MCI, KSA blocks social media accounts for trademark violations

The Ministry of Commerce & Industry in KSA has blocked 26 accounts in Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for violating the trademarks system. 

MCI teams specialised in combatting commercial counterfeiting and fraud online and on social networks had monitored the accounts and found that they had made some 20,000 advertisements of fake and adulterated products that claimed to bear trademarks registered with the Ministry, which is clear abuse of the sites for marketing and promotion of counterfeit products, and a violation of intellectual property rights.

MCI calls on all consumers to avoid communicating with unlicensed sites which promote counterfeit goods. The ministry noted that all of the unlicensed and suspicious sites lacked a licensed trade name or an address. Communication with such sites was done through WhatsApp.