Vietnam is a fast-growing country in Southeast Asia. The Vietnamese market is attractive to both exporters of branded products and private label buyers. Its dynamic economic development, large population, openness to investment and growing demand for quality goods make it an important business destination for global brands.
Protecting your trademark in Vietnam is not only about protecting your own brand, but also about securely entering a market full of opportunities. Having a brand registration in Vietnam gives a company protection not only against competitors vying for a customer’s wallet but also against counterfeits and their uncontrolled export to other countries.
With Vietnam’s rapid growth, trademark protection today is becoming a key element of business strategy to successfully compete and grow in this promising market in the future.
With almost 100 million people in Vietnam, as in many other markets in Asia, having a trademark is your ticket to the market. If you do not own it, you have no chance of promoting your product. In many markets, such as China, having trademark protection is essential to access distribution channels. In other words, trademark protection provides exclusive rights to use the trademark, protects against imitation, helps fight counterfeiting, builds brand image and increases brand value, which helps protect business interests.
In Vietnam, anyone can apply for trademark protection, ranging from individuals to companies, from both home and abroad, as well as associations and NGOs.
Check by searching the database of the Intellectual Property Institute of Vietnam.
Filing a trademark application directly with the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IPOV) rather than through WIPO is more advantageous. First, it is faster because IPOV starts processing the application immediately, whereas WIPO may take up to several months to process the application received and then send it to Vietnam. Secondly, direct filing allows for a more tailored preparation of the application, reflecting the specificities of the local Vietnamese market. In addition, by filing locally, you immediately appoint your professional representative, who not only has the opportunity to communicate directly with IPOV, but also to act immediately in case of objections, for example. This comfort is not available when filing through WIPO.
You will usually need to provide an individual’s identity document or company registration details, a signed power of attorney, a graphic file of the trademark and a detailed list of goods or services to be associated with the mark. Before submitting the documents to the office, your appointed professional representative will translate them into Vietnamese.
The selection of classes for registering products and services is crucial to ensure full trademark protection. At the initial stage, the applicant should consider both the current and future product portfolio to include all planned product groups. Based on this information, the attorney selects the appropriate classes and specific entries in each of them. In some territories, due to filing costs, products should be grouped into subcategories instead of listing each one separately. For example, there is no need to detail cosmetics from the ‘makeup’ line. It is sufficient to choose the general category: ‘makeup cosmetics’. Similarly, in the case of juices: there is no need to list all flavors, just indicate the product: ‘juices’ and so on. The final selection of products and services should always be confirmed with local patent attorneys, who will not only advise on the optimal trademark application in a given territory, effective grouping of entries but will also match them to the standard acceptable lists of the relevant patent office. It is important to remember that a trademark that is not used may be canceled after a few years. The period varies depending on the territory of registration. Nonetheless, the selection should be well thought out and include the products and services that will hit the market within the foreseeable future.
In Vietnam, use of a mark prior to registration is not required, so new marks can be filed for protection. It should be noted that Vietnam has adopted the first-to-file principle in trademark law. This principle means that the exclusive rights to a trademark are granted to the first person who files an application and is successful in the registration process. The priority of registration is based on the priority of the application and not on the priority of use of the mark.
Costs depend on the number of classes and products submitted. Take a look at our price list for details.
The trademark registration system in Vietnam allows for the protection of a wide range of types of trademarks. Commonly registered trademarks include word marks, graphic marks (logos or symbols), word and graphic marks, 3D marks, holograms and colour marks. In addition, the legal system allows for the registration of special marks, such as sound and smell marks. In practice, the versatility of Vietnamese trademark law allows for many different and creative methods of protecting a brand’s image.
Yes, the law in Vietnam allows you to apply for a trademark in several classes in one application.
Yes, for multi-class applications, the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam examines the registrability of the mark separately for each class. The Office examines the registrability of the mark, its distinctiveness from others, whether it conflicts with already registered marks, and whether it complies with specific legal requirements for each class.
The Vietnam Intellectual Property Office usually issues a certificate of registration of a trademark within 1-2 months after the end of the opposition period, although in reality this period may be longer depending on the workload of the office and the efficiency of its internal processes.
The term of protection of a trademark in Vietnam is 10 years. Protection is effective from the date of filing, not from the date of actual registration.
Of course, you can apply for protection of your trademark in Vietnam. If you wish to do this for your individual company, you will need to prepare its English business licence.
The application for renewal of trademarks in Vietnam must be submitted no earlier than six months before the end of the current period of protection and no later than the expiry date. Subsequent filing is possible no later than six months after the expiry of the protection period, but will incur an additional fee.
You can check by searching the database of the Vietnam Intellectual Property Office (IPOV).
TaYes, you can. In Vietnam, a trademark can be cancelled for non-use. According to the Trademark Law of Vietnam, if a registered trademark has not been used continuously for a period of 5 years from the date of registration or from the date of the last use of the trademark. In such a case, the opposing party, the trademark owner, bears the burden of proving that the trademark has been used. If he fails to do so, the rights of the trademark expire.