Trademark registration services in Vietnam

Trademarks are an important part of client company’s competitive edge. ANT Lawyers IP practice helps you protect these valuable intellectual assets, through trademark registration, oppositions, and other trademark protection resolutions in Vietnam.

In particular, ANT Lawyers IP practice offers client services as following:

• Trademark Availability Searches
• Trademark Watch Service
• Trademark Filings & Trademark Registrations
• Renewals
• Recordals of Amendments, Assignments, Merger Agreements, Licences
• Filing Opposition & Responses

Our trademark attorneys in Vietnam will process client’s trademark registration by carrying out the following steps:

• Providing our clients with cost estimates for searching and filing applications
• Conducting comprehensive clearance searches including analysis about registration of the required trademarks and providing advice on the most appropriate and cost-effective method to obtain a clearance
• Preparing and filing trademark applications, including obtaining appropriate legalization of documents and translations (if applicable)
• Responding to objections raised by Registrars and potential third party oppositions
• Negotiating settlement agreements when necessary to overcome prior marks
• Obtaining a Certificate of Trademark Registration once your trademark is approved
• Recording changes in name and address of proprietor, assignments, licenses and renewals of trademarks
• Providing solutions for trademark protection in Vietnam.

Learn more about our ANT Lawyers Intellectual Property practice, its experience, and team members here.

Please contact our trademark attorneys in Vietnam for advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call us at +844 32 23 27 71

Let ANT Lawyers help your business in Vietnam.

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Time Limit of Trademark Protection Extension

Procedure of extending mark certificate in Vietnam

As regulation of law on intellectual property, the mark, trademark or service mark, is one of protected subjects of industrial property right. However, to be protected by law, the owner of mark shall apply protection registration dossier to competent authority prior. When the owner registers and is granted a certificate of registered mark, the owner shall have the exclusive right to label the product, service or both, right to allow others to use the mark throughout mark license contracts, right to assign the mark ownership and right to prevent breaching action from any third party.

However, a certificate of registered mark shall be valid from the grant date until the end of ten (10) years after the filing date. When the validity terminates, in order to continue being the owner of mark, the owner of Certificate shall implement the procedure of extending the protection validity of the certificate. It is important that the owner has to be aware of the time to apply dossier for a certificate extension in accordance with the law.

As regulation of law, time limit of extending mark certificate is prior or after six (06) months from the expiration date of mark certificate. If the extension is applied prior 06 months since the expiration date, the owner shall pay extension fee. If the extension is applied after 06 months since the expiration date, the owner shall pay extension fee and fine for late payment as month.

Procedure of extending mark certificate:

·         Application form (as template);

·         Original Mark Certificate (if any);

·         Power of Attorney (POA);

·         Payment voucher.

With highly professional staff and great experience in IP aspect in Vietnam, ANT Lawyers would like to support you in extending your trademark or service mark or both in Vietnam.

Source: ANTLawyers.vn

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How to Handle Rejection of International Trademark Registration In Vietnam By The NOIP?

Cancellation Against of Trademark in Vietnam

The procedure to register a trademark in Vietnam is carried out at the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP). The duration calculated from the full receipt of the dossier to the announcement is at least 12 months, or it can be expended from 16 months to 18 months.

However, in many cases, NOIP could send a notice on its intended refusal of the trademark application because of the following reasons:

·         There are grounds to affirm that the subject matter stated in the application does not fully satisfy the conditions for protection;

·         If there are more than one registration applied in the same time with full conditions to issue the protection title, but your application is not the first.

After receiving the refusal intention notice, applicants and all organizations and individuals have rights to reject the notice within 02 months, this duration can be extended one time, the extended time is 02 months.

If reasons in the notice are not correct and the applicant does not agree with the notice, within the given duration, the applicant could send written comment to NOIP, in which display the applicant’s comment, submit supplemental documents and proof to support.

After receiving the written comment, NOIP shall re-examine before issue the final decision.

The time limit for re-examination of applications is equal to two thirds of the time limit for examination; for complicated cases involving many circumstances which need to be verified or requiring expert opinions, that time limit may be prolonged but must not exceed the time limit for examination. Re – examination is only carried out one time.

However, in many cases, the applicant cannot display convincing arguments or reliable proofs, that makes NOIP does not agree and keep their own intention to refuse issuing the protection title. Therefore, when receiving intention notice to refuse issuing protection titles, applicants should find legal advice from consultants who have experience in intellectual property.

Source: ANTLawyers.vn

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Opposition Procedures of Trademark in Vietnam

Trademark is the priceless asset of a company because of being used to distinguish goods or services of different organizations or individuals. Many international companies have found that others have registered trademark protection in Vietnam at National Offices of Intellectual Property (NOIP).

Because trademark is protected independently in each nation, it is easy for violators to abuse trademarks of other well known companies for their interests in Vietnam. This could potentially put the real trademark owner’s under challenges when the clients or customers realize the product bearing the trademark they trust do not meet the standard they expected.

Opposition Procedures of Trademark in Vietnam

In Vietnam, after detecting their infringement registration process, you should submit an opposition notice to NOIP in Vietnam to prevent the violating trademark registration. To ensure your opposition shall be effective, you should enclose evidences and related documents.

With highly professional staff and great experience in IP aspect in Vietnam, ANT Lawyers, a qualified attorney and registered IP agent, could support you in opposition procedure of trademark in Vietnam.

Deadline for filing an opposition to a trademark application in Vietnam

The deadline for filing an opposition to a trademark application in Vietnam is stipulated particularly in the IP Law.

According to IP Law of Vietnam, during examination of trademark applications as from the date when a trademark application is published on the Industrial Property Official Gazette until prior to the date of decision on granting Certificate of trademark registration, an opposition request should be filed to the NOIP. Such request will not be accepted by the NOIP for handling if it is filed after the date of decision on granting trademark registration. However, under our current practice, the applicant could request for an acceleration examination, shorter than provided period of 09 months. Therefore please be noted that possible opposition should be filed as soon as possible.

Requirements

Pursuant to the IP Law, foreign opponents are not allowed to file opposition request directly at the NOIP but must authorize a lawful IP representative in Vietnam to proceed with such action based on a required original Power of Attorney (POA). Under current practice in Vietnam, a copy of POA may be acceptable for filing opposition and the original one could be filed later. However, the NOIP will not consider the opposition until the original POA is filed and all formality requirements are satisfied.

Trademark opposition Procedure in Vietnam

The opposition request must be in written form and the source of its accompanied supporting materials (if any) must be specified.

A possible opposition will be considered at the time of the trademark application’s examination as to substance.

As a general procedures, within 01 month (in fact, the time can extend to 02-04 months) as from the receiving date of our opposition, the NOIP will consider and then may convey its contents to the Applicant and fix about 01 month for them to present opinions. After receiving response of the Applicant (if they submit), the NOIP will inform and give the Opponent 01 month for filing response, submission of opinions.

In some cases, the NOIP may give conclusion upon consideration of opposition without conveying its contents to the Applicant if they think that it is clear enough to conclude. It is possible for the NOIP to organize conversation between the Opponent and the Applicant, upon request of the two parties, to clarify the matter (if necessary).

Upon considering the evidences submitted by the two parties, the NOIP will make a decision to accept opposition or not.

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How to Handle Trademark Infringement in Vietnam?

Counterfeit destroys businesses, business environments, markets as well as the image of the country. Handling trademark infringement in Vietnam has been practically challenging.

Handling trademark infringement in Vietnam

Vietnam government has been trying to curb the counterfeits however the results are limited.  The counterfeit business generates huge profits due to the gap price anywhere in the world.   Almost goods which is either popular or luxury, high or low-value of either domestic or foreign brands are being counterfeited, imitated in Vietnam.  Falsification of household goods, food, cosmetics, shoes and items of higher value such as bags, watches, glasses, etc may be found all over Vietnam. For effective anti-counterfeit, we need a close cooperation among the authority agencies in inspection, control of production, import and circulation in the market.  The Southern Department of Goods Quality Control in Vietnam in one of its regular inspections when cooperating with competent agencies in Ho Chi Minh City found after checking 79 stores with 416 items including: oil, helmets, toys, electronic devices that 33.89% of goods of unsatisfactorily labeled, 14.5% unsatisfactory quality. Where the consumers buy counterfeit goods, they could and should report to State authorities, Anti-Counterfeit and Brand Protection Association as an effort to contribute to curbing counterfeit in Vietnam.  The international brands being infringed could request assistance from local law firms in Vietnam.

ANT Lawyers’ Intellectual Property lawyers in Vietnam have assisted a number of clients being foreign brands in its effort to protect their intellectual property and industrial property rights in Vietnam under Intellectual Property Law through advisory, and implementation service.

How ANT Lawyers IP Practice Could Help You?

Please click here to learn more about ANT Lawyers IP Practice or contact our trademark attorneys in Vietnam for advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call us at +844 32 23 27 71

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