How Foreigners Could Obtain Residence in Vietnam Through Investment Scheme?

Foreigners could reside in Viet Nam under permanent residence or temporary residence status. In particular, foreign investors establishing or contributing capital to companies operating in Vietnam are subject to have temporary residence cards.

Immigration Lawyers in Vietnam

A Temporary Residence Card is the required document for the foreigners to legally stay temporarily in Viet Nam and the maximum term of a card is 05 years. The following will explain how Temporary Residence Card can be obtained in Vietnam through investment.

What are conditions for foreign investors to be granted temporary residence card?

Foreigners whom are granted a visa with a DT sign will be considered for a temporary residence card. The foreigners will need to apply for work permit exemption from authorities in Vietnam. The passport of foreigners has a minimum term of 13 months. Documents proving that foreigners contribute capital to, or invest in, enterprises in Vietnam for instance business registration certificates, investment registration certificates will be required. The foreigners will also need to provide clean criminal record card.

What required documents to be prepared for application for temporary residence card?

1. 01 Document requesting temporary residence card of guarantor ( form NA6 for agencies, organizations; form NA7 for individuals)
2. 01 Information form for a temporary resident card (form NA8)
3. 02 photos (image size 2×3 cm);
4. 01 Copy of passport and a valid visa (bring an original for comparison);
5. 01 Notice of use of the seal of the enterprise.
6. 01 Document introducing seal, signature of the authorized person of the organization (form NA16)
7. 01 Copy of legal ducuments of organizations to prove purpose to be granted temporary residence card, such as: investment registration certificate, business registration certificate.

How long it takes to apply for temporary residence card?

After 5 working days since receiving sufficient documents, state agencies will consider and issue temporary residence cards.

What are procedures to apply for temporary residence card?

Step 1: Prepare documents as prescribed by law.
Step 2: Submit application file
The officer receiving the application will check the legality and the content of the file. If the application is complete and valid, the officer receives the application and prints a receipt for the submitter.
Step 3: Return results

What state authorities to apply for temporary residence card?

Immigration Management Department of province or cities where the investment is registered.

Some difficulties when carrying out the procedure

Everyone can apply for a temporary residence card by themselves, but not all cases are eligible for a temporary residence card. When applying for a temporary residence card, have some difficulties like: the visa is not for right purposes; foreigners don’t understand the required documents, procedures for applying for temporary residence card so that you don’t know how to write the declaration of temporary residence card; have confusion about the declaration form used for individuals and agencies, organizations…. For result, application file is invalid and will be returned. You will have to go to implementing agencies many times to complete application file, which is costly, laborious, time-consuming but not yet available. Therefore, foreigners need the assistance of a reputable law firm to carry out the procedure effectively to be granted temporary residence card.

ANT Lawyers is a Law firm in Vietnam with international standards, recognized by Legal500, IFLR1000. We arre an exclusive Vietnam member of Prae Legal, the global law firm net work covering more than 150 jurisdictions. The firm provides a range of legal services as following to multinational and domestic clients. For advice or service request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call  +84 24 730 86 529. To learn more about us, please visit www.antlawyers.vn

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Procedures for registration of trademark protection in Vietnam

Trademark plays an important role in the business activities of the enterprise, helping to position products and services in the minds of customers as well as make a difference in the market. In the current competitive context, trademarks are easily violated by illegal acts, easily affecting business results of enterprises. According to the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law 2005 (amended and supplemented in 2009), a trademark is an intellectual property that needs to be protected and the legal basis to protect it is a trademark registration certificate.

Trademark registration services in Vietnam 

1. Conditions for a trademark to be registered for protection

Article 72 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005 stipulates that trademarks are protected if the following conditions are met:

a) A visible sign in the form of letters, words, drawings, images, including holograms or a combination thereof, expressed in one or more colors.

b) Having the ability to distinguish the goods or services of the trademark owner from the goods and services of another subject.

2. Procedures for registration of trademark protection

2.1. Look up trademarks (optional)

In order to assess the ability to register a trademark and save time for enterprise, it is necessary for the applicant to conduct a trademark search before filing an official registration application. This is to determine if the trademark of an enterprise is identical or similar to that of another registered trademark for the same or similar products.

Search time: 02 days.

For searching, the applicant should provide the following documents: 05 trademark samples; List of branded goods/ ervices.

2.2. Trademark registration (brand / logo):

If the search results show that the trademark is not identical or similar to the trademark of any registered individuals or organizations, the applicant should submit a trademark registration application in the fastest time to have priority dates soon.

 2.3. Time of trademark registration:

 The application for trademark registration will go through three stages:

a) Examining the form of trademark registration applications:

During this period, if the application satisfies the requirements, the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) will confirm the date of valid application, the number of valid applications, the priority date of the application and notify the applicant of the decision to accept the application. If there are deficiencies, the NOIP will notify the applicant and within two months from the date of notification, the applicant must correct the deficiencies.

Time limit for formality examination: 03 months from the date of application to the NOIP.

b) Publication of the registration application: 02 months from the date the application is formally accepted.

If the application is valid, it will be published by the NOIP in the Industrial Property Official Gazette. This gazette is published monthly.

c) Substantive examination: 07 months from the date of publication of the mark registration application

At this stage, if the application is recognized as valid, there is no dispute or complaint when it is published, the NOIP will notify the applicant of the fee for substantive examination. Then the NOIP will conduct the evaluation. The purpose of substantive examination is to determine whether the object stated in the application meets the protection standards prescribed by law.

Time for substantive examination: 09 months from the date of notification of acceptance of valid application.

If the result of substantive examination shows that the trademark of the applicant is likely to register, the NOIP will issue a Protection Title within 1 month thereafter.

3. Application dossier for trademark registration

a) A trademark registration declaration.

b) Documents, specimens, information showing the trademark intended to be registered.

c) Power of attorney (if the application is submitted through an intellectual property representation organization).

d) List of products and services that the enterprise intends to use the trademark.

e) A notarized copy of the enterprise registration certificate, investment certificate if the owner is an organization, the identity card or other equivalent papers of the individual owner.

f) Receipt of fees and charges.

The term of protection of trademarks is 10 years from the date of filing of applications. The owner of a protection title may extend it many times. Procedures for renewing a trademark protection certificate are carried out at the National Office of Intellectual Property.

If you're looking for an affordable Trademark lawyers in Vietnam , check out ANTLawyers.vn. ANTLawyers.vn was established to meet these needs by providing fast, effective and economical solutions. Hope that clears things up a bit. Feel free to message me directly to chat further about any other IP questions that you face.

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Sanctioning for violations of computer software copyright

According to Article 2 (viii) of the Stockholm Convention on 14 July 1967 on the establishment of the World Intellectual Property Organization, intellectual property is defined as the rights related to: Literary works, art and science works, performance of performers, sound recording, video recording, inventions in all areas of human endeavor, Scientific Invention, Industrial Designs, Trademarks (goods), service marks, trade names and indications , logos, Rights (protection) against unfair competition and all other rights are the result of Intellectual activities in industry / engineering, science, literature or arts.

The Berne Convention gives authors a lifetime of copyright and a minimum of 50 years thereafter. However, countries that comply with the convention are allowed to extend the term of copyright.

Software Compliance Law Firm in Vietnam

Depending on the laws of each country, works may be regulated and may have different protections. Copyright infringement of a work can be understood as an act of verbatim copying of part or the whole of a pre-existing work but without the permission of the copyrighted person or unauthorized transmission of part or the whole of a work which is not under his copyright. More specifically, the text is not copied verbatim, but the whole idea as well as the order of presentation of a work are copied. This type of infringement is harder to spot but can still be considered a form of copyright infringement if there is evidence that a "copy" is imitating the prototype. It can be seen that the examples in the master thesis do not specify the source and the main author. The text is not copied in its original form but translated with creative ideas (in other languages ​​or in other formats) is also considered copyright infringement.

Under the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, computer programs or computer software are protected by copyright as protection of a literary work whether expressed in source code or machine code. Therefore, copyright in computer software is also fully protected with personal rights and related rights. The protection of laws on intellectual property products is the basis to encourage individuals and organizations to create useful products. But with the current situation of infringement of intellectual property rights, especially for computer programs and software, the copyright infringement is up to 80%. Most of the computer software programs, if individuals want to use it, have to pay royalties to manufacturers. Normally, this fee is calculated annually, but many individuals and organizations use this reason to use pirated software without copyright.

So how will violators be penalized? Depending on the seriousness, violators may be administratively sanctioned or examined for criminal prosecution. Specifically:

Firstly, regarding administrative handling: Organizations and individuals will be fined from VND 15,000,000 to VND 35,000,000 / 1 software product, if they commit acts of copying computer programs without permission of the copyright owner. At the same time, these organizations and individuals will be forced to remove infringing copies on the digital and cyber environment or destroy the material evidence. According to Article 18 of Decree No. 131/2013 / ND-CP (amended and supplemented by Decree No. 28/2017 / ND-CP), specifically:

A fine of from VND 15,000,000 to VND 35,000,000 shall be imposed for copying a work without permission of the copyright owner. At the same time, the application of remedial measures is to force the removal of copies of infringing works in electronic form, on digital and network environment or forcible destruction of infringing material evidences.

Secondly, on criminal prosecution:

Article 225 of the Criminal Code 2015 (amended in 2017) provides for the Crime of infringement of copyright and related rights as follows:

"Those who are not allowed by the copyright or related right owner to intentionally commit one of the following acts, infringe the copyright and related rights being protected in Vietnam on a commercial scale or gain illicit profits of between VND 50,000,000 and under VND 300,000,000 or cause damage to copyright or related rights owner from VND 100,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000 or infringing goods valued at from VND 100,000 .000 VND to less than VND 500,000,000 will be imposed a fine of from VND 50,000,000 to VND 300,000,000 or face non-custodial reform for up to 03 years:

a) Copying works, sound records, video records;

b) Distribute to the public a copy of the work, a copy of the sound recording, a copy of the video recording. "

In cases of aggravating factors, a fine of between VND 300,000,000 and VND 1,000,000,000 will be imposed or a prison term of between 6 months and 3 years. If a commercial entity commits an offense, the fine level will be higher for an individual, possibly liable to a fine of from VND 500,000,000 to VND 5,000,000,000, suspended from operation for between 06 months and 02 years or banned business, banned activities in certain fields or raising capital from 01 year to 03 years. The applicable penalty will depend on the seriousness of the violation.

If you're looking for an affordable IP attorneys in Vietnam, check out ANTLawyers.vn. ANTLawyers.vn was established to meet these needs by providing fast, effective and economical solutions. Hope that clears things up a bit. Feel free to message me directly to chat further about any other IP questions that you face.

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Vietnam to Investigate Anti- dumping Measures on Some Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

On October 31^st, 2019 Ministry of Industry and Trade issued the Decision no. 3267/QD-BCT on carrying out investigation anti- dumping measures on some monosodium glutamate (MSG) HS code no. 2922.42.20 originating from the People’s Republic of China and Republic of Indonesia.

Anti-dumping Law Firm in Vietnam

The case has been initiated based on request by representative of domestic manufacturing industry on August 19^th, 2019. The requesting party and supporting party are three companies representing domestic manufacturing industry, including: Vedan Vietnam Joint Stock Limited Company, Ajinomoto Vietnam, and Miwon Vietnam Limited Company. Products under investigation are Monosodium Glutamate products (MSG Products).

After having the investigation decision, within 15 days, investigating agency shall send the questionnaire to the relevant parties. The relevant parties shall submit written response to all questions in the questionnaire within 30 days from the date of receiving the investigation questionnaires. The date of receiving the investigation questionnaires shall be set at seventh days after the investigation questionnaires are sent by investigating authority.

Investigating agency has issued official dispatch no. 760/PVTM-P1 on September 04^th, 2019 which requires requesting party to supplement, adjust to clarify contents, methods and basis of determining dumping margins amplitude and damages of domestic manufacturing industry.

The relevant parties shall register participation in investigation within 30 days from the date of issuance of Decision No.3267/QD-BCT. The Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade recommends that all organizations and individuals who are manufacturer of products under investigation should register as a relevant party and provide necessary information to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to ensure their rights and interests in accordance with the law of Vietnam.

As international tradelaw firm in Vietnam with experience in representing companies in anti-dumping investigation cases, ANT Lawyers always follows up the development of anti-dumping investigations and provide clients with recent update.

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How a Foreign Company Apply for Certificate of Origin in Vietnam?

Vietnam has growing fast due to the opening policy of the government, and has been signing a number of free trade agreements with ASEAN, China, Korea, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Russia, Belarus… with effectiveness. The expecting Europe Vietnam Free Trade Agreement has been signed but not yet effective at this moment.  Having said that, Vietnam has become a destination for foreign investors to set up company and factory in Vietnam to undertake manufacturing for export and enjoy tax preference because of Vietnam origin.                            

 Certificate of Origin Law Firm in Vietnam

The applicant wishing to be granted the Certificate of Origin (“C/O”) needs to register the trader profile under Vietnam regulations before submitting the dossier applying for C/O.  There are steps to be followed at the State authorities to check the trader profile, its legal registration in Vietnam, manufacturing facilities that produce the goods which are subject of C/O.  Further, additional information and proof will be required for verification at Vietnam State Authorities including the declaration of origin provided by manufacturer or supplier of originating materials or locally produced originating goods if such material is used in subsequent stage to produce another good, good manufacturing process.  Not only checking the documents, the authority could undertake an inspection visit to the manufacturing facility of trader and request the applicant to submit evidence of customs declaration of materials imported and used in production of exported goods (if imported materials are used in the production process); a sale contract or VAT invoice of locally purchased materials (if locally purchased materials are used in the production process) and other documents as deemed necessary.  If the documents, the process, and the conditions are met, the C/O will be issued.

In general, an originating good is a good which is originating in a country, group of countries, or territory where the last processing operation is performed and substantially transforms such good.  To qualify for non-preferential goods, there will be required of:

1.“Change in tariff classification” (hereinafter referred to as CTC): means a change in two-digit, four-digit, or six-digit HS heading of a good as compared with the HS heading of non-originating materials (including imported materials and materials of undetermined origin) used for the production of such good.

2.“Local value content” (hereinafter referred to as LVC)

The applicant for C/O shall choose either direct formula or indirect formula at their own discretion to calculate LVC and apply the chosen formula throughout such financial year. The verification and identification of LVC criteria for exported goods of Vietnam shall be based on the aforesaid formula.

In order to calculate LVC according to the formula, value of materials and cost incurred in the production process of goods shall be determined as follows:

1.     a) “Value of materials originating in a country, group of countries, or territory of production” is inclusive of CIF value of materials acquired or locally produced that are originating in a country, group of countries, or territory; direct labor cost, overhead cost, other costs and profits.

2.     b) “Value of materials originating in a country, group of countries, or territory of production” is CIF value of materials imported that are originating in a country, group of countries, or territory; or the earliest ascertained price stated in the VAT invoices associated with materials of unidentifiable origin used for the production, processing of ultimate product.

3.     c) “FOB” is the value stated in the export contract which is calculated as follows: “FOB = Ex-workshop price + other costs”.

– “Ex-workshop price” = Production cost + profit;

– “Production cost” = material cost + direct labor cost + overhead cost;

– “Material cost” covers expenses associated with purchase of materials, their cost of freight and insurance;

– “Direct labor cost” covers wages, bonuses and other welfare amounts related to the production process;

– “Overhead cost” covers: Overhead cost relates to production process (insurance for buildings, factory rents and hire-purchase cost, depreciation of buildings, repairs, taxes, collateral interests); hire-purchase cost and interests of factories and equipment; factory security; insurance (for factories and equipments used in the production process); expenses for essentials for production process (energy, electricity and other essentials to be used directly in the production process); research, development, design and workmanship; pressing molds, moulds, devices and amortization, maintenance and repairs of factories and equipment; patent royalties (in respect of patented machines or use of patented machines in production process or goods production licenses); testing of materials and goods; storage in factories; waste treatment; cost factors in calculating value of materials, such as port-related cost, good clearance and import duties on taxable components;

– “Other costs” are the costs incurred in placing the good in the ship or other means of transport for export including, but not limited to, domestic transport costs, storage and warehousing, port handling, brokerage fees, service charges and relevant costs incurred when loading goods onboard ships for export.

If the goods that do not qualify to be issued C/O in Vietnam, it can not be granted C/O.  Any violations of laws will be punished by the government.

It appears that many manufacturers are in the process to relocate significant manufacturing process to Vietnam to enjoy “Made-in-Vietnam”.

In the meantime, alarmingly, there are equal number of other manufactures whom wish to only transfer a small portion of manufacturing process to Vietnam i.e re-packaging, re-labeling which does not meed to qualifications above.

It is important that Vietnam authorities to alert and constantly monitor the C/O application process to ensure all responsible departments, officers to follow the rule as set by law to evaluate the C/O application documents, and proof given by trader, manufacturer carefully.

By doing that, Vietnam government will encourage the “real” transition of manufacturing from China to Vietnam, therefore increasing FDI, boosting the economy through encouraging manufacturing sectors.

By urging customs authority to investigate and punish violators, the Vietnam government is sending strong message to US that Vietnam is not standing to support unfair trade, and in the meantime take advantage of the situation to attract quality manufacturing projects into Vietnam. Therefore, more crackdowns are expected.

ANT Lawyers, as a lawfirm in international trade has been actively providing legal services through advisory to manufacturers on the C/O matters and assisting a number of investor to set up manufacturing company, review leasing contract at industrial zone as part of the process to transition manufacturing into Vietnam to seriously invest and do business taking advantage of origin, labour, opening policy of Vietnam government.

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Main points of the Berne Convention on copyright?

The Berne Convention is a convention for the protection of works of art signed in Berne, Switzerland in 1886. The Convention sets out three basic principles and a the provisions defining minimum protection as well as special provisions for developing countries on copyright.

Copyright in Vietnam

1. The principles of copyright protection under the Berne Convention

1.1. Principle of national treatment

The principle of national treatment is the basic and important principle not only recognized in the Berne Convention but also in many other international treaties on intellectual property as well as in the laws of many countries in the world.

1.2. Principles of automatic protection

Copyright protection is the protection of individual creativity in the form of expressing ideas, therefore, when people create and express ideas in a certain objective form, they also generate copyright without a conditions or procedures.

1.3. Principles of independent protection

The enjoyment and performance of the rights of independent protection are not subject to any formula or procedures; this enjoyment and performance are completely independent of whether the work is protected in the country of origin or not. Therefore, in addition to the provisions of this Convention, the level of protection as well as the means of claiming guarantees for authors to protect their rights will be entirely determined by the law of the country where the protection is applied.

2. Impact of copyright protection principles in the Berne Convention on Vietnam

When Vietnam joined the Berne 1886 Convention, there were changes and impacts on the system and process of copyright protection. In October 2004, the Berne Convention entered into force in Vietnam. It can be said that it marked an important step in the process of international integration and can be considered as a day to open a future for the copyright industry in Vietnam.

The Berne Convention has created a legal framework, creating a basis for Vietnam to improve the system of copyright protection laws (Intellectual Property Law, Civil Code) in accordance with international treaties, provide a legal environment for comprehensive international integration. The accession to the Berne Convention is open to authors, owners of works, financial investors and services in this area of ​​Vietnam that may facilitate the transfer of copyrights of type of literary, artistic and scientific works.

Prospects for expanding investment and expanding the market of Vietnamese literary and artistic works in the convention member countries and the convention's member states in Vietnam are developed. In addition, Vietnam's cultural environment is also purified, avoiding copyright infringement, using other people's works to exploit excluded profits.

According to the Berne Convention with the principle of automatic protection, works of Vietnamese authors will be automatically protected for all countries that are parties to the Convention. But at the same time, with that benefit, it is the responsibility of protection of works by authors from over 160 Berne Union member countries. The objects are literary, artistic and scientific works that Vietnam has to protect very diverse. This is really a heavy responsibility, requiring us to seriously implement our commitment to copyright protection.

3. Achievements and obstacles when Vietnam joins the Berne Convention

Since Vietnam joined the Berne Convention, in social life, awareness of the use of literary, artistic and scientific works for profit purposes without permission of the author is a violation of the law is increasing. The authors have taken more care and initiative in protecting their creations or possessive. Organizations and associations that protect the rights of authors increasingly assert their role, effectively protect the rights in accordance with the law of the author.

However, the situation of copyright infringement is still complicated with frequent levels in most areas and in an alarming situation. The authorities have encountered many difficulties in the enforcement of copyright. The handling of violations of copyright still faces many difficulties and inadequacies. Currently, there has not been adequate attention to the copyright incentives enjoyed by Vietnam.

If you're looking for an affordable IP attorneys in Vietnam, check out ANTLawyers.vn. ANTLawyers.vn was established to meet these needs by providing fast, effective and economical solutions. Hope that clears things up a bit. Feel free to message me directly to chat further about any other IP questions that you face.

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The Politburo First Issued Resolution on FDI Attraction

The first time after 30 years of attracting foreign investment in Vietnam, the Politburo issued a thematic resolution to guide in the coming years.

On August 21^st, General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong signed Resolution No. 50 on the orientation of perfecting institutions and policies, improving the quality and efficiency of foreign investment cooperation by 2030.

In the period from now until 2030, the guiding point emphasized by the Politburo is to attract FDI selectively, taking quality, efficiency, technology and environmental protection as the main evaluation criteria. At the same time, priority is given to projects with advanced technology, new technology, high technology, clean technology, modern management, high added value, spreading and connecting global production and supply chains.

In addition, the overall objective is to improve institutions and policies of foreign investment cooperation with high competitiveness and international integration. At the same time, basically overcome the limitations in building, completing and organizing the implementation of institutions and policies on foreign investment cooperation.

The Resolution of the Politburo also supplements the provision on the conditions for national defense and security in the process of considering and issuing investment registration certificates with new investment projects and investment activities through the form of capital contribution and purchase of shares.

The Politburo requires clearly defining the responsibilities of investors on environmental protection during the investment period, project implementation and operation of enterprises during the project implementation period. Along with these tasks, policies on investment management and supervision; innovation and efficiency improvement of investment promotion must be paid attention to.

The Politburo noted that the emphasis on inspection, supervision and inspection is associated with improving the responsibilities of local authorities and heads; definitely deal with projects that cause environmental pollution, inefficient land use and business losses for many years, the project does not comply with its commitments.

Statistics show that after nearly 30 years of receiving FDI capital, Vietnam has more than 23,000 FDI projects with a total registered capital of over 300 billion USD. In which, the total implemented capital is about 161 billion USD. Resolution 50 sets targets, registered capital in the period 2021 – 2025 is about 150 – 200 billion USD (30 – 40 billion USD a year); implemented capital of 100 – 150 billion USD. The period of 2026 – 2030, registered capital of 200 – 300 billion USD, implemented capital of 150 – 200 billion USD.

Percentage of enterprises using advanced technology, modern management, environmental protection, towards high technology increased by 50% in 2025 and doubled (100%) in 2030. Proportion of labor through training in the labor use structure from 56% in 2017 to 70% in 2025 and 80% in 2030.

ANT Lawyers - Vietnam international law firm is supported by a team of experienced Vietnam Law  and skills handling full range of legal services relating to setting up business in Vietnam.

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Quang Ninh Is About to Receive 40 Million USD of FDI From Korean Investors

Recently, Chairman of Bumjin Electronic Company from Korea had a meeting with Chairman of Quang Ninh People’s Committee on the implementation of the project in Quang Yen town.

Accordingly, the Company is preparing to deploy the investment project to build audio equipment factory in Dong Mai Industrial Park, Quang Yen Town, Quang Ninh Province with a total investment of 40 million USD. It is expected that the project will be started construction and go into production in December 2019.

Chairman of Quang Ninh People’s Committee affirmed that the investment project of Bumjin Electronic Company is the area that Quang Ninh province is prioritizing to attract investment. To ensure on time schedule that the company has set, Quang Ninh province confirmed to provide maximum support during project implementation.

He also shared with investors that Quang Ninh province is proposing the Government to allow the establishment of Quang Yen coastal economic zone with better preferential policies. At the same time, Chairman of Quang Ninh People’s Committee expressed his desire that besides the project implementation, Bumjin Electronic Company will become a bridge to connect Quang Ninh and Korean investors, contributing to promote investment activities of Korean businesses in Quang Ninh in the future.

ANT Lawyers - A Vietnam international law firm is supported by a team of experienced Vietnam Law  and skills handling full range of legal services relating to setting up business in Vietnam.

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How does a patent differ from a copyright?

Copyright protects a creative work, fixed in a tangible medium. Patents protect an invention, including a method, article of manufacture, machine, drug, etc.

Patent Attorney in Vietnam

Copyright is automatic, as soon as you create the work. It can also be registered by providing a copy of your work to the Library of Congress (in the US) or similar entity in other countries, which provides you with the ability to sue for statutory damages for infringement, collect attorney fees, etc. Copyright is cheap, around $35 to register a work, and lasts for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years. BUT, it doesn't stop someone else from making the same exact work independently - only if they actually COPY you. For example, if someone lived in a cave for years and independently, without ever hearing about Harry Potter, wrote a story about a boy wizard with a scar who visits Bogwarts Castle and fights the unmentionable one, that wouldn't infringe Rowling's copyright (but good luck proving that they never heard of it).

Copyright is very useful where your specific work is desired, such as a AAA game, a famous work of art or novel, a tv show or movie, music from a specific artist, etc.  It isn't useful where consumers want the functionality, like "a mobile match-3 game" or "a word processor" but don't care who it comes from. For example, copyright is great for protecting "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" because consumers want that rather than the knock off "Space Game: Power Wakes Up"... but it isn't that helpful for protecting "Tiny Tower" vs. "Dream Heights" vs. "Sim Tower" vs. "Tower Game", etc., etc.

Patents, on the other hand, protect implementations of the underlying idea. A patent prevents others from making, using, selling, or importing the invention, even if they independently create it.  Patents prevent those knock offs - it doesn't matter what you call your machine; if it does the same thing, in the same way, with the same parts, as someone's patented machine, it infringes. Patents are much more powerful than copyright in that way... but they only last 20 years from the date of filing, and can cost between $10-25k to obtain, sometimes more, and it may be several years from filing before they are issued. Patents are examined by patent examiners with experience in the relevant industry, and are only issued when the examiner is assured that the invention is new, non-obvious, and sufficiently described in the patent application to enable another person of skill in the art to make and use the invention.

Patents and copyrights can cover the same thing - software is copyrighted as soon as it's written, since it's a work of creativity; but it can also be covered by a patent on the functionality. This overlapping protection is useful for protecting against different types of infringement, from piracy to competitors.

Related post: What is difference between copyright and patent?

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