The Note of New Provisions of Law on Planning Decree No.37/2019/ND-CP

The Law on Planning 2017 has been effective from January 01^st, 2019. On May 07^th, 2019, the Decree no. 37/2019/ND-CP details some articles of Law on planning is effective. This Decree details some articles of Law on Planning including the Article 15,17,19,24,25,26,27,30,40,41 and 49 of Law on Planning.

This Decree applies to organizations and individuals involved in the formulation, appraisal, decision or approval, announcement, implementation, assessment and adjustment of the planning under the national planning system and other relevant organizations and individuals.

Therefore, the time duration for formulation of the national comprehensive planning, national marine spatial planning and national land use planning is not over 30 months, since the day approving the planning task. In the case the national planning system and province planning system, the time duration is 24 months.

This Decree details the contents of planning need to be published on the mass media: A summary of the planning contents must be published at least 01 time on the first page of a printed newspaper or on the homepage of the online newspaper for at least 30 days; The planning contents must be announced on news programs and television channels of national radio and television stations or provincial television stations.

The announcement of planning contents is also carried out through the following forms: model display, planning maps; conferences and workshops to disseminate planning contents and plan implementation plans; publications such as books, atlas, introductory videos…

The Decree specifies the professional capacity of this planning consultancy organization not belonging to state agencies. Pursuant to the Law on Planning 2017, the power to organize planning formulation includes: The Government shall organize formulation of the national comprehensive planning, national marine spatial planning and national land use planning; The Prime Minister shall organize formulation of regional planning; Ministry and ministerial authorities shall organize formulation of national sector planning; The People’s Committees of provinces shall organize formulation of provincial planning. However, the planning organization, the Ministries and Ministerial authorities and local governments shall select a planning consultancy in accordance with regulations of the Law on Bidding. The planning consultancy shall have a legal status and satisfy qualification requirements applied to its assigned tasks in accordance with regulations of the Government is regulated at Article 4 Decree 37/2019/ND-CP includes the conditions as follow:

·         Planning consultancy organizations must have at least 01 consultant, who is the planning project manager and must have a university degree or higher in the discipline related to the planning to be established to meet the prescribed conditions and at least 05 consultants presided over the planning component or planning contents for the national sector planning and provincial planning to meet the prescribed conditions. Consultancy organizations that formulate planning components or planning contents for national and provincial planning must have at least one consultant meeting the prescribed conditions.

·         The Consultants who are managers of planning projects must have a university degree or higher in the discipline related to the planning, and have established at least 01 planning of the same planning level that needs to be elaborated or directly participated in set up at least 02 plans of the same planning level.

·         In case the national master plan is first established in Vietnam, the consultant who is the planning project manager must have a university degree or higher in the discipline related to the planning needed to be established and the owner has established at least 02 regional plans or planning for the inter-provincial river basin.

·         Consultants who lead the formulation of planning components or planning contents for national and provincial planning sectors must have a university degree or higher in a discipline related to the planning component or planning contents. It is necessary to set up and directly participate in setting up at least 01 planning of the same planning level.

·         If the national master plan is first established in Vietnam, the consultant who presides over the planning component or the planning content for the national sector planning must have a university degree or higher in the specialized field. relating to the planning component or the planning content to be prepared and presided over at least 01 planning or directly involved in setting up at least 02 regional or planning for the scope of the inter-river basin the provincial.

Organizations that meet the above requirements may conduct planning consultancy for competent state agencies for planning. In Chapter II of Decree 37/2019/ND-CP stipulating the issue of planning, in this chapter, the responsibilities of planning agencies, for each planning, will specify the responsibilities Specific agencies such as: Responsibilities of agencies that formulate national master plans, national maritime space planning, regional planning; Responsibilities of agencies organizing the formulation of planning components and agencies making planning components… prescribe the time limits, tasks and contents of planning, but the planning contents must comply with orientations and points and development objectives of socio-economic space, regional space, social and technical infrastructure… according to regulations, create uniform consistency and ensure sustainable development objectives.

The Decree details about the information system and the national database about planning at Chapter V of this Decree, includes the contents about information and database as follow:

The information, database of the information system and national database about planning and information, the database is digitized, linked, integrated with each other, linked to the national geographic database and appraised in accordance with the law.

The scale of implementing the construction of national geographic database is determined by district administrative units; use VN-2000 reference frame and coordinate system for all types of information, map database.

Information and database collected to build a national planning information and database system include:

·         Database of national planning documents, regional planning, provincial planning, specialized technical planning, special administrative – economic unit planning, urban planning and planning rural areas have been approved and stored according to Article 44 of the Law on Planning;

·         Specialized database managed by Ministries, Ministerial authorities, People’s Committees of provinces and cities under the central government, including national statistical database and national statistical indicators system, provincial, district and commune levels; database on water resources; database on geology and minerals; environmental database; database on meteorology and hydrology; database of marine and island environmental resources; database on climate change; land statistics and inventory database; database of land use planning and plans; information and databases related to basic land surveys; database on technical infrastructure systems; database on social infrastructure systems; database on construction; database on urban systems and rural population points; database on housing and real estate market; database on national defense and security; relevant measurement and mapping databases;

·         National geographic database is standardized and updated regularly;

·         Information and databases on other planning.

The Decree stipulating the planning contents must be announced on the mass media: notices on national radio and television news programs for national planning and regional planning or provincial radio and television stations for provincial plans on summarizing the contents of decisions or approving planning and lists of projects prioritized for investment in the planning period.

Planning law and construction law have a close relationship. An important principle of planning activities is to ensure stability, avoid disturbance to business and production activities of enterprises and people’s lives. Decree 37 is expected to help clarifying issues, reducing overlapping in relevant legal provisions.

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What Can Be Trademarked?

A phrase, word, symbol, device, or even a color are all eligible for a trademark. Anything that distinguishes the goods of your party or company from another qualifies. However, the item must be used in a commercial setting to obtain protection from the law. Trademarks have a 10-year protection span.

Trademark in Vietnam 

Trademark are important to:

Distinguish your company from others

-Indicate the source of goods

-Distinguish your service from others

-Give permission to other companies for cobranding

-Indicate a membership in a union

-A trademarkable symbol also lets customers know who you are. This is especially important when two companies in the same industry have a similar name, for example.

The three types of trademarks include:

Trademarks and Service Marks: These phrases, words, or symbols define a company's goods or services. However, a service mark indicates a service, while a trademark indicates a good.

Collective Marks: These are just like trademarks, except they identify a greater group. With collective marks, members of a group can profit from a single trademark.

Certification Marks: These marks cover characteristics of a product. For example, if something is 100 percent cotton, it could fall under a certification mark.

It's important to note that just because you have a trademark doesn't mean you own a monopoly regarding your symbol, logo, or name. You only control the interest over that name or logo and the association between your goods or services. For example, McDonald's may have a slogan that says "I'm Lovin' it," but if you were to use it in an industry outside of food service, they wouldn't attack you for trademark infringement.

The hardest trademarks to register include:

-Descriptive names that can't be distinguished from those of other products

-Names that include a geographic location, such as California Pizza Kitchen

-Generic names

-Deceptive names

-Surnames pertaining to a product

However, remember that there may be exceptions to the rule

ANT Lawyers -  A Law firm 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 rights 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 kinds of things can you trademark?

There are many things that you can use to represent your goods or services. These marks of your trade: “Trademarks” can either be conventional or unconventional.

Trademark opposition in Vietnam 

1.Conventional trademarks: Convention means generic means common means general. Following are the conventional trademarks:

a.A word

When a word is used as a trademark, it is called a Wordmark. For example, coca cola is a word mark. Any kind of word can be trademarked. However, the following words cannot be:

-Descriptive names

-Deceptive names

-Generic names

-Offensive names

b.A logo

A special design word or an image can be a logo. For example, while coca cola is a work mark registered as a trademark, Coca Cola, on the other hand, is a logo.

c.A symbol

Have you ever seen the symbol of Pepsi- a circle divided into by a twice curved line in between, with the upper half red and the lower half blue in colour? It is a symbol, and yes, it is trademarked.

d.Colour combination

You can also trademark a specific colour combination if you want.

e.A device can be trademarked

 Logos or symbols are basically devices that you can trademark.

2.Unconventional trademarks

Unconventional means uncommon means not generic. They are trademarks that are not common and were only recently introduced.

a.Sound pattern:

A specific pattern of sound can be trademarked. Windows theme, the one that is so familiar to you, is a trademarked theme.

b.Smell:

A specific smell can be trademarked as well. Most of the perfumes are trademarked.

ANT Lawyers -  A Law firm 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 rights 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.

Source: Quora

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International law firm in Vietnam

ANT Lawyers is Vietnam exclusive member of Prae Legal, an international law firm network, providing full ranges of legal services

Prae Legal Network provides clients with access to global legal resources through its vast network of well-established 242 law offices in trade centers in 129 countries.

Attorneys in Ho Chi Minh

Our respectable and influential professionals are experienced in all fields of law. We are ready to provide legal solutions to companies and people all around the world for their legal needs. We can help when you would do business transactions in the most challenging parts of the world.

Prae Legal provides comprehensive legal expertise in almost all major practice and industry areas. We have general and subject specific legal expertise that could be applied to different needs of each industry. An industry will be interested in legal developments affecting its own business and legal environment.

Vietnam International Law Firm

For Vietnam legal matters or services, the clients could reach ANT Lawyers, the exclusive Vietnam law firm members via email at vietnam@praelegal.de or ant@antlawyers.vn or call the telephone at (+84) 28 730 86 529.

Together with global law firm partners, ANT Lawyers has the capability to provide in depth legal assistance in the following practice areas:

• Agricultural & Agribusiness
• Antitrust, Competition and Trade Group
• Automotive
• Aviation
• Banking and Financial Services
• Business Crimes and Compliance
• Capital Markets
• Construction and Infrastructure
• Corporate Organizations and Securities
• Employee Benefits and Pensions
• Employment and Labor Law
• Energy and Natural Resources
• Environmental
• Government Affairs
• Health Care Industries
• Immigration
• Insolvency, Bankruptcy and Restructuring
• Insurance and Reinsurance
• Intellectual Property
• Life Sciences
• Litigation, Arbitration and Dispute Resolution
• Media, Entertainment and Sports
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Private Equity
• Project Finance
• Real Estate
• Tax
• Technology, Outsourcing and Privacy
• Telecommunications
• Products Liability and Toxic Tort
• Trademarks, Copyrights, Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition
• Product Liability and Product Safety
• Cross-Border Transactions
• E-Commerce & Technology
• Product Liability and Product Safety

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What is trademark opposition?

A trademark opposition is filed by a third party to prevent the proprietor from getting the Trademark registered if it is similar to his/her own or is identical to the one already used by the party. A person may file an opposition to a Trademark to prevent the brand from illicitly gaining from his/her established brand name and avoid confusion among the consumers.

Trademark opposition in Vietnam

A trademark opposition is filed by a third in the form of a Notice of Opposition that lays down the grounds on which the application is challenged. It is attached with the evidence that proves why the Trademark application flouts any legal norms or violates an existing Trademark.

A reply to the Trademark opposition must be submitted within 2 months of receiving it. For a Trademark objection, there is no need to pay a fee to send a reply to the objection, but to reply to a Trademark opposition, the applicant needs to pay a prescribed fee with the Trademark Registrar.

In the case of Trademark opposition, an appeal lies against the judgment in an opposition proceeding against the application.

Documents Required To File A Trademark Opposition

The copy of Trademark to be opposed.

The reason for opposition.

Procedure To File A Trademark Opposition

Upon receiving the requisite documents, the Trademark lawyer will draft the Notice of Opposition i.e. the application opposing the mark published in the journal. The Notice of Opposition will be sent to the Registrar first, who will examine it and then send it to the applicant.

ANT Lawyers -  A Law firm 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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Is a copyright like a trademark?

Copyright protects creative works. In modern law, copyright is automatic, but registering your copyright with the government may give additional benefits. Copyright includes the right to control who makes copies (thus the name), but also the right to make derivative works — new works that are not identical to the original, but are based on it.

Copyright in Vietnam 

Copyright lasts for the life of the author + 50 years or more, depending on country. If the author is a corporation, it lasts 50 years (again, or more, depending on country). In the US, these are life + 75 years and 95 years, respectively.

Copyright does not apply to individual words, names, titles, or short phrases; it’s considered that if these could be copyrighted, it would be too restrictive. Being able to keep anyone else from using a certain word, for example, could stifle speech to far too great a degree.

That’s where trademarks come in. A trademark is something that identifies a product, company, or brand in trade. You can trademark a word, name, title, or phrase… but trademark rights are much more limited than copyrights. First off, trademarks only apply in a limited field. For example, if I trademark “The Big Beef” for my hypothetical restaurant, I have to specify what areas I’m trademarking it in. Food services, of course, but I might also trademark it for apparel, if I’m planning on selling t-shirts with that on them.

Trademarks can also be geographically limited. That’s why there can be a “Joe’s Garage” in one town, and a different “Joe’s Garage” in another. Each can hold the trademark in the area where they engage in trade.

Engagement in trade is a big part of having a trademark. In the US, even if you register your trademark, if six years go by and you haven’t actually used it in trade, it lapses. If you do use it, your registration lasts for 10 years, but can be renewed as long as you keep using the mark.

So, trademarks can last longer than copyrights… but if you stop using them, then they go away fairly quickly.

Lastly, you can lose a trademark for failing to defend it. If other people use your trademark, and you don’t tell them to stop, you can be assumed to have given up the trademark. You can’t lose copyrights in this way.

Source:https://www.quora.com/Is-a-copyright-like-a-trademark/answer/Travis-Casey-4

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ANT Lawyers Participating in ASEAN Rail Infrastructure & Expansion 2019

In the year 2017, ANT Lawyers, a law firm in Vietnam has been participating in the event of GRS Rail Extension Summit and Thomas Giglione presented about Alternative Dispute Resolution in executing contracts. In the year of­ 2019, ASEAN Rail Infrastructure & Expansion 2019 will bring to Hanoi the most exclusive and influential railway gathering in ASEAN region on May 30th -31st, 2019.

Asia is seeing rapid growth and urbanization, and there is an increasing need to develop transport services to match. And rail is an increasingly viable option to meet the demand for both urban commuting as well as long distance travel. Throughout Southeast Asia, countries are making upgrades to increase freight and passenger rail capacity, extending and rehabilitating existing rail infrastructure, developing urban rail, and pursuing cross border rail and transport linkages.

Vietnam is a country with a relatively complete and early railway system in the Southeast Asia region. On 16 June 2017, the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam officially approved the Revised Railway Laws which supplements many preferential and breakthrough mechanisms and policies. This is the opportunity for Vietnam Railways to open a new page, the period of construction and development so that the railway sector can play its rightful role as the backbone of transport sector, contributing to the reduction of logistics expenses and enhancement of national competitiveness. At the same time, the Vietnamese Government is also planning to allocate a medium-term capital package of USD 350-450 million to Vietnam Railways in order to improve and upgrade the existing infrastructure network to increase railway interval capacity.

Event Highlight

➢ Forecast the Future Plans of the ASEAN Government in Rail Expansion

➢ Provide New Partnership Opportunities with Governments and Project Developers

➢ Feasibility of Rail Project Financing and Investment Opportunities

➢ Focus on Highly Technical Sessions on Track& Infrastructure Upgrades, Rolling Stock, Signals and Communications from Key Solution Providers

➢ Discuss Design and Construction Challenges for ASEAN Rail Projects from Leading Consultants and Engineers

At the event, among other speakers, Mr. Giglione, a Mediator and Mediation Trainer of ANT Lawyers shall be presenting about APEC’s New (O.D.R) Online Dispute Resolution Framework for Resolving Cross Border Construction Disputes. It is obvious that, any contracts would involve potential disputes. Court or arbitration litigation is always the last resort while resolving dispute through mediation could be utilized to encourage parties to maintain relationship and continue the business. Since 2012, ANT Lawyers has been promoting mediation to resolve.

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