KENFOX IP & Law Office > Articles posted by developer

Legal News in September 2018

1. Amendment of Decree 116: Automobiles are no longer inspected in batches On 26 September 2018, the Prime Minister issued Decision No.1254/QD-TTg, approving the Action Plan to promote the National one-stop shop mechanism, the ASEAN one-stop shop mechanism, and reform specialized inspections with respect to exported or imported goods. According to this Plan, the Prime Minister has assigned the Ministry of Transport to study and amend the process of imported automobile inspection towards examining only the representative car sample for each representative of all vehicles in one shipment, instead of each batch of imported vehicles as stipulated in Decree No. 116/2017/ND-CP. Regarding conditions...

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Legal News in October 2018

Cancelling procedures for issuance of a certificate of shipping business Decree No. 147/2018/ND-CP amending Decrees on conditions for business in the maritime field shall officially take effect on 24 October 2018. Accordingly, procedures for issuance of Certificates of satisfaction of conditions for shipping business shall officially be cancelled. Shipping enterprises and cooperatives will only have to meet the general conditions on establishment in accordance with the laws. The conditions for domestic enterprises in shipping business have also been simplified in comparison with the current regulations, specifically: (a) Being an enterprise or co-operative in maritime shipping business, which have been established in accordance with...

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Vietnamese products lack trademark and trademark protection

Trademark of Vietnam

The Enterprise Support Project recently carried out a survey on trademark in Viet Nam. Of the 500 surveyed enterprises: 25-30 percent said they had not invested in trademark at all, more than 70 percent said they implemented inadequate investment in trademark, and only fewer than five percent said they invested in trademark properly: A survey by the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that only 20 percent of Vietnamese enterprises invested in trademark, with most of them interested in trademark registration in the domestic market but not in foreign markets. Le Xuan Thu from Pham & Associates said that from 1988...

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“Hakuna Matata™” and Disney: Does their brand benefit from having trademark ?

A trademark is a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others. A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or a combination of these elements. The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, a voucher, or on the product itself. For the sake of corporate identity, trademarks are often displayed on company buildings. Per Article 4.16 of the Vietnam IP Law in 2005: Mark means any sign used to distinguish...

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Geographical indication for Sơn La coffee protected

A Geographical Indication in Vietnam (GI) is a name or sign which identifies goods as having a specific geographical origin, and possessing qualities, reputation, or characteristics that are essentially attributable to products from that place of origin. GIs have been recognised in Vietnam since the promulgation of the Vietnam IP Law in 2005. Per Article 4.22 of the Vietnam IP Law in 2005, “A geographical indication means a sign which identifies a product as originating from a specific region, locality, territory or country”. Vietnam has over fifteen years of experience in GI protection, and GIs are considered an important tool for socio-economic...

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Geographical indication of “Hà Giang” for Shan tuyết tea protected

A Geographical Indication (GI) is a name or sign which identifies goods as having a specific geographical origin, and possessing qualities, reputation, or characteristics that are essentially attributable to products from that place of origin. GIs have been recognised in Vietnam since the promulgation of the Vietnam IP Law in 2005. Per Article 4.22 of the Vietnam IP Law in 2005, “A geographical indication means a sign which identifies a product as originating from a specific region, locality, territory or country”. Vietnam has over fifteen years of experience in GI protection, and GIs are considered an important tool for socio-economic development in the country.

The National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam has recently issued the Decision No. 2835/QD-SHTT on granting Geographical Indication Registration Certificate No. 00069 for “Hà Giang” Shan tuyết tea. Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hà Giang Province is the organization in charge of managing this GI.

Lego sues Zuru for infringing Trademark, Copyright, Trade Dress, and Patent of its Toy figurines!

Gross violations of intellectual property (IPR) are  commonplace that cause damage to the owner. On 13th December, toy making company Lego Group accused Zuru, a company that designs, manufactures and markets toys and consumer products, of infringing their Trademark, Copyright, Trade Dress, and Patent. The suit was filed at the US District Court of Connecticut. According to Lego’s suit, Zuru infringed their Minifigure figurine. These figurines are protected under VA0000655230 and VA0000655104. The copyright registrations cover 3D sculptures. These products also bear the copyright symbol ‘‘©’’ on their packaging. Lego also owns the Trademarks for their ‘‘Minifigure’’ figurine including 4,903,968 covering the design...

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Legal news in June 2018 in Viet Nam

Intellectual property law New provisions of Decree 22/2018/ND-CP guiding the Law on Intellectual Property Copyright and related rights are an intellectual property protected in Vietnam under the Bern Convention to which Vietnam is a member; Law on Intellectual Property of 2005, amended and supplemented in 2009 (the "IP Law"); and subsidiary legislation guiding the IP Law. Previously, regulations on protection of copyright and related rights were detailed in Decree No. 100/2006/ND-CP dated 21 September 2006 ("Decree 100") and Decree No. 85/2011/ND-CP dated 20 September 2011 ("Decree 85"). However, after more than 10 years of implementation, some provisions of the IP Law need...

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