Why do you need to IMMEDIATELY register for trademark protection in Vietnam?

Trademark protection is one of the urgent tasks you need to do in the 4.0 era so that the business can run smoothly and help the company maintain a competitive position in the market. Registering your trademarks promptly will save your business from the risk of brand theft and the risk of being sued for copyright infringement by others. In particular, if you are a foreign individual or organization looking to distribute your products and provide services in the Vietnamese market, this article is for you. We will in turn explain why you need to immediately register your trademark in Vietnam.

1. What is the trademark?

A trademark is a name or a logo that you print on product labels or name in advertising and communication media to identify or distinguish your products or services from those of others.

For example, “Pepsi” is a trademark for soft drink, “Manchester United with the red devil” is a trademark of Manchester Football Club (UK), and “CIS Law Firm with the logo” is a trademark of the Law Firm in Vietnam named CIS.

Please double-check your product or promotional materials and determine what your trademark is.

2. When the trademark is protected?

According to the provisions of intellectual property law in Vietnam, as well as most countries in the world, to have the right to exclusively use the trademark in one or certain countries (USA, Canada, China, Japan), Korea, Thailand, EU countries, etc), you need to register your trademark at the Trademark Registration Authority of that country.

You can also apply for international trademark registration your trademark to claim your trademark in many countries using the Madrid Protocol or Madrid Agreement tool of the World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO. The Law Firm will inform about this process in the following articles.

3. Reasons to quickly register trademark in Vietnam

With many years of experience representing individuals and organizations registering trademarks at the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP), we want to share with you the REASONS that you need to quickly register for your trademark in Vietnam:

Firstly, The State of Vietnam only recognizes you as the legal owner of the trademark once it has been registered it is protected and you are entitled to prohibit others from using it in Vietnam.

Second, if you don’t register, anyone has the right to do this, because Vietnam applies the principle of first-to-file that awarding the first person to file a trademark the right to claim the intellectual property to it.

Thirdly, if your trademark is registered by others, they have the right to request the customs or other competent administrative forces to stop your goods at the border gate, from importing goods for consumption throughout the Vietnamese territory.

Fourth, they have the right to start lawsuits against you, asking you to pay liability for compensation.

Sounds weird right? But in fact, they have the right to do so and if you fight back, you still have a win because you are the real owner of the trademark, but surely the case will be very complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. So, why don’t you choose the easiest way to file your trademark registration in Vietnam by yourself?

4. What should you need to pay attention to when registering for trademark ptotection in Vietnam? 

Not all trademarks that apply for registration are approved for protection but need to go through many steps of assessment, in Vietnam, there are 4 common reasons for refusal:

Firstly, your trademark is just descriptive words or figures related to your products or services, for example, you sell clothes and use the brand name “Nice Clothes”, or, you open a restaurant and register the trademark: “Italian Cuisine”.

Second, your trademark is identical or confusingly similar to someone else’s trademark that has been filed earlier. It is simple to do an identical check, but it is intricate to do a confusingly similar check because it only needs to be similar in structure, pronunciation, meaning, or expression.

Third, foreign individuals and organizations do not have a commercial presence in Vietnam are required to register their trademarks in Vietnam through an IP Agent which has a State’s license to represent for applicant. So, you cannot directly file a trademark application to the NOIP.

Fourth, the procedure of trademark registration in Vietnam is relatively long, at least 1 to 2 years, during the processing, the NOIP may issue office actions notification and set a time limit for you to give feedback in writing.

If you do not respond, or respond unconvincingly, or not respond on time, your trademark application will be REJECTED. That means you need a reputable, professional organization to support you.

5. Service of trademark registration of CIS Law Firm

CIS Law Firm is a law firm recognized by the NOIP as an IP Agent, specializing in providing services of establishing rights to IP objects, accordingly, we have supported many foreign individuals and companies to register trademarks in Vietnam, and we have the following strengths:

1) To check the status of trademark, we will set a lot of search algorithms to help trademark owner understand the trademark going to register is being considered similar in structure, pronunciation, meaning, or expression with any earlier trademarks or not.

2) We will review and propose plans to solve if we find any problems with your trademark for your reference before official submission.

3) We will directly monitor and promptly notify you of the notices and decisions of National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam throughout the application process until the final results are available.

4) We can provide FREE intellectual property legal ADVICE for your other intellectual property objects, example: inventions, industrial designs, computer software copyrights, music copyrights, movies, or stories…

“A moment’s delay in the present can lead to dire consequences for the future.”

CIS LAW FIRM

Therefore, if your products or services had been or going to provide in the Vietnam market but have not yet registered for trademark protection, please contact us immediately according to the information below for support.

IP Department

CIS LAW FIRM – IP Agency in Vietnam
Address: 109 Hoang Sa St, Da Kao Ward, Dist 1, HCMC, Vietnam.
Phone: (028) 3911 8580 – (028) 3911 8581
Website: www.cis.vn