Vietnam IP Summary – an update 2008 2008/05/31 Nguyen Anh Tuan - Managing Partner
Intellectual Property Legislation
Vietnam became a full member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since January 2007 with considerable commitments not only on development of its legal system for the protection of intellectual property rights but also on opening of its markets to foreign investors.
Since the promulgation of the 2005 Civil Code and 2005 Intellectual Property Law with various implementing regulations, Vietnam established its intellectual property legal system and practices towards WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The Law on Intellectual Property is the most important legal base for establishment, protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Inventions, utility solutions, marks, industrial designs, layouts of integrated circuits, geographical indications, plant variety protection, copyright and related rights, business secrets, unfair-competition, etc. are objects protected under the Intellectual Property Law. To fight against infringement of intellectual property rights, Vietnam sets up border and inside market supervising mechanisms with involvement of various competent enforcing authorities, such as the courts, customs offices, economic police, inspections, market management bureaus, etc. in order to provide vigorous tools for enforcement. Concepts, perceptions on intellectual property rights, determinations and experience in settlement of sophisticated infringement acts have been much accumulating, improving, enriching and legislating.
Vietnam intellectual property law and practice has been developing for nearly 20 years since 1988. During such long period, Vietnam signed and well complies with main international treaties on intellectual property, namely WIPO Convention (1976), Madrid Agreement for Marks (Accession 1981), Paris Convention (1975), PCT (1993), Madrid Protocol (2006), Berne Convention (2004), Brussels Convention (2006), Phonograms Convention (2005), Rome Convention (2007), UPOV Convention (2006), etc.
Some Statistics
1. Application Filing Statistics by Year. The line chart hereunder shows the increasing trend of IP applications filed in Vietnam since 1990, with a spectacular growth in the year 2007.
2. Applications by Foreign and Vietnamese Applicants. With a spectacular growth of IP applications filed in Vietnam in the previous line chart, total Vietnamese applications are higher than foreign applications since 2002. In 2007, of total 37,015 patent and mark applications filed, 15,685 are foreign applications and 21,330 are Vietnamese applications.
The floating bar hereunder shows the Vietnamese mark applications against foreign mark applications by year. It is easy to see that since the year 1999, annual mark application total filed by Vietnamese applicants is always higher than one filed by foreign applicants, especially in the year 2006 and 2007.
On the contrary to the mark application trend in the previous page, annual patent application total filed by foreign applicants is always higher than one filed by Vietnamese applicants. Vietnam therefore encourages foreign holders to transfer of their advanced technologies and techniques to Vietnam. The Technology Transfer Law provides a wide legal path for such purpose.
From the line chart hereunder showing the trend of IP applications filed by G7 countries in Vietnam since 1997, United States of America (US) stands on top, followed by Japan. Vietnam stands the third.
3. Proportion of Applications for Patents, Designs and Marks. From the pie chart hereunder, it is quite easy to see that mark application possesses the highest proportion among the patent application and design application filed in Vietnam in the year 2007, on the peak with 32,030 applications, followed by patent with 3,080 applications and the last is industrial design with 1,905 applications. It should be noted that Vietnam applies First to File principle to mark applications.
4. Comparison between Applications and Grants: It appears from the below column chart that ratio of applications which were granted for registration against the total applications filed in Vietnam by year is trending towards decrease, especially during 2004 to 2007, only 50-60% of the total applications are granted. Take 2007 for instance, of 37,015 applications filed, only 21,196 (equivalent to ~57%) applications are granted the registrations.
5. IP Licensing and Assignment Transactions. It appears from the line chart hereunder that the total licensing transactions (licensed the right to use IP objects) from mid year 2007 to end of 2007 are suddenly increased, after a big drop in 2005 while from 1997 to 2004, the pink line keeps gradually increased. Contrary to the IP licensing transactions, IP ownership assignments were suddenly dropped down since 2005 while still keeping a light increase in 2006 and 2007, after it reached on top in 2001 and 2003. It’s a forecast that IP licensing transactions are likely increased in 2008 and the following years.
6. Petitions on Registrations. The column chart hereunder provides you with a general picture on the trend of petitions against decisions of Vietnam Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) on various aspects related to the grant of registrations.
Vietnam became a full member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since January 2007 with considerable commitments not only on development of its legal system for the protection of intellectual property rights but also on opening of its markets to foreign investors.
Since the promulgation of the 2005 Civil Code and 2005 Intellectual Property Law with various implementing regulations, Vietnam established its intellectual property legal system and practices towards WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The Law on Intellectual Property is the most important legal base for establishment, protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Inventions, utility solutions, marks, industrial designs, layouts of integrated circuits, geographical indications, plant variety protection, copyright and related rights, business secrets, unfair-competition, etc. are objects protected under the Intellectual Property Law. To fight against infringement of intellectual property rights, Vietnam sets up border and inside market supervising mechanisms with involvement of various competent enforcing authorities, such as the courts, customs offices, economic police, inspections, market management bureaus, etc. in order to provide vigorous tools for enforcement. Concepts, perceptions on intellectual property rights, determinations and experience in settlement of sophisticated infringement acts have been much accumulating, improving, enriching and legislating.
Vietnam intellectual property law and practice has been developing for nearly 20 years since 1988. During such long period, Vietnam signed and well complies with main international treaties on intellectual property, namely WIPO Convention (1976), Madrid Agreement for Marks (Accession 1981), Paris Convention (1975), PCT (1993), Madrid Protocol (2006), Berne Convention (2004), Brussels Convention (2006), Phonograms Convention (2005), Rome Convention (2007), UPOV Convention (2006), etc.
Some Statistics
1. Application Filing Statistics by Year. The line chart hereunder shows the increasing trend of IP applications filed in Vietnam since 1990, with a spectacular growth in the year 2007.
2. Applications by Foreign and Vietnamese Applicants. With a spectacular growth of IP applications filed in Vietnam in the previous line chart, total Vietnamese applications are higher than foreign applications since 2002. In 2007, of total 37,015 patent and mark applications filed, 15,685 are foreign applications and 21,330 are Vietnamese applications.
The floating bar hereunder shows the Vietnamese mark applications against foreign mark applications by year. It is easy to see that since the year 1999, annual mark application total filed by Vietnamese applicants is always higher than one filed by foreign applicants, especially in the year 2006 and 2007.
On the contrary to the mark application trend in the previous page, annual patent application total filed by foreign applicants is always higher than one filed by Vietnamese applicants. Vietnam therefore encourages foreign holders to transfer of their advanced technologies and techniques to Vietnam. The Technology Transfer Law provides a wide legal path for such purpose.
From the line chart hereunder showing the trend of IP applications filed by G7 countries in Vietnam since 1997, United States of America (US) stands on top, followed by Japan. Vietnam stands the third.
3. Proportion of Applications for Patents, Designs and Marks. From the pie chart hereunder, it is quite easy to see that mark application possesses the highest proportion among the patent application and design application filed in Vietnam in the year 2007, on the peak with 32,030 applications, followed by patent with 3,080 applications and the last is industrial design with 1,905 applications. It should be noted that Vietnam applies First to File principle to mark applications.
4. Comparison between Applications and Grants: It appears from the below column chart that ratio of applications which were granted for registration against the total applications filed in Vietnam by year is trending towards decrease, especially during 2004 to 2007, only 50-60% of the total applications are granted. Take 2007 for instance, of 37,015 applications filed, only 21,196 (equivalent to ~57%) applications are granted the registrations.
5. IP Licensing and Assignment Transactions. It appears from the line chart hereunder that the total licensing transactions (licensed the right to use IP objects) from mid year 2007 to end of 2007 are suddenly increased, after a big drop in 2005 while from 1997 to 2004, the pink line keeps gradually increased. Contrary to the IP licensing transactions, IP ownership assignments were suddenly dropped down since 2005 while still keeping a light increase in 2006 and 2007, after it reached on top in 2001 and 2003. It’s a forecast that IP licensing transactions are likely increased in 2008 and the following years.
6. Petitions on Registrations. The column chart hereunder provides you with a general picture on the trend of petitions against decisions of Vietnam Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) on various aspects related to the grant of registrations.
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