Registration of company logo protection is an optional procedure according to the law. However, this is the card that helps ensure the interests of businesses against the too complicated competition of the market. At the same time, it is a factor that helps to increase the position and reputation of the business with customers in the market. A registered company logo is always considered the most useful tool to help the company promote its image to users, bring products and services closer to customers. So about the matter “Protecting logos for foreign companies in Vietnam” let’s find out with LSX in the article below.
Legal grounds
- Law on Intellectual Property 2005, amended and supplemented in 2019.
Protecting logos for foreign companies in Vietnam
Registration of logo protection can be done through copyright registration or trademark registration, or the owner can register two forms simultaneously.
Register for logo protection in the form of copyright registration.
A logo is considered a “work of applied art” – a work represented by lines, colors, shapes and layouts.
– Conditions of protection: Logos that want to be protected must be creative and not copied from any source.
– Registered subject: the person who directly creates the product (the author) and the copyright owner
– Mechanism of establishing rights: Copyright arises when that work is fixed, regardless of content, meaning, quality and is not required to go through registration procedures.
– Authority: The agency that issues copyright registration certificates for applied art works (logos) is the Copyright Office.
Registration time: 15 working days from the date of receipt of complete and valid documents.
The essence of copyright in logo: is the right of the author/copyright holder to prevent others from making unauthorized copies of his logo.
Advantage:
• Procedures for copyright registration are easily certified by the State agency.
• Fast certification time is only about 15 working days.
• Scope of protection: No domain restrictions
• Low cost of copyright registration procedures.
Defect:
• The assessment to issue a copyright registration certificate is done on the basis of the commitment of the logo’s author himself, there is no synchronous system to manage and look up whether the logo is registered. is a copy of another logo or not, especially in cases where the creator of the logo has not yet published the work. Therefore, the level of protection for copyright is weak.
• The established copyright is not absolute, so the enforcement and protection of rights has not been thorough. The problem of copying logos is complicated, it is difficult to prove how and to what extent is copyright infringement..
• The protection period is limited.
Register for logo protection in the form of trademark registration.
– Objects of protection: logo is a trademark of an enterprise, a sign used to distinguish goods/services of different enterprises and is one of the objects of protection of industrial property rights.
– Conditions of protection: Logos must ensure distinctiveness, must not be identical or confusingly similar to other people’s trademarks that have been registered before for products/services of the same or similar type.
– Subject of registration: owner
– Mechanism of establishing rights: Ownership of a trademark (logo) is recognized by law only when the owner of the mark (logo) is granted a certificate of registration of the mark file.
– Authority: Department of Intellectual Property
Registration period: 12 months. According to the current situation, the registration period is longer than expected, 24-36 months.
– Legal consequences: the owner will have the exclusive right to own this trademark (logo) for the product/service he has registered, any duplicate or confusingly similar signs used by others for similar products/services may also be considered infringing elements and be handled according to the law.
Advantage:
• This is currently the strongest legal protection procedure to guarantee the ownership of the logo for the owner of the logo.
• The broadest protection content: protects both text and image content (if the logo includes words), against the use of confusingly similar logos even though they are not 100% identical.
• Trademarks are protected forever if the owner submits a valid renewal application (Unlimited number of renewals)
Defect:
• NOIP will examine the contents and search the system closely and rigorously before making a decision to grant or refuse to grant a certificate.
• Specific scope of protection for each product, goods or service.
• The processing time is long because of the large number of trademark applications filed.
• The cost of registration procedures is higher than copyright registration due to limited scope of protection, the wider the scope of protection, the higher the registration cost.
• A trademark, even though it has been granted a Trademark Registration Certificate, if it is not used within a period of five consecutive years, it will be required by another entity to terminate its validity.
• Trademarks are protected for 10 years from the filing date (priority date). The owner can renew the protection title and there is no limit to the number of renewals.
Procedures for registration of company logo protection
To be able to start the process of registering a company logo, the company will have to prepare the following relevant paperwork:
– A declaration according to the prescribed form to request the issuance of a certificate of registration of the company logo. Declaration form No. 04-NH, Appendix A of Circular 01/2007/TT-BKHCN. The company logo registration declaration is the most important, in the declaration there is a lot of content to be completed such as a description of the registered company logo, a list of products/services, a registered logo, information about the owner… .
– The company business registration license for the purpose of recording the owner information on the registration declaration the same as on the business registration.
– 05 company logo samples customers need to register. These logos must be presented in standard dimensions not less than 8 x 8 mm but no larger than 80 x 80 mm.
After preparing all documents for company logo registration, proceed to submit the application according to the registration agency mentioned above.
When the application for registration of the company logo is submitted, the NOIP will consider the application for the logo of the company, the application will go through the following stages:
– Formal appraisal period: 01-02 months;
– Period of Publishing the application in the Industrial Property Official Gazette: 02 months;
– Content appraisal period: 09-12 months;
– Issuance of registration certificate: 01- 02 months;
However, in practice, the total time for the registration of an exclusive logo usually lasts from 13 to 16 months from the time of publication of the application.
Above is the entire process of registering for protection of the company logo. But usually, before considering where to register the company logo, what is the profile, companies often find themselves a reputable law unit with the desire to be answered by lawyers and perform a professional service, professional way. Dan Viet Law is proud to be a reputable industrial property representative organization that supports the company to register the logo in the most effective way. Hoang Phi Invest & I.P has registered for logo protection for many companies: Dan Viet applied for trademark registration “XVYD, picture” for Hong Anh Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., registered 03 trademarks for Joint Stock Company. Etuka section; registered 02 trademarks for Gotoday Trading Co., Ltd; 03 trademarks for Kim Hung Investment Joint Stock Company; trademark registration “BIGFAN, picture” of Mega Vietnam Co., Ltd; ….
Services of LSX
Prestigious professional services: Firstly, the team of consultants and consultants for many years in the field of civil status, and customer support.
On-time: Certainly, with the motto “Get your lawyer right at your fingertips”, we ensure the service always performs on time. The rights and interests of customers always come first.
Cost: Besides, LSX’s service costs are highly competitive; depending on the nature of the particular case. So, we want our guests to have the best possible service experience. Therefore, costs which guaranteed to be the most suitable and economical for customers.
Confidentiality of client information: Finally, all brand information of client LSX will be 100% confidential.
Please contact us immediately if you have any questions about “Protecting logos for foreign companies in Vietnam”
Contact LSX
Finally, hopefully the information in the article will provide helpful information for readers and help you solve the problem “Protecting logos for foreign companies in Vietnam” At the same time, LSX Law firm always has leading lawyers and legal consultants who will help you in legal matters of life. If you have any need, please get in touch with us via hotline: +84846175333 or Email: [email protected]
Please see more
- Should register for logo protection as trademark or copyright in Vietnam
- Application for divorce from foreigners in Vietnam
- Proving separate property before marriage under Vietnam law
Frequently asked questions
The cost of trademark protection will depend on two factors:
– Is your brand/brand template ready? Is there a possibility of protection?
– The scope you want to protect your trademark/brand: The wider the protection coverage, the longer the protection period, the higher the cost of protection (the number of registration groups is high)
An exclusive trademark protection dossier submitted to the National Office of Intellectual Property will include the following documents:
– Declaration according to the form of the National Office of Intellectual Property
09 models of brand labels
– Brand description attached
– Copy of ID card (For individuals), copy of business registration (For legal entities)
Due to the specificity, the time to consider applications and grant protection titles is very long. Total protection period can last from 12-18 months depending on the case!
Appraisal in terms of form from 1-2 months
– Post in the newspaper for 1 month
– Appraisal in terms of content from 9-12 months
– Decision to grant protection title from 01-03 months
This time can be even longer if the NOIP receives too many protection requests, complicated trademark templates, wide scope of protection, etc.
Because of the long time, before submitting the application, you should look up the trademark you intend to protect first to save time, effort and money to develop the brand!
Conclusion: So the above is Protecting logos for foreign companies in Vietnam. Hopefully with this article can help you in life, please always follow and read our good articles on the website: lsxlawfirm.com
