Trademark as defined by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): a mark is “a sign used to distinguish goods or services of the same or similar type of production establishments, different businesses”. In Vietnam, regulations related to trademarks are recognized in the Law on Intellectual Property. With the increasing demand for protection of intellectual property rights of customers, Hong Bang Law would like to offer advice on Trademark Registration Procedures as follows:

Legal basis

• Intellectual property law
• Circular 01/2007/TT-BKHCN-Guiding the implementation of Decree No. 103/2006/ND-CP dated September 22, 2006, of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of several articles of the Intellectual Property Law intellectual property rights
• Circular 18/2011/TT-BKHCN- Amending and supplementing several provisions of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN dated February 14, 2007, as amended and supplemented under Circular No. 13/2010 /TT-BKHCN dated July 31, 2010, and Circular No. 01/2008/TT-BKHCN dated February 25, 2008, amended and supplemented according to Circular No. 04/2009/TT-BKHCN dated March 27/ 2009
• Decree 103/2006/ND-CP-Detailing and guiding the implementation of several articles of the Intellectual Property Law on industrial property
• Circular 13/2010/TT-BKHCN- Amending and supplementing several provisions of Circular No. 17/2009/TT-BKHCN dated June 18, 2009, and Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN dated June 14/ 02/2007
• Circular 05/2013/TT-BKHCN- Amending and supplementing several articles of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN dated February 14, 2007, guiding the implementation of Decree No. 103/2006/ND-CP detailing several articles of the Intellectual Property Law on industrial property, as amended and supplemented according to Circular No. 13/2010/TT-BKHCN dated July 30, 2010, and Circular No. 18/2011/TT -BKHCN dated 22/7/2011

Conditions

• Organizations and individuals that satisfy the following conditions have the right to trademark registration:

• Organizations and individuals have the right to register trademarks for goods they produce or services they provide;
• Organizations and individuals conducting lawful commercial activities have the right to register trademarks for products that they put on the market but are produced by others, provided that the manufacturers do not use such marks for products and do not object to such registration;
• A legally established collective organization has the right to register a collective mark for use by its members following the regulations on the use of the collective mark; for signs indicating the geographical origin of goods or services, the organization having the right to register is a collective organization of organizations and individuals conducting production and business in that locality; for place names and other signs indicating geographical origin or local specialties of Vietnam, the registration must be permitted by a competent state agency;
• Organizations with the function of controlling and certifying the quality, characteristics, origin, or other criteria related to goods and services have the right to register certification marks provided that they do not conduct production or trade in goods or services. such goods or services; for place names and other signs indicating geographical origin or local specialties of Vietnam, the registration must be permitted by a competent state agency;
• Two or more organizations and individuals have the right to jointly register a mark to become a co-owner, provided that (i) the use of that mark must be on behalf of all co-owners or for goods. goods and services in which all co-owners are involved in the production and business process; (ii) the use of such marks does not confuse consumers about the origin of goods or services.
• Persons with the right to registration, including those who have filed a registration application, have the right to transfer the registration right to other organizations or individuals in the form of a written contract, to inherit or inherit following the law with conditions that the transferred organizations and individuals must satisfy the conditions applicable to the respective registration right holder.
• For a mark protected in a country that is a member of an international treaty that prohibits the representative or agent of the mark owner from registering that mark of which Vietnam is also a contracting party, the representative shall or that agent is not allowed to register the mark without the consent of the trademark owner unless there is a good reason.

Steps to perform

Step 1: Receive the application

Applications can be submitted in person or by post to the NOIP’s headquarters in Hanoi or 2 representative offices of the Department in Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang.

Step 2: Verify the application form.

Check the compliance with the regulations on the form of the application, thereby concluding whether the application is considered valid or not (Decide to accept the valid application / refuse to accept the application)

+ In case the application is valid, the NOIP shall issue a decision to accept the valid application;

+ In case the application is invalid, the NOIP shall issue a notice of its intention to refuse to accept the valid application, clearly stating the reasons and omissions that cause the application to be rejected and setting a time limit. 2 months for the applicant to comment or correct the omission. If the applicant fails to correct the omissions/unsatisfactorily corrects the omissions/has no objections/unwarranted objections, the NOIP shall issue a decision to refuse to accept the application.

Step 3: Publish the application

After there is a decision to accept the valid application, the application will be published in the Industrial Property Official Gazette.

Step 4: Verify the content of the application

Assessing the protection ability of the object stated in the application according to the protection conditions, thereby determining the corresponding scope of protection.

Step 5: Decide to grant/refuse to grant a protection title:

• If the object stated in the application fails to meet the requirements for protection, the NOIP will issue a decision to refuse to grant a protection title;
• If the object stated in the application satisfies the requirements for protection, and the applicant fully and timely pays fees and charges, the NOIP will issue a decision on granting a protection title and record it in writing. National register of trademarks and publication in the Industrial Property Official Gazette.

The dossiers

• Copy of fee and fee payment voucher (in case of payment of fees and charges via postal service or directly into the account of the National Office of Intellectual Property).
• Power of Attorney (if applying through a representative)
• Documents proving the right to register if the applicant enjoys the right to register from someone else
• Application form, declaration form A.04 SMALL registration
• Trademark sample (05 samples of size 80 x 80 mm) and list of goods and services bearing the mark
• Document proving priority right, if priority is claimed.

The competent authority

Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Science and Technology

Our services

• Consulting on all kinds of procedures for customers;
• Drafting, preparing, and checking the validity of dossiers;
• Working with state agencies;
• Receive results on behalf of clients;
• Handing over the results to the client.

If you need more detailed advice and answers as well as how to access this service, please contact directly our Lawyer Nhat Nam via hotline: 0912.35.65.75, 0912.35.53.53 or call the toll free legal consultation hotline 1900.6575 or send a service request via email: lienheluathongbang@gmail.com

Wishing you and your family good health, peace, and success!

Best regards!