KENFOX IP & Law Office > Articles posted by KENFOX IP (Page 22)

Civil procedure for IPR enforcement in Vietnam

For IPR cases, proceedings must be commenced in the court for the province where the defendant resides or works or has its head office or if a dispute is relating to compensation for non-contractual damages, the plaintiff may request the Court of the locality in which his/her residence, work place or head office is located or where the case causing damage occurs to hear the matter (Article 40.1(d), Civil Procedure Code 2015). ...

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Administrative procedure for IPR enforcement in Vietnam

Generally, under trademark-based enforcement practice, the Vietnamese competent enforcement authorities will set up an Inspection Team and may invite representatives from our firm and request local Police to join the inspection to ensure Inspection Team safe during raiding against the alleged infringer. The alleged infringer’s premise/factory/warehouse will be checked/inspected to detect and seize the infringing products. Minutes of administrative violation may be immediately made or a Working Minutes will be made first if necessary to have a meeting/discussion with the alleged infringer later before making a...

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Questions on Copyright Enforcement in Vietnam

Copyright infringement in Vietnam, besides being settled under civil route, is handled under administrative route or criminal route. Per Article 200, Vietnam IP Law, Vietnamese enforcement bodies include: + Copyright enforcement bodies under administrative route: (i) Inspectorates of Ministry/Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism. (ii) Market Management Offices; (iii) Customs Offices; (iv) Police Agencies ...

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Important notes on International Application designating Vietnam

Protection of collective marks: • Holders are must provide regulations governing the use of a collective mark as soon as possible. • Providing a summary of regulations governing the use of a collective mark is not considered sufficient. • Regulations must be submitted in Vietnamese. • Holders must provide explanations of particular characteristics and the quality of the product bearing the mark (if the to-be-registered mark is a collective mark used for a product with unique characteristics). Protection of certification marks: Holders must provide: • regulations governing use of the mark, • explanation of particular characteristics and the quality of the product bearing the mark (if the to-be-registered mark is a mark for...

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A court case concerning well-known trademark “X-Men” between Marvel Characters Inc. and the Vietnamese applicant

A recent court case has attracted significant public attention in Vietnam: Marvel Characters Inc., USA v. the National Office of Intellectual Property over registration of the trademark “X-MEN & device” in the name of ICP, a Vietnamese company. Although it’s no surprise that the NOIP won against Marvel, this case may still be considered as important in the development of the IP protection system in Vietnam and showed the need for improving professional capabilities of Vietnamese judges in this new and specialized legal field....

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Guidance on Franchise Registration in Vietnam

Conditions applicable to franchisors   A business entity may grant a franchise when the business entity satisfies all of conditions as stipulated by Vietnamese laws, particularly: (i) business system to be franchised has been operating for at least 01 year[1], (ii) business entity has registered the franchising activity with the competent body in accrdance with Vietnamese laws, and (iii) goods and services are eligible for franchising. It is further noted that, an enterprise may only conduct business in goods and services on the list of goods and services in which business is restricted or subject to conditions after such business entity has been...

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News in Circular No. 16/2016/TT-BKHCN News in Circular No. 16/2016/TT-BKHCN of June 30, 2016

Circular No. 16/2016/TT-BKHCN amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN dated February 14, 2007, guiding the implementation of Decree No. 103/2006/ND-CP dated September 22, 2006 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of some of the articles of the Intellectual Property Law on Industrial Property, which was amended and supplemented by Circular No. 13/2010/TT-BKHCN of 30 July 2010, Circular No. 18/2011/TT-BKHCN dated July 22, 2011 and Circular No. 05/2013/TT-BKHCN dated February 20, 2013 consists of 3 Articles containing 49 points providing amendment and supplement of some provisions creating favorable conditions for the applicants in relation...

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Copyright infringement assessment

For copyright infringement matters in Vietnam, the copyright owners may obtain assessment through Expertise Center of Copyright, Related Rights(“ECCR”) which was established in 2016, under Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. We note, however, that as the ECCR has just come into operation, the ECCR’s officials always require to check all documents to be assessed before accepting to receive them for assessment purpose. Under the laws, the following documents are required for copyright infringement assessment: a) The written request for the assessment, including: - The name and address of the individual or organization that requests the assessment; - The ID number or the number of...

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Preventing trade name infringement in Vietnam

Trade name is one category of intellectual property rights, which is codified and recognized under Vietnam Intellectual Property Law 2005, revised in 2009 (“Vietnam IP Law”). Per Article 3.2 of Vietnam IP Law, objects of industrial property rights include inventions, industrial designs, layout-designs of semi-conductor integrated circuits, business secrets, trademarks, trade names and geographical indications. A trade name is often a name for a company. Thus, one of the most critical steps in setting up a new business is finding a name for the company. In this sense, under Article 4.21 of Vietnam IP Law, Trade name is a designation...

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