Opposition of Applications for Registration of the Mark Protection in Vietnam

Vietnam Law on Intellectual Property allows any third party to have right to denounces the opposition of trademark applications for registration which have identical or confusingly similar signs.

As from the date an application for registration of mark is published in the Official Gazette of Industrial Property up until prior to the date of issuance of a decision on grant of a protection title, the third party shall express the opposition to the competent State administrative body including explanations, argument and evidence the opinion. Such opinions must be made in writing and be accompanied by documents or must quote the source of information.

 

Trademark opposition in Vietnam

Opposition to trademark applications plays a great role for the protection of trademark owner that prevents counterfeiting, duplication, infringement and trademark registration in contravention of law.

Documents:

01 Power of attorney (as form)

Documents and evidences to prove the opposition bases.

(ANT Lawyers could consult client specifically and particularly about the evidences and documents).

Opposition procedures

After receiving a disapproval application for registration of mark, National Office Intellectual Property (NOIP) has a dispatch to answer the disapproval application within 10 working days from date received a dossier. NOIP also sends disapproval opinions to owners of application for registration of mark protection.

Owners of application for registration of mark protection has opinions about this disagreement and give proofs that the application for registration of mark protection is suitable with requirement of Intellectual Property law

NOIP is pursuant to argument, proof and regulation law of parties for agree or refuse to grant a protection title

Opposition dossier includes:

Disapproval declaration (02 copies following form)

Explanation documents for disagreement of protection title issue

Attachment proofs.

Power of attorney (if an application is filed through representative of owner’s mark)

Fee, charge vouchers relating disagreement following regulations in law.

Duration

There is no duration stipulation in Vietnamese law. As our usual, NOIP will take from 6 months to 9 months to examine.

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Trademark consultant in Vietnam

 

Trademarks are an important part of client company’s competitive edge. ANT Lawyers IP practice helps you protect these valuable intellectual assets, through trademark registration, oppositions, and other trademark protection resolutions in Vietnam.

 

Trademark consultant in Vietnam

In particular, ANT Lawyers IP practice offers client services as following:

-Trademark Availability Searches

-Trademark Watch Service

-Trademark Filings & Trademark Registration in Vietnam

-Renewals

-Recordals of Amendments, Assignments, Merger Agreements, Licences

-Filing Opposition & Responses

Our trademark attorneys in Vietnam will process client’s trademark registration by carrying out the following steps:

-Providing our clients with cost estimates for searching and filing applications

-Conducting comprehensive clearance searches including analysis about registration of the required trademarks and providing advice on the most appropriate and cost-effective method to obtain a clearance

-Preparing and filing trademark applications, including obtaining appropriate legalization of documents and translations (if applicable)

-Responding to objections raised by Registrars and potential third party oppositions

-Negotiating settlement agreements when necessary to overcome prior marks

-Obtaining a Certificate of Trademark Registration once your trademark is approved

-Recording changes in name and address of proprietor, assignments, licenses and renewals of trademarks

-Providing solutions for trademark protection in Vietnam.

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How do you get trademark registration?

What is Trademark?

The term ‘Trademark’ refers to the brand or logo which represents the business. It is a visual symbol of a signature, name, device, label, numerals or combination of colors used by the owner of the trademark for goods or services or any other articles of commerce. Moreover, it is meant to differentiate among the similar products or services originated from the different business. A trademark can be a word, wrapper, packaging labels or a tagline or a combination of these. For example Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

 

Who can apply for the Trademark?

Any Individual, Company, Proprietor or legal entity who can claim to be an owner of the Trademark can apply for it. The trademark Registration formalities can be done in 18 to 24 months after that you can start using the ‘TM’ symbol. Once your trademark registry is done and registration certificate is issued then you may use ® (registered symbol) next to your trademark. The validity of a registered trademark is for 10 years from the date of filing and that can be renewed from time to time.

What are the documents required for Trademark Registration?

Following are the documents which are required for the Trademark registration:

-Copy of Trademark or logo

-Applicant details like name, address, and nationality and for the company it requires the state of incorporation

-Goods or services to register

-Date of first use of the trademark in Vietnam

-Power of attorney which is to be signed by the applicant.

-What are the steps for registering Trademark in Vietnam?

Following are the steps through which you can register your Trademark:

-Select a trademark agent and authorize it.

-Select attorney to represent you.

-The trademark attorneys in Vietnam conducts a trademark search.

-It depends upon the results of the search whether the trademark attorney will be draft your trademark or not. Just in case, someone already has the same trademark then you can change yours.

-The trademark attorney will file your trademark application with the trademark office and send you the receipt.

-Within a few days, the trademark attorney will send you the Original Representation Sheet of your trademark as it has been filed with the trademark office.

-No matter what the place is, it takes anywhere around 18 months to 2 years for the Trademark Office to decide whether the trademark should be granted or not. In case, if there are any objections from anywhere then it may take longer.

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Why Investor Needs to Protect Trademark in Vietnam?

Trademark protection in Vietnam is initially obtained through trademark registration. Trademark opposition could be filed to prevent a pending application for a mark from being granted application. Litigation is the final measure to handle dispute during trademark protection in Vietnam.

 

Trademark is a sign that help distinguish the goods or services of one enterprise from those of others. Together with industrial design and patent, trademark of goods and services plays an extremely important role for the growth of the enterprise. Trademark establishes a link between enterprise and customer. A strong trademark will attract customers to use goods or services. When trademark is popular and economic benefits achieved through sale of goods or provision of services coupled with trademark is large, the violation of trademark is inevitable.

The annual reports of the Vietnam National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) prove that trademark violation in Vietnam is the most popular, among other industrial property rights. According to the preliminary annual report in 2011, and 2012, there has been more than 1,000 cases of trademark violations each year.  Report of 2013 and after shows more than 2,000 trademark infringements were handled with the total fines of trademark violators of around USD 1 million per year. Having said that, it is important for trademark owner to register trademarks in Vietnam for better protection. This is also suggested for even well-known trademarks.

For registration, trademark owner has two options: either directly register trademark in Vietnam by filling an application for registration with the Vietnam NOIP, or seek the trademark protection in Vietnam through Madrid’s system. For the first option, the trademark owner needs to prepare, file for registration, and pay fee as the requirement of Vietnam Intellectual Property law. In case trademark needs to be protected in a number of nations, including Vietnam, trademark owner may register trademark through Madrid’s system.

Where the violation of trademark occurs, trademark owner needs to judge the level of infringement, level of damage to choose suitable resolutions. Initially, the trademark owner may protect by requiring to the trademark violator to terminate the infringing acts, apologize, and rectify. In case of being damaged, trademark owners have rights to claim compensation. If failing to reach result, trademark owner may use settlement mechanism through negotiation or mediation or could request the competent state agencies to handle acts of infringement through i.e. filling a denunciation application and submitting to the Vietnam NOIP. Litigation might be required to handle acts of infringement. Generally, the proceeding of civil litigation is more complex than the arbitration proceeding. In cases the trademark owner needs a decision from court in order to end trademark infringement, civil litigation is top priority. In the remaining cases, arbitration is a better choice with advantages of cheaper cost, shorter settling time, and more flexible.

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When and How to Register Trademark to Protect IP Rights

 

Considering trademark registration activities, the subject holder must comply with certain conditions to fulfill its trademark registration rights.

According to Article 13.1 Law on Intellectual Property amended in 2009:

-Organizations and individuals may register marks to be used for goods they produce or services they provide.

Register trademark in Vietnam

-Organizations and individuals that conduct lawful commercial activities may register marks for products they are marketing but produced by others, provided that the producers neither use such marks for their products nor object to such registration.

-Lawfully established collective organizations may register collective marks to be used by their members under regulations on use of collective marks. For signs indicating geographical origins of goods or services, organizations that may register them are collective organizations of organizations or individuals engaged in production or trading in relevant localities. For other geographical names or marks indicating geographical origins of local specialties of Vietnam, the registration must be permitted by competent state agencies.

-Organizations with the function of controlling and certifying the quality, properties, origin or other relevant criteria of goods or services may register certification marks, provided that they are not engaged in the production or trading of these goods or services. For other geographical names or marks indicating geographical origins of local specialties of Vietnam, the registration thereof must be permitted by a competent state agency.

-Two or more organizations or individuals may jointly register a mark in order to become its co-owners on the following conditions: i) This mark is used in the names of all co-owners or used for goods or services which are produced or traded with the participation of all co-owners; ii) The use of this mark causes no confusion to consumers as to the origin of goods or services.

If the subject falls into one of the cases mentioned above, they will have the right to register the mark at the National Office of Intellectual Property. After the subject condition has been met, consideration should be given to the condition that a mark can be protected as a trademark. In particular (i) It is a visible mark in the form of letters, words, drawings or images including holograms, or a combination thereof, represented in one or more colors; (ii) It is capable of distinctive goods or services of the mark owner from those of other subjects.

However, there are some exceptions even when the mark satisfies those two conditions. For example, marks identical with or confusingly similar to national flags or national emblems; or marks identical with or confusingly similar to emblems, flags, armorial bearings, abbreviated names or full names of Vietnamese State bodies, political organizations, socio-political organizations, socio- politico-professional organizations, social organizations or socio-professional organizations or with international organizations, unless permitted by such bodies or organizations shall not be protected as a trademark.

In order to register for protection of a trademark, the registrant should pay attention to the subject matter and the conditions for the trademark to be protected in order to avoid being refused at the registration authority because of the failure to meet the conditions for the subject or the conditions for protection.

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What To Do When the Trademark Certificate is Misplaced?

Trademark is a type of asset of individual and organization. To be officially recognized as an owner of that trademark, the applicant needs to submit the trademark registration dossiers to National Office of Intellectual Property in Vietnam (NOIP), pay the examination fee and certificate issuance fee to receive the trademark certificate.

Trademark protection in Vietnam

The trademark owner needs to have the consciousness of protecting the trademark certificate. However, if unfortunately, the trademark certificate is misplaced, lost or damaged, torn, stained or faded out that it can no longer be used, the trademark owner may submit the dossier to NOIP to request for regranting the trademark certificate.

The specific required documents for re-granting the trademark certificate are:

-The declaration for regranting the trademark certificate;

-01 mark specimen;

-Power of attorney (if submit the dossiers via IP agent).

NOIP will consider the dossier within 01 month from the date of submitting. In case the dossier satisfies the provisions of law, NOIP will issue the decision to regrant the trademark certificate and record into the National Register of Industrial Property. The information in the duplicate version of the trademark certificate will present sufficiently the information in the first-granted trademark certificate and attached with the phrase “regranting version”.

In case of request for regranting the trademark certificate does not meet the provisions of law, NOIP will issue the denied decision and clearly sates the reasons.

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Legal consequences of the trademark with origin in Vietnam and designation EU registered under Madrid system after Brexit

After 47 years being a member of EU, UK officially left EU on January 31, 2020. This is an almost half of century relationship, thus, there would be a number of arising confusion as well as the issue which is in need of negotiation to complete the process including trademark registration with origin from Vietnam.

 

Trademark protection in Vietnam

UK is the member of Madrid system from Dec 1st, 1995, concurrently, EU has also officially become a member of this system since Oct 1st, 2004.  According to the international trademark searching Madrid Monitor, there are 292 Vietnamese trademarks registered internationally designated EU which include both the trademarks during the examination period and granted certificate.

How is the fate of these trademarks after Brexit?

According to the guidance from Intellectual Property Office of UK (“IPO”), the owner or applicant of the trademark which submitted according to the Madrid system and designated EU need to note the following points:

International trade mark registrations protected in the EU (“EUTM”) under the Madrid Protocol will no longer enjoy protection in the UK after 1 January 2021. According to Brexit Agreement, IPO will create a system: “comparable UK trademark” in relation to each international (EU) trade mark designation. In case EUTM are still in the examination period, the applicant has the right to register that exact trademark in UK in the transition period from January 1st, 2021 to September 30th, 2021. In details:

Firstly, to the trademarks which has been protected, UK will:

-Be recorded in UK registration system;

-The recorded trademark will have the same legal status as the trademark protected according to UK law;

-Keep the submitting of the application as EUTM;

-Keep the priority date according to the Madrid system or seniority date according to UK law;

-Be recognized as independently existing trademark according to UK law and may be challenged, assigned, licensed or renewed separately from the original international registration.

However, it is noted that: (i) the Comparable trademarks will be created at no cost to the holder of the international trademark, except a minimal administrative burden will be placed upon the rights holder (ii) the applicant will not receive the trademark certificate, however, they could be searched for the trademark at GOV.UK.

Secondly, for the EUTM which are still in examination phase:

In case EUTM are still in examination phase, on January 1st, 2021, the applicant has the following rights:

-Apply the trademark application in UK for EUTM during the transition, nine months from January 1st, 2021 until September 30th, 2021 as mentioned above;

-Keep the earlier filing date as EUTM;

-Enjoy other international priority claim effecting on EUTM in accordance with the seniority claim according to UK law.

However, it is noted that when applying the EUTM during the examination phase according to the UK trademark system then:

-The trademark applied in UK must be the same with the trademark in EU application which submitted previously;

-Goods/services required to protect of the trademark must be the same or included in the scale of EUTM.

In case the application submitted into UK does not satisfy the above criteria, the application would not enjoy the priority date or the priority claim of EUTM.

The application after having been submitted within that period and satisfies the criteria will be deemed as UK application and be examined according to UK law.

Source ANT Lawyers : https://antlawyers.vn/library/legal-consequences-of-the-trademark-with-origin-in-vietnam-and-designation-eu-registered-under-madrid-system-after-brexit.html

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Should I hire a Trademark lawyer to file trademark application?

The answer is (almost always) “yes!”

Of the many reasons to hire a trademark lawyer for a Trademark (TM), here are few...

-The process can be time-consuming - particularly conducting an exhaustive search of existing trademarks and handling any office actions that come back. Experienced trademark and IP lawyers have successfully submitted many trademark applications, so they will be able to efficiently file your application, allowing you to focus your energy on other company matters.

Trademark protection in Vietnam

-A comprehensive search of trademarks often must go beyond the USPTO’s (already difficult/confusing to search) Trademark Electronic Search System. This would be extremely difficult to accomplish without an attorney and/or professional search. It is much more cost-effective to hire a lawyer up front, than to hire one to rectify problems when you either get an office action or realize your protection wasn't as robust or complete as you'd understood.

-A trademark lawyer can help you frame your application in the best possible way (by selecting appropriate categories/drafting how it is being used/deciding whether to apply for plain text or logo protection-among many other considerations), making it more likely that your application will be granted on the first try and obtain the maximum possible protection for your company.

-Finally, a trademark or IP lawyer can help you after the process is over to help you craft a long-term IP strategy.

Source: Quora

If you are looking for a high-quality, experienced lawyer to work on trademark issues for your company, you should check out ANT Lawyers to get in touch with some of the best. ANT Lawyers - IP services in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

We assist our clients in all steps of the prosecution phase of IP management.

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What is a Trademark?

A trademark is a type of intellectual property. A trademark also commonly known as a trademark, trade-mark or a mark. A trademark consists of a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular company and helps in distinguishing the products from those of others.The symbols ® ‘the registered trademark symbol’ and ™ ‘the trademark symbol’ are generally used to indicate trademarks; the former is only for use by the owner of a trademark which is registered.

Register trademark in Vietnam

The trademark can be owned by:

-An individual,

-Business organization,

-Or any legal entity

When a trademark is registered, it confers an exclusive right to the owner to use the registered trademark. Thus it can be said that the trademark can be used by his owner exclusively, or it can be used by a person licensed for use in return of valid consideration.

Complete assignment

In this type of assignment, all the rights are completely transferred by the owner to the assignee.

The assignee has got all the rights including rights such right to further transfer and right to earn royalties.

Partial assignment

In this type, the assignment of the trademark is made to the assignee, but with respect to only some of the goods/ services, the transfer of ownership of the trademark is restricted to specific goods or services only. The rights are not transferred completely.

Assignment with goodwill

In this type of assignment, there is also a transfer of goodwill of the product with the trademark. In this, the valuation of goodwill is calculated differently in the agreement.

Assignment without goodwill

 In this type of assignment, goodwill of the product is not transferred along with the assignment of the trademark; in this, the owner of the brand restricts the rights of the assignee and does not allow him to use such trademark of the brand for the products being used by the assignor. Such an assignment is also referred to as a gross assignment.

When can a Trademark be assignerd?

A trademark can be assigned in the following situations

The Death of the Trademark Owner

Whenever the owner of the trademark i.e. the assignor dies, its ownership is passed on to the successors of the previous owners in a will or intestate. The condition is that the Trademark must be valid and should not have been abandoned by the previous owner.

Sale of Business

 Intellectual properties are assets for the company, just like all properties, even the trademark can be sold with the company. Provided it is registered under the company’s name. If a party acquires trademark rights of a company by acquiring a business with regard to the sale of assets of the company, the intellectual properties are also said to be transferred.

Change of the owner of businesses

When two companies decide on having a merger or an amalgamation of the company, a notification is sent to the registry. All the intellectual property of the acquired company are transferred to the new owner through the trademark assignment agreement between the parties.

Change in Form of Business

Whenever a business plan on changing its form of business or its business structure an assignment is a boon for those businesses.

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What Are Obligations of Using Patent and Trademark?

When applicants of invention or mark are granted patent or trademark certificate, they are obliged to use these subjects. The reason for this provision which is, the owner may not use patents or trademarks in practical causing difficulties for the person who would like to use the patent and trademark in reality but cannot register as others has already registered.

According to Article 136 Vietnam Law on intellectual property clearly regulated on obligations of ownerin using patent and trademark.

Firstly, to patent, the owner is be obliged to manufacture protected products or apply protected processes to satisfy the requirements of national defence and security, disease prevention, and treatment and nutrition of the people or to meet other social urgent needs. When the needs stipulated in this clause arise but an invention owner fails to perform such obligation, the competent State body may license such invention to others without permission from the invention owner in accordance with the law.

Secondly, to trademark, trademark holder is obliged to use trademark continuously. Trademark used under a trademark use agreement by a transferee is also considered as an act of using the holder’s trademark. In case the trademark is not used continuously for five years or more, the Trademark Certificate of Registration shall be invalid.

Specifically, if the trademark holder or the person who is allowed to use the trademark do not use the trademark within continuous five years before the date of request to terminate the validity without reasonable reason, except the using starts or restarts at least 03 months up to date of having the termination of validity request.

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What happens if I have a trademark without registering?

Trademark registration provides protection and exclusive rights to the owner of a Trademark in relation to his goods and services used commercially.

Trademark registration services in Vietnam 

A Trademark differentiates the identity and brand name of a business and separates the goods and services of a business from that of other similar goods or services in the market.

If your Trademark is not registered, it can be easily infringed upon by someone. In such case, you cannot file an infringement suit, but only claim remedy for passing-off. Passing off in trademark is when infringement of an unregistered trademark happens. The mark is not only deceptively similar to the trademark of other company but also creating confusion for the customers, which ultimately results in damage to the business of company.

Legal Remedy In Case Of Passing Off

The trademark owner can file a suit in district court/ High Court within the local limits of the jurisdiction, where the person instituting actually and voluntarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain.

Where the passing off does not involve the use of trademark or where there is no sale of goods, the suit may be filed in a subordinate judge’s court or a court of superior to it. The plaintiff in a suit for passing off must be the owner of an unregistered trademark which has acquired reputation in relation to some goods or the owner of the goodwill in a trade name, or get-up relating to some goods or business or profession.

The defendant in the suit must be a person who has passed off or whose activities are likely to pass off his goods or business as the goods or business of the plaintiffs. Passing off actions may be instituted by many plaintiffs in a representative capacity provided there is a common interest, common grievance and a remedy beneficial to all. The rules governing the preparation of the plaint and the subsequent proceedings are the same as in any other suit and are governed by the Code of Civil Procedure.

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Is it possible to trademark a brand name if it's similar to one that exists?

In the United States, the key is determining whether there is a likelihood of confusion. In other words, are consumers likely to believe that the goods are made by the same person. Similarity of the marks is just one factor. Another important factor is the relatedness of the goods. If the goods are wine, for example, and you want to use a similar mark on a wine, then there would be a greater likelihood of confusion. If, however, the goods are orthopedic shoe inserts, then the likelihood of confusion is greatly reduced because few people would think that a winery made orthotics.

Registered trademark protection in Vietnam

There is an exception for famous marks because they are so strong. For example, if you saw a bar of APPLE soap, you might not think that APPLE has gone into the soap business, but you might think of Apple computers or products. That is called “trademark dilution” because it is likely to diminish the value of the APPLE trademark. In that case, likelihood of confusion has nothing to do with the analysis.

Source: Quora 

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What is the meaning of trademark?

What is a Trademark?

A Trademark generally refers to a “brand” or “logo”.

Trademark registration can also be obtained for a business name, distinctive catch phrases, taglines or captions.

Trademark in Vietnam

Properly used and promoted, a Trademark may become the most valuable asset of a business. Trademarks such as Coca Cola, HP, Canon, Nike and Adidas serve as an indication of origin of the goods as well as an indication of quality.

It is also essential to obtain trademark registration for the business name/trade name under the Trademarks Act. Registration of a company or business name under the Compani­­es Act does not in itself give protection against others who might commence using identical or similar marks.

Use of TM, SM and ® symbols

'TM' stands for Trademark and 'SM' stands for Servicemark. The use of TM and SM symbols notifies the public that the company is claiming exclusive ownership of the trademark and can generally be used by one who has filed a trademark application.

The ® symbol, can be used only once the trademark is registered and the registration certificate is issued. Also, you may use the registration symbol only in connection with the goods and/or services in respect of which the trademark is registered.

The registration process is the same for both trademarks and servicemarks.

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