21 February

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How to register a geographical indication in Vietnam?

Download Overview: Geographical indications (GIs) are categorized as a type of industrial property right in Vietnam and protection of GIs are regulated under the Law on Intellectual Property. A GI identifies a product as originating from a specific geographical location and possessing unique qualities or characteristics that are attributable to that location. GI protection can help build confidence among customers by providing assurance of the product's authenticity and quality, as well as its cultural and traditional value. For producers, GI protection can enhance the reputation of their products and increase their market value, as customers are willing to pay a premium for products...

06 February

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Why should figurative marks and product labels be registered as copyright in Vietnam?

Posted by Ly Dinh

in Copyright, Vietnam

Surprise, shock, bewilderment, anxiety, pessimism and a scenario that all doors are closed is a common state/feeling that many foreign trademark owners fall into when they discover that their trademarks, even their product packagings have been filed for trademark or industrial design registration by a third party in Vietnam. Other holders are desperate that the risk of business strategy in Vietnam will be broken down/jeopardized when they detect that their trademarks and/or their product labels being copied in their entireties, or only some minor changes thereof are made by the third parties for the purpose of business exploitation....

31 January

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Use your registered trademark in Vietnam or you will lose it

Posted by Ly Dinh

in Trademark in Vietnam

Obtaining a trademark registration does not mean a guarantee for the maintenance of the trademark validity, because the trademark holders are obliged to use their registered trademarks in commerce and renew the validity before it expires. The purpose of this regulation is to allow the removal of marks that exist on the trademark register but are not in genuine use and/or to block the phenomenon of trademark squatting which unreasonably prevent similar marks from entering the market. This mechanism helps to reduce the number of trademark disputes and reduce registrations acquired only for the purpose of unfair competition and trademark...

12 January

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Restoration of priority rights for patent applications in Vietnam – What you need to know

Posted by Ly Dinh

in Patent, Vietnam

Download A Chinese patent with 12 months priority deadline passed, but the patent applicant still wants to patent his invention in Vietnam. Is it possible to request for a restoration of priority right in the international patent application and then enter into Vietnam under PCT route? 1. What is the “priority date” of a patent application? Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Convention) is an international treaty that provides, among other advantages, a right of priority among patent applications. Under the Paris Convention, on the basis of a regular first application filed in one of the member states, the applicant may, within a...

12 January

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5 questions to assess whether your product infringes patents in Vietnam

Posted by Ly Dinh

in Patent, Viet Nam

Download You are a patent holder who suspects that a competitor's product is being manufactured in violation of your patent rights. In a different context, you wish to bring a product to market but are unsure whether it infringes on a protected patent in Vietnam. Of course, regardless of what context, whether you are a patent owner or a manufacturer of an unpatented product, the simplest way to determine patent infringement is to file a patent infringement assessment with the Vietnam Intellectual Property Research Institute (or "VIPRI" for short). However, this assessment will cost a considerable amount of money, so it...

03 November

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How did “DING TEA” milk tea win the brand battle in Cambodia?

Posted by KENFOX IP

in Cambodia, IP Practice, News

Download 1. Cambodia is an emerging market that attracts substantial foreign investment in Southeast Asia. Every year, tens of thousands of trademark applications are filed directly in Cambodia or through the Madrid system, and millions of registered trademarks have been published in the national register. Therefore, securing a trademark registration in Cambodia is not a simple course of action, because it is very easy for a mark to be deemed confusingly similar to an earlier mark, not to mention the fact that many trademark applications may be rigidly refused by the examiner. Then, without the support of IP attorneys with extensive...

02 November

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Building up your brand in 20 years in Vietnam, but losing it in a few days. WHY?

Posted by KENFOX IP

in IP Practice, News, Notable Videos, Trademark in Vietnam, Viet Nam

Download In June 2022, Hoa Sen Co., Ltd., (HOA SEN) the owner of the "ZACOPE" trademark for pure drinking water products, complained to KENFOX IP & Law Office, "I don't understand why the company's sales in the first half of the year have dropped so drastically." HOA SEN did investigation and found that rivals utilized similar labels bearing the trademark "ZACOP." A check of the protection title, however, revealed that the registration of the trademark had expired. This occurs because the previous employee resigns and transfers the trademark to the new employee, who is unaware of the requirement to renew the...

04 October

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Three options to accelerate patent examination in Vietnam

Posted by KENFOX IP

in IP Practice, News, Patent, Viet Nam

The examination of a patent application's patentability in Vietnam is time-consuming. A typical examination would necessitate access to databases of prior art for novelty and inventiveness comparisons against what has already been disclosed or practiced. Despite recent advancements in conducting substantive examination for patent applications, the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (VNIPO) tends to grant patents based on the grant of the corresponding patent from countries with more developed IP systems or examination results of the corresponding patent application from more established Patent Offices such as those of the United States, Japan, South Korea, and the European Patent Office....

03 October

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Vietnam’s 2022 amended IP Law: What do new trademark provisions mean for your brand protection strategy?

Posted by KENFOX IP

in IP Practice, News, Trademark, Viet Nam

Intellectual property is regarded as a company's most important and valuable asset. In particular, it cannot be denied that a trademark is the industrial property object with the highest commercial exploitation value. Numerous amendments and additions have been made to Vietnam's 2022 Intellectual Property Law in order to improve the effectiveness of the intellectual property protection mechanism and fulfill Vietnam's legal obligations under International intellectual property agreements to which Vietnam is a signatory, including CPTPP, EVFTA, and RCEP...