Registration procedure for Trademark in Vietnam

REGISTRATION PROCEDURE FOR TRADEMARKS

Trademark means any sign used to distinguish goods or services of different organizations or individuals.

Sign eligible for being registered as trademark must be a visible sign in the form of letters, words, drawings, images, holograms, or a combination thereof, represented in one or more colours or sound trademark that can be graphically presented.

(Clause 16, Article 4 and Clause 1, Article 72 Law 50/2005 on Intellectual Property (amended by Law 36/2009, Law 42/2019 and Law 07/2022))

 

Legal basis:

– Law 50/2005/QH11 on Intellectual Property and Amendments,

– Decree 65/2023/ND-CP on Industrial Property,

– Circular 23/2023 on Industrial Property.

1. Applications for registration:

1.1.  Declaration for registration according to form of Appendix I Decree 65/2023/ND-CP. In which:

– The trademark description: the sample of the mark must be described in order to clarify elements of the mark and the comprehensive meaning of the mark, if any; where the mark consists of words or phrases of hieroglyphic languages, such words or phrases must be transcribed; where the mark consists of words or phrases in foreign languages, such words or phrases must be translated into Vietnamese. If the mark contains numerals other than Arabic and Roman numerals, those numerals must be transliterated into Arabic numerals.

– The section “List of goods and services bearing the mark” in the written declaration must be divided into groups in accordance with the International Classification of Goods and Services under the latest version of Nice Agreement published by the IPVN in the Industrial Property Official Gazette.

1.2. 05 identical mark specimens that satisfy the following requirements: a mark specimen must be clearly presented with the dimensions of each element of the mark ranging between 8 mm and 80 mm, and the entire mark must be presented within a mark model of 80 mm x 80 mm in size in the written declaration; For a mark involving colors, the mark specimen must be presented with the colors sought to be protected.

1.3. Power of attorney.

1.4. Documents certifying the permission to use special signs (if the trademark contains emblems, flags, armorial bearings, abbreviated names or full names of Vietnamese state agencies/ organizations or international organizations, etc.).

1.5. Documents certifying the lawful right of registration (in case the applicant enjoys the right to file from another person).

1.6. Documents evidencing the right of priority (if the patent application has a claim for priority right).

2. Time limit for processing trademark registration applications

From the date on which the registration application is received by the IPVN, the registration application of a trademark shall be examined in the following order:

– A trademark registration application shall have its formality examination within 01 month from the filing date.

– Publication of trademark registration applications: A trademark registration application shall be published within 02 months after it is accepted as a valid application;

– An trademark registration application shall be substantively examined within 09 months from the date of application publication.

3. Madrid Applications designating Vietnam

After receiving a notice of the International Bureau on a Madrid application designating Vietnam, the state authority in charge of industrial property rights shall conduct substantive examination of the application. Within a time limit of 12 months from the date on which the International Bureau issues the notice, the state authority in charge of industrial property rights shall make a conclusion on protectability of the mark

4. Competent authority: Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam.
5. Scope of validity of the Trademark Registration Certification: Vietnam.
6. Validity of Certificates of Registered Trademark:

– Shall have a validity starting from the grant date and expiring at the end of 10 years after the filing date and may be renewed for many consecutive terms, each of 10 years

– In order to have the validity of a certificate of registered mark prolonged, its owner shall have to pay validity prolongation fee./.