via Facebook Live, two of which are in Bangkok and one in Chonburi province. 
To proceed on the cases, the department has asked for cooperation from cyber police to investigate the IP address of the fake-goods traders and retrieve information about their bank accounts.
The department also requires court permission to investigate the alleged violators and seize the illegal goods. 
Under the amended Computer Crime Act of the Digital Economy Ministry, the government will soon have a right to close down websites and Facebook accounts |trading counterfeit goods, Thosapone said.