How the goods and/or services bearing this trademark are deemed related/relevant to those under an earlier mark is very important to determine registrability of similar trademarks in Vietnam. Whether Nice Classification is the only basis for making an assessment on relatedness/relevance of the goods/services bearing trademarks? Of course, it is not....
Continue readingRegistering a trademark in Vietnam is a legal administrative proceeding in which a trademark applicant (either a natural person or a legal entity) file an application to register a trademark with the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (“IP Vietnam”). Of note, co-ownership of a trademark is possible in Vietnam. Trademarks to be protected under the IP Law of Vietnam include: (i) Trade/service Mark; (ii) Collective Mark; (iii) Certification Mark; (iv) Associated Mark and (v) Well-known Mark...
Continue readingIndustrial designs serve as an valuable tool for any manufacturer who relies on the outward appearance of their products to attract customers and entice potential buyers to choose their offering over the competition. As such, features protectable as industrial designs can be used both purely as a form of aesthetic enticement, as well as a way to distinguish your products, helping them stand out from a multitude of similar goods. Combating design infringement has never been easy. Design registrations protect against infringers from producing the same goods or products which do not produce a different overall visual impression on an...
Continue readingTo license an IP object in Vietnam, such object must be already protected in Vietnam, i.e. it has been granted patents or certificates of registration...
Continue readingCopyright infringement may be subject to administrative or criminal sanctions, depending on severity of the infringement. Further, the copyright owner may also take a court action to claim a compensation for damages caused by the copyright infringement. Below is a summary of sanctions/remedies under administrative, criminal or civil proceedings pertaining to copyright infringement in Vietnam....
Continue readingPer Article 102.3, Vietnam IP Law, the essential technical features of a claim are determined based on the following principles: [The scope of protection of an invention shall be expressed in the form of a combination of technical features which are necessary and sufficient to identify the scope of the rights to such invention and should be compatible with the description of invention and attached drawings]. ...
Continue readingBoth an invention and a utility solution (also called “utility model” or “utility innovation” in some countries) are a technical solution per se which proves valuable in manufacture, business and life. Under the prevailing regulations of Vietnam, a utility solution is not recognised separately as an industrial property object but a special form of an invention...
Continue readingCopyright and copyright related rights are categories in intellectual property rights which is codified and recognized under Vietnam Intellectual Property Law 2005, revised in 2009 (“Vietnam IP Law”). Copyright related rights (related rights) are a special type of copyright and are separate from the author’s rights. Related rights are defined as rights of an organization or individual to performances, audio and visual fixation, and broadcasts and satellite signals carrying coded programmes (Article 4.3, Vietnam IP Law). ...
Continue readingVietnam is currently a member of five international copyright conventions and treaties: the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the Berne Convention); the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (Rome Convention); the Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms (Geneva Convention); the Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite (Brussels Convention); and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs Agreement). In addition, Vietnam has signed bilateral agreements and memoranda for closer cooperation and strengthening...
Continue readingWhat are the requirements for copyright to subsist in a work? KENFOX: Per Article 14.3 of Vietnam IP Law, a work must be created directly by authors through their intellectual labor without copying others’ works. As a matter of practice, to quality for copyright protection in Vietnam, a work must be of originality (i.e. an author's own intellectual creation) and creativity (i.e. a sufficient amount of intellectual creativity). Copyright subsists since the time the work is fixed in a tangible medium (irrespective of its content, quality, form, mode and language and irrespective of whether or not such work has been published...
Continue reading