USTR notes progress but counterfeits persist at MBK Center

The MBK Centre in Bangkok has been singled out by the US Trade Representative (USTR) Office as Thailand’s only “physical market” still actively engaged in the trading of counterfeit goods, in violation of the intellectual property rights law, according to Oramon Sapthaveetham, director-general of the Department of Intellectual Property.

On Tuesday, the USTR Office released its 2025 report on ‘Notorious Markets’, naming 37 online markets and 32 physical markets in 19 countries, including the MBK Centre, which were found to be selling counterfeit products.

In the report, MBK Center was described as popular with tourists and visitors, where concerns about counterfeit goods have persisted.

However, enforcement authorities have conducted large-scale raids that resulted in the seizure of thousands of counterfeit items. Authorities and the mall management have also carried out public awareness campaigns highlighting the negative impacts of counterfeit goods on consumers and retailers.

MBK Center management has reportedly terminated lease agreements with tenants arrested for intellectual property violations.

However, reports indicate that counterfeit goods have resurfaced in temporary stalls on higher floors, including fake luxury handbags, clothing, watches, and shoes.

Oramon said that the USTR report is good news, because Thailand was not listed among countries which still have a robust online market for counterfeit brand name products.

She attributed this success to increased efforts by authorities to convince major online platforms in Thailand to enter into an agreement on the protection of intellectual property rights on the internet and to reject online trading of fake products.

She also said that the management of the MBK Centre shopping mall has been cooperating with the department in cracking down on small vendors secretly engaging in sale of fake products, adding that a number of them have been removed from the mall, but there are some still operating covertly and they will eventually be weeded out.

Oramon noted that the department has been in close consultation with the USTR and in regular exchanges of information in the effort to crack down on counterfeit products, hoping that, in the next report, Thailand will be completely delisted.