16 April

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Cancelling a Trademark Registration in Bad Faith in Vietnam: What a Genuine Trademark Owner Needs to Do?

Download [Executive summary]: Tân Việt Company, a Vietnamese enterprise, successfully secured the trademark "CAF PROFESSIONAL SOUND" under Registration No. 390821 with IP VIETNAM. Upon discovering this registration, Kafu Company, a China-based company, filed an invalidation with IP VIETNAM based on bad faith ground. Category Details Applied-for trademark Class & goods 09 (Audio equipment such as speakers, audio amplifiers, disc players).35 (Trading, importing and exporting audio equipment such as speakers, sound amplifiers, disc players). Application/Registration No. 4-2018-28713 (390821) Applicant Công ty cổ phần xuất nhập khẩu & đầu tư phát triển Tân Việt (Tan Viet Company) Genuine trademark owner Foshan City Nanhai Kafu Professional Audio Equipment Factory (Kafu Company) Action Filing a trademark invalidation request Legal...

15 April

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05 Notable Bad Faith Trademark Cases in Vietnam: What Lessons Should You Learn?

Posted by Vu Thu Uyen

in IP Practice, Trademark

Download Trademark squatting or the bad faith registration of trademarks to misappropriate the intellectual property of foreign companies for illicit profit has become increasingly common in Vietnam. The more prestigious and reputable the brand, the greater the risk of becoming a target of this exploitative practice. KENFOX IP & Law Office would like to provide 05 notable bad faith trademark cases in Vietnam so that IPR holders who are currently conducting or planning to conduct business in Vietnam can understand the potential risks and challenges, having clearer picture of the legal processes in Vietnam, based on which better strategize their trademark...

15 April

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Trademark Oppositions In Vietnam: What Grounds And How To Effectively Apply?

Posted by Ly Dinh

in Notable Articles, Trademark, Vietnam

Download Intellectual property rights (IPR) holders never want their competitors to register a mark closely resembling their own marks. This is to mitigate legal risks, particularly in preventing confusion among consumers and deterring unauthorized trademark use or free riding on their goodwill associated with their mark. To mitigate these risks and safeguard the value of their brands and intellectual property in Vietnam, intellectual property rights holders must clearly understand the legal grounds for exercising the right to ”oppose” a trademark or to provide 'third-party observation”, as outlined in Articles 112 and 112a of the amended 2022 IP Law. What legal grounds justify...

03 April

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Should you abandon a trademark application temporarily refused registration in Vietnam?

Posted by Ly Dinh

in Notable Articles, Trademark, Vietnam

Not a few trademark applications in Vietnam, whether directly submitted to the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IP VIETNAM) or designated through the Madrid system, are temporarily refused for registration. The situation will be more challenging and daunting in case such a temporarily refused trademark has been commercialized in Vietnam for several years. The temporary refusal of their trademark application raises a critical and complex question: whether to continue the pursuit of registration or to consider abandoning the application?...

02 April

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Proving Originality Of An Applied-Art Work Or A Logo: Why Is It Challenging and What To Do?

Posted by Ly Dinh

in Copyright, Notable Articles, Vietnam

When opposing or requesting the invalidation of a third party's trademark registration on the grounds that the trademark is a copy or contains a copy of a work protected by rights under Article 73.7 of the Intellectual Property Law (IP Law), or requesting administrative handling copyright infringement, you may face a counter-statement that your logo lacks “originality” - one critical requirement to enable your logo to qualify copyright protection. Such claims can include arguments that your logo is composed of common, generic, or widely used elements that do not meet the threshold of originality – it lacks distinctiveness, meaning it...

19 March

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How to Report Trademark Infringement to Shopee E-commerce Website in Vietnam?

Posted by Vu Thu Uyen

in IP Practice, Trademark, Vietnam

Download Shopee, Lazada, and other e-commerce website operators in Vietnam are proactively working to protect intellectual property rights and create a safer e-commerce environment for consumers and brand owners. Shopee, in its efforts, has effectively blocked over 33 million listings flagged for potential intellectual property infringements and escalated the suspension of seller accounts for IP violations by 140%. Last year, our firm, KENFOX, acting on behalf of a copyright owner in Vietnam, submitted a takedown notice to Lazada. Consequently, nearly 2,000 listings from an account selling Foellie inner perfume, a Korean brand, aimed at Vietnamese consumers, were taken down upon our...

18 March

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Fighting the Fakes: 8 common tricks employed by online sellers in Vietnam

Posted by Vu Thu Uyen

in IP Practice, News, Vietnam

Download Online e-commerce platforms have revolutionized the way we shop, offering convenience and a broader selection of goods. However, this digital transformation has also brought significant challenges for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) holders who aim to control the proliferation of counterfeit products. Online sellers of fraudulent goods employ a very wide range of deception tricks in their online stores to outsmart the consumers, so as to maximize their ill-gotten gain. At KENFOX, our attorneys have joined forces with Vietnamese enforcement authorities to tackle these unethical practices head-on. Through collaboration with Vietnamese enforcement authorities, our attorneys from KENFOX have dealt with various...

01 February

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Law vs. Reality: The Hurdles of Pursuing Damages in Vietnamese Copyright Infringement Cases

Posted by Vu Thu Uyen

in Copyright, Vietnam

Download The transfer price of intellectual property (IP) rights is one of the legal bases specified in Article 205.1(b) of the Vietnam IP Law to determine compensation claims in IP disputes. However, in a recent notable IP infringement case, both levels of court - first instance and appellate court - simultaneously rejected a claim for compensation based on the "transfer price" of IP rights. The case not only sparked endless debates about the complexity of the legal process, but also highlighted a significant challenge in determining the basis and method for Courts to assess and award compensation in IP disputes. Why is...

01 February

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How Does Vietnam’s IP Law Need To Provide For AI Generated Works?

Posted by Vu Thu Uyen

in Copyright, Vietnam

Download In the rapidly evolving digital age, the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and creative processes presents a unique challenge to traditional notions of copyright. As AI advances with increasingly sophisticated capabilities, it has become a critical component in generating diverse forms of content. In this context, a series of questions arise, requiring deep consideration as to whether works created by AI are eligible for copyright protection. Lawmakers and law enforcement agencies are faced with the necessary task of considering a series of aspects: from determining the originality and copyright status of such works, to the extent of creative input from...

03 January

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Trademarks and trade names: What lessons can be learned from the recent pharmaceutical trademark lawsuit in Vietnam?

Posted by Vu Thu Uyen

in Notable Articles, Trademark

Download The nearly 4-year-long lawsuit between LC Pharmaceutical Company, a client of KENFOX, and Ms. LKL, the owner of the "LC" brand, reached its conclusion on December 20, 2023. The People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City delivered its verdict, dismissing all of Ms. LKL's claims. This decision marks not only a triumph for LC Pharmaceutical Company but also signifies a turning point in the fight against trademark squatting in Vietnam, shedding light on the complicated aspects of both intellectual property and pharmaceutical laws. The path to seek justice and fight against trademark squatting in Vietnam has never been simple. In...