14 November

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KENFOX IP & Law Office Strengthens Trademark & Copyright Practice with Senior Trademark Attorney Ms. Pham Thi Thu Ha

KENFOX IP & Law Office is delighted to announce the addition of Ms. Pham Thi Thu Ha to our Trademark & Copyright Practice, where she will play a key leadership role in expanding and deepening the firm’s capacity in contentious trademark and copyright matters. She is based in KENFOX’s Hanoi Head Office and works closely with our regional teams in Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. With over 15 years of experience in intellectual property law, Ms. Ha has an extensive background in trademark prosecution, dispute resolution, and enforcement across a broad range of industries, including consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food & beverage,...

10 November

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HAICNEAL vs. HAINOZAL: Stopping a Copycat Shampoo Line, Forcing Destruction of Labels and Printing Equipment, and Blocking a Trademark Hijacking

Posted by Dương Thúy

in Notable Articles, Trademark, Uncategorized, Vietnam

[vc_row triangle_shape="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Download 1.Snapshot of the Case KENFOX IP & Law Office acted for Kunming Dihon Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (China), owner of the HAICNEAL medicated shampoo brand (), and its exclusive Vietnamese distributor, Dong A Pharmaceutical Trading Co., Ltd., after a Vietnamese company (ASEM VINA JSC) began producing and commercializing a shampoo using packaging that closely imitated HAICNEAL’s trade dress while marketing it under “HAINOZAL” (). Because “HAICNEAL” and “HAINOZAL” are not confusingly similar as trademarks, and because HAICNEAL’s box/label had not been registered as an “industrial design” in Vietnam, a conventional “trademark infringement” theory was not strong. We shifted the focus of...

10 November

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Infringement ov er the trademark “SPY”: Tracking the Importer, Forcing Infringing Detergent off the Market, and Locking in Customs Protection

Posted by Dương Thúy

in Notable Articles, Trademark, Vietnam

[vc_row triangle_shape="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Download 1. Snapshot of the Case Importer Identified, VIPRI Infringement Finding Secured, Multi-Agency Pressure Applied, Infringing Goods Removed from Market, Customs Protection Activated. KENFOX IP & Law Office represented MASSCO JSC, a leading Vietnamese chemical and cosmetics manufacturer and the registered owner of the “SPY” trademark (No. 231175), after an unauthorized seller began advertising “SPY” washing liquid on ZALO (a popular Vietnamese messaging / social commerce platform). Our investigation suggested that the products were imported from Thailand, so we moved immediately to identify the source. Through coordination with a customs officer at the General Department of Customs, we obtained official customs data...

07 November

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Trade Name Rights Defeat Trademark Squatting: LChau Pharmaceutical Company Keeps Its Brand and the Squatter Loses Registration in Court

Posted by Dương Thúy

in Notable Articles, Trademark, Viet Nam

[vc_row triangle_shape="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Download 1. Snapshot of the Case KENFOX IP & Law Office has secured a major victory for LChau Pharmaceutical Company in a complex trademark-trade name lawsuit over the name “LChau”. This challenging case in Vietnam, which began in 2020 and spanned nearly 04 years, is not just a win for us; it's a significant victory for our client, a leading pharmaceutical giant in Vietnam with a network of nearly 2000 drug stores across the country. Back in 2016, our client acquired a series of 04 pharmacies in Ho Chi Minh City, aiming to establish a comprehensive pharmacy ecosystem to meet the growing...

06 November

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Justice for “Foellie”: How KENFOX Invalidated a Bad-Faith Filing & Halted a Retaliatory Campaign of IP Abuse?

Posted by Dương Thúy

in Notable Articles, Trademark, Viet Nam

[vc_row triangle_shape="no"][vc_column][vc_column_text]Download 1. Snapshot of the Case Case brief: KENFOX IP & Law Office recently resolved a four-year dispute surrounding the “Foellie” brand, acting for Laorganic Co., Ltd. (Korea), the legitimate owner of the Foellie mark and logo. Lưu Ngọc Anh, a Vietnamese individual - Director of La Pharma Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. applied to register the mark “FOELLIE” for the goods in Class 03 in 2020. Notably, our client, Laorganic had used their mark “” in Vietnam since 2018. In July 2022, our client filed an opposition against Lưu Ngọc Anh’s applied-for trademark “FOELLIE” with the Trademark Examination Centre (TEC) of the IP...

30 October

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Trade Name Rights Defeat Trademark Squatting: LChau Pharmaceutical Company Keeps Its Brand and the Squatter Loses Registration in Court

Posted by Dương Thúy

in Trademark, Viet Nam

KENFOX IP & Law Office has secured a major victory for LChau Pharmaceutical Company in a complex trademark-trade name lawsuit over the name “LChau”. This challenging case in Vietnam, which began in 2020 and spanned nearly 04 years, is not just a win for us; it's a significant victory for our client, a leading pharmaceutical giant in Vietnam with a network of nearly 2000 drug stores across the country. Back in 2016, our client acquired a series of 04 pharmacies in Ho Chi Minh City, aiming to establish a comprehensive pharmacy ecosystem to meet the growing healthcare needs in Vietnam. In...

18 October

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Trademark Use in Vietnam: How to Correctly Understand and Effectively Rebut Non-Use Cancellation Attacks

Posted by Dương Thúy

in Notable Articles, Trademark, Vietnam

In Vietnam, owning a trademark registration is only half the battle - keeping it alive is where the real challenge begins. Many foreign businesses secure broad protection for their brands across a wide range of goods and services, only to discover years later that their registrations are vulnerable to non-use cancellation. What if your products haven’t yet entered the Vietnamese market? What if your app or website is used by Vietnamese consumers but your company is based abroad? Does that count as “use”? Vietnam’s IP Law draws a fine line between registered rights and active rights - and the distinction can...

03 October

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Identical Filing Dates, Identical Marks: Vietnam’s Resolution Mechanism and How Businesses Should Respond?

Posted by Dương Thúy

in Notable Articles, Trademark, Viet Nam

Download In practice, it is not uncommon for two entirely independent entities to file applications to protect an identical or similar sign for the same goods/services - sometimes even on the very same day. What may appear to be a mere coincidence, however, presents an intriguing legal question: when both applications satisfy the filing-date requirement equally, who has priority? Who will be the lawful owner of the mark? In a rare case, a client of KENFOX IP & Law Office - Eurotek Vietnam Lubricants Co., Ltd. (Công ty TNHH Dầu nhớt Eurotek Việt Nam) - filed an application for the mark “”...