Having considered the capacity of Japan Patent Office (JPO), the National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam officially recognizes JPO as one of the International Searching (ISA) and Preliminary Examination Authorities (IPEA) for international patent applications originating from Viet Nam under the PCT system as from 01 July 2012. Hence, since the above date, Vietnamese applicants have one more option to select the international searching and preliminary examination authority for their PCT applications, apart from national IP offices of Russia, Sweden, Republic of Korea, Austria and the European Patent Office.
