According to the Decree No. 99/2013/NĐ-CP of Government dated August 29, 2013 providing for Sanctioning of Administrative Violations in Industrial Property, the following authority state bodies have the jurisdiction in settling the IP infringement action in Vietnam:
– Inspector in the field of science and technology;
– Inspector in the field of information and communication;
– Market Surveillance;
– Vietnam Customs;
– Police;
– Provincial- and District-level People’s Committees;
1. The difference of the jurisdiction in settling the IP Infringement Action of the said authority bodies:
Depending on the infringement action, the aforementioned authorization agencies have the difference jurisdiction in handling and settling the infringement as following table:
Table 1
2. The inspector in the field of science and technology
The inspector in the field of science and technology including the following person and authority state bodies:
– Inspector of Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST);
– Head of Inspector of MOST;
– Inspector of Department of Science and Technology of Province (DOST);
– Head of Inspector of DOST;
– Head of the inspectation of DOST (case by case);
– Head of the inspectation of MOST (case by case);
The jurisdiction of the inspector in the field of Science and technology are as following table:
Table 2
3. The inspector in the field of information and communication
The inspector in the field of information and communication includes the following person and authority state bodies:
– Inspector of Ministry of information and communication (MIC);
– Inspector of Department of information and communication (DIC);
– Head of inspector of MIC;
– Head of inspector of DIC;
– Head of inspectation of MIC (case by case);
Inspection in the field of information and communication only has the authority to settle the unfair competition relating to the use and registration of domain name that is confusingly similar/identical to a protected trademark.
The jurisdiction of the inspector in the field of information and communication are as following table:
Table 3
4. Market Surveillance
Counterfeit goods: The Market Surveillance could settle the actions of manufacturing, selling, transporting storing the counterfeit goods against the protected trademark and geographical indication on the domestic market.
Infringement action: In case of settling the product infringing upon the trademark, trade name, industrial design, Market Surveillance could settle the actions of selling and transporting of the infringement products at the domestic market. If the Market Surveillance could identify the manufacturer of the infringement products while settle the infringement, it could settle the infringement action at the location of manufacturing the infringement products.
The jurisdiction of Market Surveillance will be shown in the following table
Table 4
5. Vietnam Customs
The jurisdiction of Vietnam Customs could settle all of the infringement action in Table 1 when the goos has been transited or imported into Vietnam.
The detail of jurisdiction of Vietnam Customs are as the following table:
Table 5
6. Police
The Police only have the right to discover, investigate, and collect information and evidence and providing to the other authority state bodies. However, they have the right to settle and punish the action of manufacturing, importing, transporting, storing for the purpose of trading the counterfeit product of trademark, geographical indication and manufacturing, importing, transporting, storing for the purpose of trading the label, sign, material bearing the counterfeit of trademark and geographical indication.
The detail jurisdiction of Police will be shown in the following Table:
Table 6
7. People’s Committee
Provincial- and district-level People’s Committees are competent to handle violations in industrial property which are committed in their respective localities on the principle of determination of competence provided in Article 38 and 52 of Law on Handling of Administrative Violations.
Table 7
Note:
– The fine in the above mentioned tables are applied for organization. The fine for personal is ½ of the fine for organization;
– Remedies as aforementioned above include the following measures:
- Forcible removal of infringing elements on their goods or means of business; forcible removal of information or indications on infringing goods or services on their means of business, including also advertisement, media and computer networks, or alteration or revocation of domain names or enterprise names containing infringing elements;
- Forcible distribution or use for noncommercial purposes of goods bearing counterfeit marks or geographical indications or goods infringing upon industrial property rights; raw materials, materials and means used mainly for producing or trading in these goods, provided such act docs not affect the exercise of the industrial property rights by their holders:
- Forcible bringing out of the Vietnamese territory of transit goods infringing upon industrial property rights or forcible re-export of goods bearing counterfeit marks or geographical indications, or imported means, raw materials and materials used mainly for producing or trading in these goods after infringing elements on these goods arc removed;
- Forcible destruction of infringing elements, goods, evidence and means involved in violations on which infringing elements cannot be removed or infringing goods which may cause harms to the health of humans, domestic animals, plants and the environment; stamps, labels, packages and other articles bearing infringing elements;
- Forcible modification or addition of indications on industrial property;
- Forcible public correction of errors, for acts of giving wrong indications on industrial property rights:
- Forcible confiscation of dispersed material evidence or means of violation;
- Remittance into the state budget of illicit earnings from the commission of administrative violations.
