Exclusive registration of the latest industrial design

In today’s increasingly fierce competition economy, besides quality, product design plays an important role in marketing and retaining consumers, because product design is the first factor. The first is to help attract consumers, the more eye-catching the product, the more attractive it will be. Once you have developed a unique design, it will be inevitable that others will counterfeit or copy your industrial design for profit.

So, how can you protect your product’s design? In this article, we will provide detailed instructions on the registration of industrial design protection.

MỤC LỤC BÀI VIẾT

1. What is industrial design?
2. What is an industrial design exclusive registration?
3. What are the legal regulations on industrial design exclusive registration?
4. Conditions for industrial design protection.
5. What products are not registered for exclusive industrial design?
6. How to register for industrial design protection?
7. What are the registration dossiers for industrial design protection?
8. Where do I file an application for registration of industrial design protection?
9. How much is the registration fee for an industrial design?
10. How many years are industrial designs protected?
11. Why is it necessary to register for industrial design protection?
12. Notes when registering industrial design protection?
13. Industrial design registration service of CIS Law Firm.

1. What is industrial design?

Industrial design (also known as product design) is the external appearance or design of a product, such as the design of a phone, a car model, or the style of shoes and sandals.

The concept of industrial design is specified in Clause 13, Article 4 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, which was amended and supplemented in 2009 and 2019 as follows:

Article 4. Interpretation of terms

13. Industrial design is the external appearance of a product expressed by shapes, lines, colors, or a combination of these elements.

2. What is an industrial design exclusive registration?

With the consumer appeal of Product Designs, you absolutely do not want others to use your product design for business. You want only you to use it, no one can counterfeit or copy your product. And You can absolutely do this if you register and are granted a patent for exclusive protection of the industrial design.

According to the provisions of Point a, Clause 3, Article 6 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, which was amended and supplemented in 2009 and 2019 on industrial designs:

Article 6. Grounds for arising and establishment of intellectual property rights

3. Industrial property rights are established as follows:

a) Industrial property rights to inventions, industrial designs, layout designs, and marks shall be established on the basis of decisions on the grant of protection titles of competent state agencies according to registration procedures. provided for in this Law or to recognize international registration under international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a contracting party.

Thus, if you want to monopolize an industrial design created by you, you must register for exclusive protection of the industrial design.

The registration of industrial design protection is done according to the content we guide in Section 8 and you need to prepare documents as in Section 7 below.

If your industrial design meets the protection conditions, you will be granted a protection title by a competent State agency, this paper is called an Industrial Design Patent.

3. What are the legal regulations on industrial design exclusive registration?

Law on Intellectual Property 50/2005/QH11 promulgated by the National Assembly on November 29, 2005 (amended and supplemented in 2009 and 2019);
Decree 99/2013/ND-CP dated August 29, 2013 of the Government providing for penalties for administrative violations in the field of industrial property;
Decree 103/2006/ND-CP dated September 22, 2006 of the Government guiding the Law on Intellectual Property on industrial property;
Decree No. 122/2010/ND-CP Amending and supplementing Decree No. 103/2006/ND-CP dated September 22, 2006 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Intellectual Property Law on intellectual property. industrial property;
Decree 119/2010/ND-CP amending Decree 105/2006/ND-CP guiding the Intellectual Property Law on the protection of intellectual property rights and state manage the ment of intellectual property;
Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN dated February 14, 2007 of the Minister of Science and Technology guiding the implementation of Decree No. 103/2006/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of Articles of the Intellectual Property Law on the industrial property (amended and supplemented in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2016).

4. Conditions for industrial design protection.

In order for an industrial design to be protected, it must fully satisfy the following conditions: Being new; Being creative; Capable of industrial application.

How is the novelty of an Industrial Design regulated?

According to the provisions of Article 65 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, which was amended and supplemented in 2009 and 2019:

Article 65. Novelty of industrial designs

1. An industrial design is considered novel if it is significantly different from industrial designs that have been publicly disclosed in the form of use, written description or any other form. any other in the country or abroad before the filing date or prior to the priority date if the industrial design application enjoys priority.

2. Two industrial designs are not considered to be significantly different from each other if they only differ in design features that are not easily recognizable, memorable and cannot be used to distinguish the two industrial designs overall.

3. An industrial design is considered to have not been publicly disclosed if only a limited number of people know it and are obliged to keep it secret.

4. An industrial design shall not be deemed to have lost its novelty if it is published in the following cases, provided that the industrial design registration application is filed within six months from the date of publication:

a) The industrial design is announced by another person without the permission of the person having the right to registration specified in Article 86 of this Law;

b) The industrial design is published in the form of a scientific report by the person having the right to registration specified in Article 86 of this Law;

c) The industrial design is displayed by the person having the right to registration specified in Article 86 of this Law at Vietnam’s national exhibition or at an official or recognized international exhibition.

How is the creativity of an Industrial Design regulated?

According to the provisions of Article 66 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, which was amended and supplemented in 2009 and 2019:

Article 66. The inventiveness of industrial designs

An industrial design is considered to be creative if it is based on industrial designs that have been publicly disclosed in the form of use, written description or any other form in the country or abroad. other than before the filing date or prior to the priority date of the industrial design registration application in the case of a priority right, the industrial design cannot be easily created by the average person. on the respective field.

How is the industrial applicability of an Industrial Design regulated?

According to the provisions of Article 67 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, which was amended and supplemented in 2009 and 2019:

Article 67. Industrial applicability of industrial designs

An industrial design is considered to be industrially applicable if it can be used as a model for the mass production of products with the appearance of that industrial design by industrial or manual methods.

5. What products are not registered for exclusive industrial design?

Some designs that are not protected as industrial designs are specified in Article 64 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, which was amended and supplemented in 2009 and 2019 as follows:

Article 64. Objects not protected in the name of industrial designs

The following objects are not protected as industrial designs:

1. The product’s external appearance is required by the product’s technical characteristics;

2. External appearance of civil or industrial construction works;

3. The shape of the product is not visible during the use of the product.

6. How to register for industrial design protection?

In order for your industrial design to be protected, you must carry out the registration procedure for industrial design protection including the following steps:

Step 1: You prepare the documents as instructed in Section 7 and submit the application for registration at the National Office of Intellectual Property;

Step 2: NOIP conducts a formality examination: 01 month from the date of filing;

Step 3: The NOIP publishes the application: a valid application will be published within 2 months from the valid date;

Step 4: NOIP conducts substantive examination: 07 months from the date of application publication;

Step 5: The National Office of Intellectual Property issues a protection title / refuses to grant you a title.

7. What are the registration dossiers for industrial design protection?

An industrial design registration dossier includes:

1./ Registration form (Download form A03);

2./ A description of the industrial design, the contents of which include: Name of the industrial design, the field of use of the industrial design, the nearest similar industrial design, a list of photos or drawings, and a detailed description of the type. industrial designs and claims fthe or protection of industrial designs;

3./ Set of photos/drawings of industrial designs;

4./ Power of Attorney (if applying through a representative);

5./ Copy of fee and fee payment voucher (in case of payment of fees and charges via postal service or directly into the account of the National Office of Intellectual Property);

6./ Documents confirming the right to registration (if enjoying the registration right of another person);

7./ Documents proving the right of priority (if there is a request for the priority right).

8. Where do I file an application for registration of industrial design protection?

You can file an industrial design registration application in two ways:

Method 1: Submit the application directly

You can submit an industrial design registration application directly or via postal service to one of the NOIP’s application reception points below:

1./ Office of the National Office of Intellectual Property: 386 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi city;

2./ Representative Office of NOIP in Ho Chi Minh City: 7th Floor, Ha Phan Building, 17-19 Ton That Tung, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City);

3./ Representative office of NOIP in Da Nang city: 3rd floor, 135 Minh Mang, Khue My ward, Ngu Hanh Son district, Da Nang city.

Method 2: Submit your application online

You can submit an application for registration of industrial design protection online through the National Office of Intellectual Property’s online public service portal by following the link:

http://dvctt.noip.gov.vn:8888/HomePage.do

To register in this way you need a digital signature (also known as a USB Token) and must register an account on the Online Public Service Portal.

9. How much is the registration fee for an industrial design?

The cost of industrial design registration depends on factors such as:

1./ Number of industrial designs;

2./ Number of variants of each industrial design;

3./ Number of photos/drawings of the industrial design.

Normally, the minimum cost for 1 industrial design registered with 1 option with 07 photos/drawings is 1,810,000 VND. This cost does not include:

Cost of granting industrial design protection title: 660,000 VND/1 design with 1 option with 07 photos/drawings;
Service costs in case you need to use the consulting and representative services to file an application for exclusive registration of industrial designs of CIS Law Firm.

10. How many years are industrial designs protected?

According to the provisions of Clause 4, Article 93 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005, which was amended and supplemented in 2009 and 2019, then:

Article 93. Effect of a protection title

4. An industrial design patent is valid from the date of grant and lasts until the end of five years from the date of application, and can be renewed twice in a row, for five years each time.

Thus, the term of protection for the exclusive use of the industrial design is 5 years from the date of filing the application, if after this period of 5 years you still want to continue to have the industrial design protected, you can follow the procedure. extend. You are only entitled to renew 02 consecutive times with a term of 5 years each time. Therefore, the maximum term for exclusive protection of an industrial design is 15 years if you renew it consecutively.

11. Why is it necessary to register for industrial design protection?

You are only legally protected for industrial design when you are granted a Protection Title. Thus, if you do not register, you are not protected;
If the industrial design you design and use without registration, when others use it, you cannot handle them, because they are not considered infringing.
When you register and are granted an industrial design protection title, only you have the exclusive right to use that industrial design, and you have the right to prevent others from using the same, mistaken industrial design mixed with your industrial design;
If you do not register the industrial design, but someone else registers it, they will ban you from using it.

12. Notes when registering industrial design protection?

Not all registered industrial designs are protected (granted a protection title), but the industrial design needs to satisfy many conditions as described in Section 4 and must not fall into the cases specified in Section 5.

Thus, in order for an industrial design to be protected, you must see if your industrial design meets the above conditions. However, this is really difficult, because you must have specialized knowledge and skills to be able to do it. Therefore, we recommend that you find a law firm or a professional organization with extensive experience for them to evaluate.

Besides, the time for the NOIP to consider protecting your industrial design usually lasts quite a long time, about 12-15 months. And during this time, you must keep an eye on the NOIP’s notices, otherwise, the filing of the application will yield nothing. If you ask an Industrial Property Representative, they will do this for you.

13. Industrial design registration service of CIS Law Firm.

International Copyright Law Firm (CIS Law Firm) is an Industrial Property Representative Organization certified by the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam. Our lawyers and experts have received intensive training in Intellectual Property from the National Office of Intellectual Property and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), We have the capacity and experience to support friends:

Consulting on the possibility of registration and use of industrial designs;
Consulting on completing dossiers and carrying out registration procedures for industrial design protection;
Carrying out procedures for protest, complaint and invalidation of industrial design patents;
Renewal of validity of industrial design patents;
Noting changes related to industrial design patents;
Consulting on registration of transfer of intellectual property rights to industrial designs;
Manage industrial design protection registration dossiers until the final results are available, proactively update the status of application processing and promptly respond to the Registry’s comments.