Copyright Office of Vietnam temporarily closed due to COVID-19

KENFOX – Under Vietnamese law, copyright registration is not a pre-requisite for entitlement of copyright protection and proceeding with legal actions. Taking into account that the enforcement of copyright through the Vietnamese enforcement authorities can be complicated, costly and lacking in certainty of outcomes, despite not legally obligatory, it is strongly recommended to register the works at the Copyright Office of Vietnam (“COV”).

In compliance with the Vietnam Government’s measures on social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the COV has decided to temporarily close its physical office in Hanoi as a way to implement public health measures and pre-empt the trend of increasing local transmission of COVID-19. As such, the COV is no longer directly receiving applications for registration of copyright and related rights as planned to 15 April 2020. This period could be extended, depending on the pandemic developments.

Currently, the copyright related procedures can still be conducted through one of the following options:

• Via e-filing: The copyright holders can register their works through the public service and single-window portal of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism at https://dichvucong.bvhttdl.gov.vn/. It is of note that the portal is available in Vietnamese only.
• Via postal service: Submission of physical application dossiers to the COV via post or courier are accepted. For such applications, applicants must submit the name of the work to be copyrighted, its author, its owner, and the phone number and address of the applicant. The COV will return the registration results via post or courier.

Those who submitted applications in person with the COV before 30 March 2020, should get in touch with the Department of Registration of Copyright and Related Rights via telephone number “84 243 823 4304” for further instructions.