Trademark registration in Vietnam

Currently, along with the development of society, the number of assets is created more and more. In which there are 2 main types, which are tangible assets and intangible assets. Intangible assets are intellectual property created by human intelligence through activities in creative thinking.

Trademarks are one of the intellectual property created by people. Trademarks are used to associate with any individual, organization or product that represents the prestige, quality, and trust of customers and partners.

So how to register a trademark?

According to the law of Vietnam, trademarks are signs used to distinguish goods and services of different organizations and individuals.

Trademark is a sign used to distinguish goods and services of different organizations and individuals.

Collective mark is a mark used to distinguish goods and services of the members of the organization that is the owner of that mark from the goods or services of organizations or individuals that are not members of the organization. there.

Certification mark is a mark that its owner allows other organizations or individuals to use on goods or services of such organization or individual to certify characteristics of origin, raw materials or materials. materials, ways of producing goods, ways of providing services, quality, accuracy, safety or other characteristics of the branded goods or services.

Associated marks are trademarks registered by the same subject, identical or similar, for products or services of the same or similar type or related to each other.

Well-known brand name is a trademark widely known by consumers throughout the territory of Vietnam.

Trademarks will be used by individuals and organizations to put up their own products to distinguish them from products of the same type of other individuals and organizations.

In accordance with the law, the following persons are entitled to trademark registration:

–  Organizations and individuals have the right to register trademarks for the goods they produce or for the services they provide.

–  Organizations and individuals conducting lawful commercial activities have the right to register trademarks for products they put on the market but are manufactured by others, provided that the producer does not use the mark for the product and do not object to such registration.

–  Lawfully established collective organizations have the right to register collective marks for their members to use according to the regulations on the use of collective marks; for signs indicating the geographical origin of goods or services, the organization has the right to register as a collective organization of organizations and individuals conducting production and business in that locality; for place names or other signs indicating geographical origin of local specialties in Vietnam, the registration must be permitted by the competent state agency.

–  Organizations with the function of controlling and certifying quality, characteristics, origin or other criteria related to goods or services have the right to register certification marks provided that they do not carry out production or business. those goods and services; for place names or other signs indicating geographical origin of local specialties in Vietnam, the registration must be permitted by the competent state agency.

–  Two or more organizations and individuals have the right to register a mark together to become co-owners with the following conditions:

+   The use of that mark must be on behalf of all co-owners or for goods or services in which all co-owners are involved in the production or business process;

+   The use of such mark does not cause consumers to confuse the origin of goods or services.

–   Declaration of registration of trademarks of individuals or organizations;

–   Trademark registered;

–   List of products and services for trademark registration;

–   Regulation on using collective mark or certification mark;

–   Related documents;

–   Certificate true copy of enterprise registration certificate of organization or Certificate true copy of identity card / citizen identification of the individual;

–   Power of attorney;

–   Receipt of payment of the trademark registration fee.

A trademark registrant submits the first application and meets the conditions specified by law, he / she will enjoy priority if there are many different registrars that are identical or not significantly different from each other, and easy to confuse products and services.

In the event that an applicant for trademark registration wishes to enjoy the priority under the Paris Convention or other international treaties, the applicant’s claim for priority will be accepted if the conditions are met. in accordance with the law or according to the provisions of such international treaty.

Individuals and organizations shall submit a set of dossiers of trademark registration at the National Office of Intellectual Property either in person or by post or online.

The NOIP will receive and check the trademark registration application according to the following procedures:

–  Appraisal form: 01 month;

–  Application publication: within 2 months from the date the mark registration application has a decision to accept a valid application;

–  Examination of content: no more than 9 months from the date of publication of the application.

Protection titles are valid throughout the territory of Vietnam. Trademark registration certificates are valid from the date of issue to the end of ten years from the filing date, renewable for successive ten years.