PATENTS
 

Patent Registration documents and information required in Vietnam
a)  Information of inventor(s) or applicant(s) such as full name, address, and nationality;
b) English translation of the specification, claims, abstract and drawings (if any) of the application to facilitate our preparation of Vietnamese translation. Please kindly be advised that the official language for filing a patent application is Vietnamese;
c) Simply signed Power of Attorney (POA) by the applicant which can be provided latter within one month from the Vietnamese filing date for the application filed under the Paris convention and within 34 months from the priority date for the PCT application; and
d) A certified copy of the Priority document (if any) in case the patent application is not a PCT application.

Patent Registration Prosecution in Vietnam:
- The deadline for filing the PCT application in Vietnam is within 31 months from the priority date and the deadline for filing a Paris convention application is within 12 months from the priority date.
- The term for preliminary examination is within 01 month from the filing date
- The term for publication is within 02 months from the date of acceptance as a valid application for the PCT application and in the 19th month from the priority or within 02 months from the date of acceptance as a valid application for the Paris convention application.
- A request of substantive examination must be filed to NOIP within 42 months from the priority date for the patent application.
-  The term for substantive examination is within 18 months from the receiving date of substantive examination Request (if this Request is filed after the publishing date of application) or within 18 months from the publishing date of application (if this Request is filed before the publishing date of application).

Also please kindly be advised that in order to facilitate the examination process of this application, if the corresponding application was granted a patent in the other countries, the applicant should submit this information to NOIP. 

Official action
* Response for Notice of Examination Result have to be made within two [02] months from the date of notification, and one only extension of two [02] months is acceptable.

Timeframe
In our experience, a patent application could get a patent Certificate within at least 3-5 years from the filing date.

Deadline for entering a Patent application in Vietnam for PCT and Paris Convention
The deadline for PCT Patent application entering into National phase 31 months from Priority date; and
The deadline for Paris Convention application is 12 months from the Priority date.

Entry Into National Phase PCT in Vietnam
Note: The International Preliminary Examination Report (IPER) is a strong reference for patent examiner.
Requirements on information and documents for PCT application in Vietnam
- Name, address and nationality of applicant/inventor;
- Copy of PCT application and amendment thereof (English);
- Priority document where priority is claimed. Priority data (application number, filing date and country) is required at filing. Originally certified copy of the priority document is required within 3 months from the filing date;
- Signed Deed of Assignment, requested only if:
* Applicant is individual and not the inventor; or
* Applicant is organization and not the applicant of the priority application.
- Simply Signed Power of Attorney of applicant (“PoA”).
- International Search Report and IPER (recommended)

Note: PCT applications can be filed without PoA, DoA. However, the originals should be submitted within 34 months counted from the priority date of the applications.
National Phase Procedure in Vietnam
Duration of Formality examination: 1 month from the filing date
Duration of Substantive examination: 12 months from the date of examination request or date
of publication (if examination request is filed upon
filing).
Deadline for examination request: 42 months from the priority date for. inventions and 36 months for utility models from priority date.

* Cost for request for substantive examination is charged for each independent claim and number of pages of patent specification.

TRADEMARKS

Trademark Law Vietnam
Legal basis is the Intellectual Property Law 2005, in force since July 1, 2006, as revised under the Law No. 36/2009/QH12, in force since January 1, 2010, and continued to be revised under Law No. 42/2019/QH14 which took effect on January 14, 2019.
All trademarks registered in South Vietnam before April 30th, 1975, are not protected in present Vietnam.
Vietnam is a member of the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol.
Trademark protection is obtained by registration. Vietnam follows the "first-to-file" principle. However, the existing trademark law protects unregistered trademarks if the mark is recognised as a well-known mark.

Classification
Nice classification, 11th edition. Multiple-class applications are possible.

Trademark Registration Procedure in Vietnam
The application is filed at the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IP Vietnam).
The application for trademark registration will undergo following steps: a formality examination will be done within one month from the date of receiving required documents. If the application is accepted as to the formalities, the application data will be published in the Official Gazette of Industrial Property. This shall be done within two months from the date of acceptance as to formality. Within the following 9-12 months, the application will undergo a substantive examination as to make a decision of refusal or grant of the protection by the trademark office. During this time, any third party may file an official opposition. After grant of Trademark Registration Certificate, the mark shall be published in the gazette and recorded in the National Register of Industrial Property.

National Opposition Period
Applications may be opposed at any time after the publication date and before issuance of the registration certificate.

Timeframe
The time for completion of registration: if there is no obstacle arises during the process of examination, in principle, the time from filing an application to registration is 12 months under the IP Law. However, in practice, this period is routinely prolonged from 18-20 months as the substantive backlogs at the Registry. On average, the time frame for obtaining trademark registration in smooth cases is approx. 18-20 months from the date of filing. However, the actual time for substantive examination is 18-24 months. So the time for obtaining trademark registration in smooth cases is approx. 21-27 months from the date of filing.

The required documents for filing a trademark application in Vietnam
- Simply signed Power of Attorney (POA)
- 10 specimens of trademark (not larger than 8 x 8 cm)
- Original priority documents or certified copy of priority document. (if claiming the priority)
- List of goods/services under the 10th edition of Nice classification (List of good/services must be specified in the most detailed way).
* Please note that the copy of PoA is accepted to file with the application providing that the original shall be supplemented within 01 month. Thus, you should e-mail us the Power of Attorney first for our early filing and send the original by mail later for our supplementation.

Criteria for Trademark protection in Vietnam
1. Being a visible sign in the form of letters, words, drawings or images, including holograms, or a combination thereof, represented in one or more colors.
2. Being capable of distinguishing goods or services of the mark owner from those of other subjects.

Duration
Certificates of registered marks 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.

Renewal
Renewal should be paid within 6 months prior to the expiry date (a grace period of 6 months expiry date is available providing that the Trademark Owner must pay late renewal fee).