04 November

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Trademark Enforcement Beyond Products: Forcing a Vietnamese Company to Change Its Name and Surrender a Confusing Domain to the US trademark holder

in Notable Articles, Trademark, Viet Nam

Download 1. Snapshot of the Case IMOST Action Forces Name Change and Domain Transfer Despite Prior-Use and Coexistence Defenses KENFOX IP & Law Office represented CVX Pharmacy, a U.S. retail pharmacy chain with registered trademarks in Vietnam covering pharmaceutical products (Class 05) and medical apparatus (Class 10), in an action against a Vietnamese company (“CVX Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.”) that had adopted a company name highly similar to CVX’s mark and registered a matching domain/website to present itself as if affiliated with CVX. The matter was complicated by the presence of another Vietnamese company (“CVX Medicine Trading Co., Ltd”) whose almost identical company name...

04 November

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Lacoste: Disrupting Wholesale Counterfeit Supply in Hanoi’s Old Quarter – 1,073 Items Seized, Factory-Scale Source Neutralized, Administrative Fine Imposed

Posted by Vu Thu Uyen

in IPR enforecement, Notable Articles, Trademark in Vietnam, Vietnam

KENFOX IP & Law Office represented Lacoste in a coordinated anti-counterfeiting action targeting two apparel shops in Hanoi’s Old Quarter that, following pre-raid investigation, were confirmed to be operating as upstream wholesalers of counterfeit Lacoste garments. After compiling evidence that these locations were supplying fake “LACOSTE” and crocodile-logo apparel into the broader Hanoi retail network, we escalated the case to the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Science & Technology (IMOST) for administrative enforcement. IMOST conducted raids on the identified premises, seizing 1,073 counterfeit garments and imposing administrative fines totaling VND 183,360,000 on the two wholesalers. The seized inventory was ordered...

04 November

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Shutting Down Lookalike Packaging Through Unfair Competition Law – PROSPAN vs. PROSTIBAME

Posted by Vu Thu Uyen

in IPR enforecement, Notable Articles, Trademark, Vietnam

KENFOX IP & Law Office acted for Engelhard Arzneimittel GmbH & Co. KG. (Germany), owner of the “PROSPAN” cough remedy brand ( ), and its exclusive Vietnamese distributor, SOHACO, after a Vietnamese company (VINH AN THANG LONG Investment JSC) began marketing a PROSTIBAME cough “dietary supplement” in packaging deliberately modeled on PROSPAN’s presentation. The infringer avoided direct trademark conflict by using a different word mark (“PROSTIBAME”) (), and PROSPAN’s outer packaging had not been separately registered as a “trademark” or an “industrial design” in Vietnam - making a traditional infringement claim difficult. KENFOX responded by treating the dispute as an...

04 November

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“TIGER” vs. “Two Red Tigers” in Laos: How KENFOX Prevented Trademark Infringement Risks for HEINEKEN?

Posted by KENFOX IP

in Trademark

When a brand gains immense recognition and influence, it often becomes a target for imitators. As “TIGER” beer has become a global icon, it has faced increasingly complex challenges, especially, commercial paraticism. Recently, HEINEKEN is a global and internationally recognized leader in the beverage production and supply business, including but not limited to beer detected a third party in Vietnam filed an International Registration under the Madrid System for the mark “TWO RED TIGERS” designating various countries, including Laos....

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 “”...

26 September

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“Bad Faith”, “Conflict of Rights”, and “IP Abuse” in Vietnam: What Lessons Can Be Drawn from the “Foellie” Trademark Dispute?

Posted by Dương Thúy

in Notable Articles, Trademark, Vietnam

On 15 September 2025, the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (“VN IPO”) issued a Decision No. 205432/QĐ-SHTT annulling the validity of Certificate of Trademark Registration No. 525787 for “FOELLIE” in the name of Lưu Ngọc Anh, thereby ending four years of dispute and bringing an end to a pattern of abusive assertions of IP rights. For Laorganic Co., Ltd. (Korea) - the true proprietor of the “” (“Foellie”) mark - this Decision is not merely a matter of victory or defeat. Beyond restoring their name as the rightful owner, it revives the entire commercial flow that had been throttled by...

17 September

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Freedom to Operate (FTO) in Vietnam: Why and How you can conduct an FTO before product launching?

Posted by Dương Thúy

in Notable Articles, Patent, Viet Nam

Launching a product in Vietnam without an FTO check is like driving at night with the headlights off, possible, but risky and expensive. Vietnam recognizes utility solutions (utility models), a powerful doctrine of equivalents in infringement analysis, and broad “Bolar”-style regulatory approval exceptions. Knowing which of these helps you, and which hurts you, often decides whether your launch flies or stalls. For foreign enterprises considering entry into the Vietnamese market, conducting a Freedom-to-Operate (FTO) search is not a simple administrative box to check; it is a critical, proactive tool for risk mitigation and strategic business planning. In a rapidly evolving economic...