Vietnam

Vietnam Trademark System

Legal Basis	Intellectual Property Law 2005 Law No. 36/2009/QH12 of June 19, 2009, amending and supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Intellectual Property (promulgated by the Order No. 12/2009/L-CTN of June 29, 2009 of the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam)
Major international treaties signed	Paris Convention Madrid Agreement and Protocol
Cost of obtaining a straightforward registration	Please contact us at vietnam@mirandah.com
Average time to register a trademark	Minimum 12 – 16 months
Filing and prosecution procedures	Stage 1: Filing Stage 2: Examination Stage 3: Advertisement Stage 4: Opposition (if any) Stage 5: Registration Stage 6: Post-Registration Advertisement
Registrable marks	Any distinctive device, brand, heading, label, ticket, name, signature, word, letter, numeral, or combination thereof, may be registered as a trademark
Number of classes	45 (Nice Classification)
Multiple class filing	Available
Filing of series marks	Not available
Necessary documents	Signed Power of Attorney
Electronic filing	Not available
Common objections	Deceptiveness Prior conflicting rights Inventiveness, descriptiveness and non-distinctiveness
Opposition term	From the date of publication of the application to the time the Examiner completes the substantive examination of the application (around 6-8 months from publication date, no specific time frame)
Duration of protection	10 years from the filing date
Restoration of lapsed trademark	Within 6 months from the expiry of the registration
Compulsory period of use to avoid cancellation action	A trademark registration may be vulnerable to a cancellation action by a third party if it is not used for 5 consecutive years prior to the cancellation action.
Parallel Imports	Allowed
Use	Not necessary at the time of filing, as an application can be filed on an “intent to use” basis
Useful links	www.mirandah.com www.noip.gov.vn

Enforcement of Trademarks in Vietnam

Outline of the enforcement steps	Civil Infringement pursuant to the Intellectual Property Law 2005 (IPL) Unfair Competition Administrative Actions Effected by the various government department including the Ministry of Science; Technology and Department of Science and Technology at province; the Ministry of Trade, Economic Police and Customs Criminal Actions A criminal action can be brought against an infringer pursuant to Articles 156 158 and 170, 171 of the Criminal Code
Civil Remedies	Interlocutory / permanent injunction An order for the surrender or the destruction of the offending trademark or signage Damages or account of profits in lieu of damages A declaration of the plaintiff’s rights to the trademark and defendant’s infringement of these rights
Criminal Sanctions	Monetary fines or imprisonment or both Prohibition of importation; seizure; detention; forfeiture of counterfeit trademark goods
Others	It is an offence to represent a trademark as registered when it is not
Time frame for various legal actions	12 – 36 months
Alternative dispute resolution	Mediation Arbitration
Any specialized courts for IP	Not available