Legal grounds:
- Property intellectual law No. 07/VBHN-VPQH dated June 25, 2019
- Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN dated February 14, 2007
1. Subjects of Trademark protection in Vietnam
Generally, Subjects that can conduct trademark registration include:
- Vietnamese individuals, organizations and businesses;
- Foreign individuals and organizations.
Normally, Vietnamese subjects can register a trademark directly at the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) or through an Intellectual Property Representative.
On the other hand, foreign subjects that wish to register trademarks in Vietnam must apply for trademark registration through Intellectual Property representation companies.
2. Trademark Registration Dossier
a. Minimum trademark Registration Dossier
- Initially, 02 Declaration for registration which are according to form No. 04-NH Appendix A of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN
- Next, In addition to the mark specimen attached to the written declaration, the application must have 05 enclosed identical mark specimens.
- Plus, fee and charge receipts.
- For an application for registration of a collective mark or certification mark, in addition to the documents specified above, the application must also contain the following documents:
– Firstly, regulations on the use of collective marks and certification marks;
– Secondly, explanation of particular characteristics and quality of the product bearing the mark ;
– Thirdly, Map showing the indicated territory. (if the to-be-registered mark is a mark for certification of the geographical origin of a product);
– Finally, document of the People’s Committee of a province or city directly under the Central Government permitting the use of geographical names or signs indicating the geographical origin of local specialties to register a trademark. (if the registered mark is a collective mark certification mark contains place names or signs indicating the geographical origin of local specialties).
b. Other documents (if any)
– Power of attorney (in the case through a representative);
– Documents certifying the permission to use special signs;
– Paper on an assignment of the right to file an application (if any);
– Documents certifying the lawful right of registration (in case the applicant enjoys the right to file from another person);
– Documents evidencing the right of priority (if the patent application has a claim for priority right).
c. General requirements for trademark registration dossier
- First of all, each application can request a grant of one protection title which is of a type suitable to the trademark stated in the application;
- Secondly, All documents of the application must be in Vietnamese. For documents that are in another language must be translated into Vietnamese, according to the Points 7.3 and 7.4 of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN ;
- Additionally, all documents of the application must be presented in the portrait format on A4 paper sheets (210 mm x 297 mm), of which the top, bottom, left and right margins are all 20 mm, in Times New Roman font;
- Besides, for documents that must follow to pre-designed forms;
- Plus, a document consisting of many pages must have page numbers in Arabic;
- Next, all documents must be typewritten or printed with a non-fading ink, clear and clean, and no erasures and modifications.
- Furthermore, terms in the application must be common ones (other than dialects, rare words, coined words). Symbols, units of measurement, electronic fonts, and spelling rules in the application must conform to Vietnam standards;
- Lastly, the application may be accompanied by carriers of electronic data of part or the entire content of documents.
3. Fees and charges for trademark registration
- First of all, official charges for filing application: VND 150,000/ 01 application;
- Secondly, fee for publication of application: VND 120,000/ 01 application;
- Thirdly, fee for the trademark search for the substantive examination process: VND 180,000/ 01group of goods or services;
- Additionally, fee for the trademark search from the 7th good or service onwards: VND 30,000/ 01 good or service;
- Besides, fee for formality examination: VND 550,000/ 01 group of goods or services;
- Lastly, fee for formality examination from the 7th good or service onwards: VND 120,000/ 01 good or service.
4. Time limit for processing trademark registration
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:
– Initially, a trademark registration application shall have formality examination within 01 month from the filing date.
– Plus, publication of trademark registration applications: within 02 months after it is accepted as a valid application;
– Especially, substantive examination: no more than 09 months from the date of application publication.
5. Methods of filling Trademark registration application
The applicant may choose paper filing or online filing through the IPVN’s online public service portal, specifically as follows:
a) Paper filing
The applicant may submit an application for a trademark directly or via postal service to one of the IPVN’s application receiving places, specifically as follows:
Firstly, Head Office of IPVN, address 386 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi city.
Secondly, Representative Office of IPVN in Ho Chi Minh City, address: 7th Floor, Ha Phan Building, 17/19 Ton That Tung, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city.
Thirdly, Representative Office of IPVN in Da Nang City, address: 3rd floor, 135 Minh Mang, Khue My ward, Ngu Hanh Son district, Da Nang city.
In case of filing an application for a trademark by post, The applicant must transfer the application charges/ fees by postal service.
b) Online filing
- Conditions for online filing: Applicants need to have a digital certificate, a digital signature and a registed account which is approved by the IPVNon the Online Application Receiving System.
- Online application process:
+ The applicantneeds to complete the steps of filing a trademark application form on the IPVN’s Online Application Receiving System. After that, a confirmation of online submission will be sent to the applicant.
+ The applicant needs to present the confirmation of the online submission to one of the IPVN’s office attached documents (if any) and pay fees/ charges within 01 month from the date of online submission.
+ If all documents and fees/ charges mentioned above are fully, an IPVN’s officer will issue the application number in the Online Application Receipt System.
+ If one of the documents and fees/ charges is not fully, the application will be denied.
+ Especially, if the applicant fails to complete the prescribed application procedure, the online application procedure will cancel.
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