A business owner in Hung Yen province in Vietnam has been hit with a fine of more than 102 million VND after inspectors discovered hundreds of counterfeit pickleball paddles being sold out of his premises, Hung Yen Provincial Police confirmed on 27 September 2026.
The case traces back to 24 July 2026, when the Economic Security Department, working alongside Market Management Team No. 2 under the Hung Yen Provincial Market Management Sub-Department, carried out an inspection at a business run by Le Duc Viet, a resident of Nhu Quynh commune born in 1991. It wasn’t a routine check that turned up nothing—inspectors found 310 paddles bearing the JOOLA brand name, priced at 330,000 VND apiece, adding up to a listed value north of 99 million VND on their own. Alongside them sat a further 140 unbranded paddles, carrying no labelling and no indication of where they’d actually been manufactured, priced at 100,000 VND each and worth roughly 14 million VND in total.
Verification work that followed confirmed what the numbers alone already suggested: every one of those JOOLA-branded paddles was counterfeit. Market Management Team No. 2 formally recorded the violation on 31 July, and the Sub-Department subsequently handed down its penalty, totalling over 102 million VND, covering three separate offences—failing to register the business household as required under local regulations, trading in counterfeit trademarked goods, and selling products of unverified origin.
It’s a fairly stark reminder of what’s riding on pickleball’s rapid growth across Vietnam and the wider region. Genuine equipment brands like JOOLA have spent real money building both product quality and legal protection around their designs, and cases like this one show exactly why that protection matters in practice, not just on paper. A paddle priced well below the going rate for genuine gear might look like a bargain on the surface, but buyers picking one up in Hung Yen this summer were, whether they realised it or not, walking away with something entirely different from what the label promised.
For local authorities, the case also doubles as a signal to other operators cutting corners in the same way: counterfeit sporting goods aren’t treated as a minor paperwork issue in Vietnam. Between the unregistered business status, the trademark violation, and the unverified goods, this single inspection produced three distinct grounds for penalty—and a fine large enough to make the point stick.
