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Patent in Vietnam

Tư vấn luật Viễn thông và Công nghệ thông tin
Tư vấn luật Viễn thông và Công nghệ thông tin

The required documents for filling patent in Vietnam

In order to file a patent application in Vietnam, your client is required to provide with us the following document:

-The Power of Attorney (signed only, the notarization or legalization are not required);

-The specification in English;

-The certificated copy of the priority document (If any).

Timeframe for examination of a patent application in Vietnam.

 Under Vietnam IP Patent, a patent application will be examined through the following process:

-Formality examination: The application will be formality examined within 1-2 months counted from the filing date in Vietnam;

-Publication: The patent application will be published on Industrial Property Gazette within 2 months counted from the date of formality acceptance.

-Substantive Examination: The patent application will be examined the patentable within 18 months counted from the publication date.

 The result of the equivalent search at NOIP will be available within 25-30 working days.

 

Law Firm in Vietnam

SBLaw

When foreign businessman would like to find a good lawyer in Vietnam, they can request a law firm to provide legal retainer services in Vietnam.
SBLAW is pleased to present herewith our proposal outlining the scope of services together with our fees and terms of engagement in rendering our services:

1. SCOPE OF WORKS

Our provision of services shall be as follows:
– Providing timely updates on circulars and reminders to them in respect of statutory obligation under the Vietnam Investment Law and Enterprise Law, Labor Law and other related laws of Vietnam. Whenever there is a new relevant law or enactment of any existing law, S&B Law shall provide immediate legal update notice to them with details of the updated content;
– Providing clarification (if it is necessary) regarding to Legal Update Notice per their request;
– Preparation of standard Director’s resolutions and related documents pertaining to change of directors, secretaries and registered office;
– Reviewing and/or preparing and finalizing drafts of communication between them and their partners, customers or competent authority;
– Reviewing and/or preparing customer service contract, lease contract, warning letters etc. to be executed between them and other relevant parties;
– Translating documents from English into Vietnamese or from Vietnamese into English;
– Representing them before and liaison on their behalf with the Competence Authorities or individuals, organizations as authorized representative.

2. PERFORMANCE OF SERVICES:
The working relationship between S&B Law and businessman shall be based on the premise that SBLaw shall act as the legal division of their Company in Vietnam and the communication for different services shall be either in any or all of the following form:
– Email;
– Telephone and/or facsimile;
– Direct conference; and
– Authorized Representative.

Both SBLAW and businessman agree that at no point of time shall the Services Performance provided by SBLaw create an employer-employee relationship between the Consultant or Lawyer entrusted by S&B Law (hereinafter referred to as “Consultant”) and them. The Consultant shall have no right to receive any employee benefits including, but not limited to, health and accident insurance, life insurance, sick leave and/or vacation.
The working hours of the Consultant with them shall be determined by SBLaw but shall be reasonably enough to cover all the obligations towards them.
The service charges of SBLaw are applicable to, though it is not limited to, telephone calls, correspondence, e-mails, meetings, legal analysis and research, review and drafting of documents, depositions, conferences and travel. They shall not be typically charged for occasional calls which would last for a few minutes, up to a maximum of ten minutes. Any call beyond ten minutes shall be automatically billed.
All the meetings shall be fixed by appointment and both S&B Law and bussinessman shall stick to the schedule. In case of any cancellation, an advance notice of minimum 15 hours shall be adhered. Missed meetings or cancellations without sufficient notice will be billed to them.
They shall appreciate that S&B Law is a law firm doing business with many other clients and therefore they shall provide a reasonable, fair and realistic notice to S&B Law for their requests and projects.
They shall not request for an emergency service which shall be attributed to their poor planning and miscommunications. S&B Law may require detailed clarification of projects in order to meet expectations and provide the best support and highest quality work.
3. STANDARD WORKING HOURS

SBLaw shall render its legal retainer services for approximately 10 working hours per month (hereinafter referred to as “Standard Working Hours”).
SBLaw shall warrant that its Consultant shall be available during normal working hours (from Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 5:30 pm. National Holiday and weekends shall not be classified to normal working time).
Time for which charges applied to Services per request in Extra Time other than normal working hours as defined herein shall be duplicated. In case the Standard Working Time in a month is not depleted, the redundant time shall be automatically added into the Standard Working Time of the next month. However, under no circumstance shall the Standard Working Time in a month exceed 18 hours.
The standard working hours can be quarterly adjusted upon their request.
Additional work beyond the scope of Legal Retainer Services as defined in Item or beyond the Standard Working Hours must be negotiated separately and will be billed separately at the full standard hourly rate according to service category with payment due upon receipt.

The required document for filling industrial design in Vietnam

The required document for filling industrial design in Vietnam is as follows:

– Original Power of Attorney (POA);

– Description;

– Six (06) sets of photographs/drawings in the same ratio comprising front, back, top, bottom, left, right and perspective views. Dimension of representation should not be larger than 210mm x 297 mm (A4 size) and not be smaller than 90mm x 120mm.

– Priority document (if any)

Note: For Vietnamese applications, the POA is simply signed by the Applicant only. A scanned/faxed copy of the POA is acceptable upon filling, the original copy is submitted within 01 month from the filing date;

Searching and Registering Trademark in Vietnam

Trademark Cancellation Proceeding in Vietnam

In case client would like to search and protect his trademark in Vietnam, client should provide SBLaw the following documents:

I. REQUIRED INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTS

–        Name and address of the Applicant;

–        List of Goods/Services;

–        Specimen of the applied mark;

–        An original Power of Attorney which is simply signed by the Applicant (our form in attachment)

II. AUTHORIZED WORKS OF SBLAW’S LAWYERS

  • To consult on the trademark search in Vietnam
  • To conduct a trademark search in Vietnam before officially filing into the NOIP of Vietnam. SBLAW will immediately announce the result to the CLIENT if the trademark has been registered.
  • To consult on the trademark registration procedure in Vietnam before officially filing into the NOIP of Vietnam
  • To prepare all the forms for trademark registration in Vietnam;
  • To prepare the dossier for trademark registration in Vietnam;
  • To follow up the filed application and report to CLIENT on the application status (in correspondence with stages of application examination in Vietnam)
  • To report, to consult and to deal with the refusal from the NOIP (if any)
  • To receive the certificate of registration in Vietnam and hand over to CLIENT (if any);
  • To consult the usage of the trademark after handing the certificate of trademark registration
  • To record the trademark certificate of registration into the SBLaw’s databases and will remind CLIENT to timely renew the certificate

Legal service for Trademark Registration

SBLAW would like to provide the legal service for trademark registration in Vietnam as follows:

  • To research and assess registrable capability in Vietnam and in foreign countries such as Asean’s nations, Europe Union, The United States, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, China and Russia;
  • To consult procedure and represent in submitting an application of trademarks registration in Vietnam and in foreign countries;
  • To maintain and extend validity of trademarks in Vietnam and at abroad;
  • To assess and evaluate infringed capability and co-ordinate with authorized bodies in protecting rights over trademarks being protected in Vietnam and in other countries;
  • To designate lawyers taking part in negotiations, drafting, evaluating, registering contracts which transfers use of rights or own rights, commercial franchise protected in Vietnam and in other countries.
  • To design and value brands and consult in creating identification of the trademarks for internal and external companies.

We will provide clients with services relating to evaluating capability and suggesting measures which aim to develop and maintain the trademarks in Vietnam as well as in foreign countries, and adversarial services after registering and the certificate of protection issued.

IP matter concerning to the pharmaceutical products in Vietnam.

inventionspvn

In IP aspect, set-out requirement are included as but not limited to the following:

– Your trademark must not be confusingly similar to or identical with registered trademarks for the same products of any third parties; and

– The Generic compound must not be infringement over patent invention of any third parties.

Therefore, in order to meet above said IP requirement, your company should:

For trademark:

– You must present a Certificate of Trademark Registration owned by your company; or

– You must present a License Agreement that entitle your company a legitimate use of a trademark in Vietnam; or

– You must present a Letter of Certification by Vietnam National Office of Intellectual Properties, accordingly NOIP confirm your legitimate use of the trademark; or

– You must present a Similarity Search with positive result of a trademark and copy application for the said trademark.

For Invention:

– You must present a Patent owned by your company; or

– You must present a Letter of Certification by NOIP, confirming your legitimate use of the invention in the products (if any).

IP service of SBLAW

SBLaw is a perfect choice for large and medium-sized businesses, local and international corporations and organizations.

SBLAW is a full-serviced law firm, dedicating to many clients who have been working with us for many years, among IBM, AIA, TOTAL, ExonMobil, ESCO, HTC, CSC, LG, DBS bank, ICBC, ING Bank, Hong Leong Bank, Nippon Steel, Innovar Vietnam, SmartEbook.com, UBM, Netrove Venture, Argentina Embassy in Vietnam, MSH (non-government organization), ADRA, Military Bank, VICEM, VINACONEX, VNPT, VTC Online, VSTV, Vinacomin, Trung Nguyen Group, Kinh Do Group Corporation, HIPT, Viettel Real Estate,  VietsovPetro, member companies of PVN such as PVFC, PVFC Invest, PVFC Land, PVFI…

We consider SBLAW as a perfect fit to our business because of its nimble and pragmatic approach to the local market environment. We often engage in very urgent tender response time and SBLAW always commit their senior attorneys to work alongside our sales team to ensure that response are delivered on time – at times working through the night” – Mr. Lewis Truong – Country Legal Counsel & CN IBM

S&BLAW was very professional in their approach and we managed to obtain approvals from various Vietnamese authorities within expected time frame. We are very satisfied and pleased with their assistance and services extended to us” – Mr. Lim Foot Ling – General Manager of Inovar Sdn Bhd

S&BLAW has been handling business affairs in Vietnam to our level of expectation and to date is still being retained by us as our legal advisers” – Mr. Peter Yik – Aministration – MEI HEONG YUEN FOOD IND P/L

“I must praise your services. Right at the beginning when I discussed it with your HCM office, I was confident that your team would do a good job. It is proven. The whole process was smooth and speedy. Thank you.” – Mr. Chen Bin – Director – Bridgemind Consulting Pte Ltd

Conducting a patent clearance search in Vietnam

Conducting a patent clearance search

As the leading patent agent in Vietnam, SBLaw we can assist client with conducting a patent clearance search in Vietnam.

The fee for such patent clearance search in Vietnam is totally dependent on the provided information of client.

Since in each case, client should provide us the required information and then, SBLaw will provide the detail legal procedure, quotation for conducting this service in Vietnam.

 

 

Search and Protect Trademark in Vietnam

In case client would like to search and protect his trademark in Vietnam, client should provide SBLaw the following documents:

REQUIRED INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTS

–        Name and address of the Applicant;

–        List of Goods/Services;

–        Specimen of the applied mark;

–        An original Power of Attorney which is simply signed by the Applicant (our form in attachment)

AUTHORIZED WORKS OF SBLAW’S LAWYERS

  •  To consult on the trademark search in Vietnam
  • To conduct a trademark search in Vietnam before officially filing into the NOIP of Vietnam. S&B will immediately announce the result to the CLIENT if the trademark has been registered.
  • To consult on the trademark registration procedure in Vietnam before officially filing into the NOIP of Vietnam
  • To prepare all the forms for trademark registration in Vietnam;
  • To prepare the dossier for trademark registration in Vietnam;
  • To follow up the filed application and report to CLIENT on the application status (in correspondence with stages of application examination in Vietnam)
  • To report, to consult and to deal with the refusal from the NOIP (if any)
  • To receive the certificate of registration in Vietnam and hand over to CLIENT (if any);
  • To consult the usage of the trademark after handing the certificate of trademark registration
  • To record the trademark certificate of registration into the SBLaw’s databases and will remind CLIENT to timely renew the certificate.

Trademark usage in Vietnam

After registering the mark, the applicant should be noted as below circumstances:

–   If the trademark has not been used in 5 consecutive years in Vietnam, it could be requested to cancel the validity of any third party. Therefore, it is required that the mark as used in actual must be the same with the registered mark.

–    After registering the marks in Vietnam, trademark owners could use the symbol “®” for indicating that their trademarks have been protected in Vietnam. If the using of such symbol could make the customer confusing about the right of the owner, it could be punished according to prevailing regulations.

Registration of the trademarks in Vietnam

If client would like to make the registration of the trademark in Vietnam, SBLaw would like to advise as follows:

1.      Attorney fee for trademark registration.

In Vietnam, multi-classes application is applicable. The basic fees are calculated based on the number of class of goods/services (G/S) in each application as well as the number of products designated in each class in the application.

 2.      Procedure and timeline for trademark registration

The duration for a trademark application from mature to proceed to registration is around 14-18 months from the filing date, involving these stages

(1) examination as to formality and publication on the Gazette ( 3 months);

(2) examination as to substance (9 months) and

(3) issuance of registration certificate for the registered mark (2 months).

Kindly note that the term for registration process normally takes longer to several months in practice due to the workload of the NOIP and the slow examination process by the NOIP’s examiner.

 3.      Required documents for trademark registration

–          Name and address of the Applicant;

–          List of Goods/Services;

–          Specimen of the applied mark;

–          An original Power of Attorney which is simply signed by the Applicant (Please be informed that a scanned/faxed copy of the Power of Attorney is acceptable upon filing provided that the original copy is submitted within 01 month from the filing date).

Trademark Cancellation Proceeding in Vietnam

Trademark Cancellation Proceeding in Vietnam

A cancellation action may be filed by any third party at any time within five (5) years from the date of registration if it can be evidenced that the mark does not meet the criteria for protection.

After five years of registration, the registered mark will become incontestable and no cancellation action is available. However, there is no time limit for a cancellation brought on the ground that the trademark owner registered the mark in bad faith.

An invalidation action may be initiated by any interested party if it can be evidenced that i) the validity of the trademark registration is expired ; or ii) the registered mark is not in use within five (5) consecutive years calculated backward in time from the date on which a request for invalidation on the basis of non-use is made to the TM Office by any third party; or iii) the trademark owner no longer exists or terminates its business operation without legitimate successor.

For filing a cancellation/invalidation against a trademark registration, the following documents are required :

(i)  A Power of Attorney, which is signed by the Applicant. No notarization and/or legalization is required ;

(ii)   Documentary evidence in support of the cancellation/invalidation (if any).

Vietnam Trademark Opposition Proceeding

Under the current IP Law of Vietnam, opposition is not considered as a seperate proceeding, it is only considered as a reference in the examination proceeding of trademark applications.

Within a period from the publication date of the application and the date on that a decision on granting a certificate of trademark registration is issued (i.e. during the time of the substantive examination) any interested party may file an opposition against a pending application with the NOIP and in such a case, it has to present the grounds for opposition and provide evidences on which the opposition are based.

For filing an opposition against a pending application, the following documents are required:

(i)     A Power of Attorney, which is signed by the Applicant. No notarization and/or legalization is required.

(ii)    Documentary evidence in support of the opposition (if any).

Recordal of assignment/licence agreement of trademark in Vietnam

The assignment of a registered mark/pending application should be  recorded with the TM Office as soon as possible to make it legally effective and enforceable. To recordal of an assignment agreement, the following documents are required at the time of filing:

i)    A Power of Attorney, which is simply signed by the Assignee or the Assignor. No notarization and/or legalization is required;

ii)    An original or notarized copy of Assignment Agreement, which is simply signed by both Assignor and Assignee in all pages of the agreement. No notarization and legalization is required;

iii)   Original certificate of trademark registration(s), for endorsement purpose.

A trademark license agreement automatically takes effect between two parties as per their agreement, but it must be recorded with the TM Office in order to be effective against a third party. The license of the mark can be recorded with the NOIP only when it is accepted registration by the NOIP. To recordal of a trademark licence agreement, the following documents are required at the time of filing:

i)  A Power of Attorney, which is signed by the Licensee or the Licensor. No notarization and/or legalization is required;

ii)  An original or notarized copy of a License Agreement, which is signed by both Licensor and Licensee in all pages of the agreement. No notarization and legalization is required;

iii)  A copy of trademark registration certificate.