Registration procedure for patents in Vietnam

– 02 Declaration for registration which are typed according to form No. 01-SC Appendix A of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN;

– 02 descriptions of the invention or utility solution; [a description of the invention or utility solution must satisfy the general requirements specified at Points 23.6 of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN and must be adequately and clearlydemonstratethe following:

+ Title of the invention or utility solution;

+ Use field of the invention or utility solution;

+ Technical state of the use field of the invention or utility solution;

+ Technical nature of the invention or utility solution;

+ Brief description of accompanied drawings (if any);

+ Detailed description of inventionor utility solution realization variations;

+ Examples of inventionor utility solution; realization;

+ Benefits (effects) expected to be achieved];

+ 02 invention protection coverage (hereinafter referred to as the protection coverage or protection claim);

– Fee and charge receipts.

– 02 copies of an inventionor utility solution abstract [with no more than 150 words and be presented on an A4 paper sheet. An inventionor utility solution abstract is not required at the time of filing the application and can be added later].

– Power of attorney (in case the request is filed through a representative);

– Paper on assignment of the right to file an application (if any);

– Documents certifying the lawful right of registration (in case the applicant enjoys the right to file from another person);

– Documents evidencing the right of priority (if the patent application has a claim for priority right).

– Each application can request grant of one protection title which is of a type suitable to the technical solution object stated in the application;

– All documents of the application must be in Vietnamese. For documents that are allowed to made in another language according to the provisions of Points 7.3 and 7.4 of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN must be translated into Vietnamese;

– All documents of the application must be presented in the portrait format (particularly, drawings, figures, charts and tables may be presented landscape) on A4 paper sheets (210 mm x 297 mm), of which the top, bottom, left and right margins are all 20 mm, in Times New Roman font, text is not smaller than size 13, except for accompanied documents originally not intended to be included in the application;

– For documents that must be made according to pre-designed forms, those forms shall be used with all necessary information filled in appropriate sections;

– A document consisting of many pages must have page numbers in Arabic;

– All documents must be typewritten or printed with a non-fading ink, clear and clean, and free from erasures and modifications; if detecting any negligible spelling error in a document submitted to the Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam (IPVN), the applicant may correct such error but shall append his/her signature of certification (and a seal, if any) at the corrected words;

– Terms used in the application must be common ones (other than dialects, rare words, coined words). Symbols, units of measurement, electronic fonts and spelling rules used in the application must conform to Vietnam standards;

– The application may be accompanied with carriers of electronic data of part or the entire content of its documents.

– Official charge for filing application: VND 150,000/ 01 application;

– Fee for formality examination: VND 180,000/ 01 independent point;

– Fee for formality examination from page 7 of the description onward: VND 8,000/ 01 page;

– Fee for publication of valid application: VND 120,000/ 01 application;

– Fee for publication of valid application from the 2nd image onwards VND 60,000/ 01 image;

– Fee for examination of requesting priority (if any): VND 600,000/ 01 priority application;

– Fee for the patent search for the examination process: VND 600,000/ 01 independent point;

– Fee for substantive examination: VND 720,000/ 01 independent point;

– Fee for substantive examination from page 7 of the description onward: VND 32,000/ 01 page.

Note:

In the section “International patent classification” in the written declaration, the applicant shall state the classification criteria of technical solutions sought to be protected according to the latest International Patent Classification (under the Strasbourg Agreement) published by the IPVN in the Industrial Property Official Gazette. If the applicant fails to classify or correctly classify, the IPVN shall conduct the classification and the applicant shall pay a classification service fee as prescribed (VND 100,000/ 01 international patent classification).

From the date on which the registration application is received by the IPVN, the registration application of an invention or utility solution shall be examined in the following order:

– An invention or utility solution registration application shall have its formality examination within 01 month from the filing date.

– Publication of invention registration applications:

(i) An invention or utility solution registration application shall be published in the nineteenth month from the date of priority or the filing date in case the application has no date of priority or within 02 months after it is accepted as a valid application, whichever is later;

(ii) An invention or utility solution registration application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (hereinafter abbreviated to PCT) shall be published within 02 months from the date it is accepted as a valid application and enters the national phase;

(iii) An invention or utility solution registration application containing a request for earlier publication shall be published within 02 months from the date the IPVN receives that request or the date it is accepted as a valid application, whichever is later.

– An industrial property registration application shall be substantively examined within the following time limits:18 months from the date of its publication if a request for substantive examination is filed before the date of application publication, or from the date of receipt of a request for substantive examination if such request is filed after the date of application publication;

The applicant may choose paper filing or online filing through the IPVN’s online public service portal, specifically as follows:

a) Paper filing

The applicant may submit an application for an invention / utility solution directly or via postal service to one of the IPVN’s application receiving places, specifically as follows:

– Head Office of IPVN, address: 386 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi City.

– Representative Office of IPVN in Ho Chi Minh City, address: 7th Floor, Ha Phan Building, 17/19 Ton That Tung, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

– Representative Office of IPVN in Da Nang City, address: 3rd floor, 135 Minh Mang, Khue My ward, Ngu Hanh Son district, Da Nang city.

In case of filing an application for an invention/ utility solution by post, the application charges/ fees must be transferred by postal service, then a copy of the Money Transfer Receipt must be attached to application and send to one of the above-mentioned IPVN’soffice to prove the amount paid.

(Note: If the fee or charge is transferred to one of the above-mentioned IPVN’s application-receiving places, the applicant must send the dossier to the corresponding application-receiving point).

b) Online filing

– Conditions for online filing: Applicants need to have a digital certificate, a digital signature and a registed account which is approved by the IPVNon the Online Application Receiving System.

– Online filing:

+ The applicant need to complete the steps of filing an invention/ utility solution application form on the IPVN’s Online Application Receiving System.After that, a confirmation of online submission will be sent to the applicant.

+ Theconfirmation of online submissionmust be presented to one of the IPVN’s office and the applicant needs to attached documents (if any) and pay fees/ charges as prescribed within 01 month from the date of online submission.

+ If all documents and fees/ charges mentioned above are fully submitted as prescribed, anIPVN’s officer will issue the application number in the Online Application Receipt System.

If one of the documents and fees/ charges is not fully submitted, the application will be denied.

In the event that the applicant fails to complete the prescribed application procedure, the online application procedure will be canceled and the Online Application Cancellation Notice will be sent to the applicant via the Online Application Receiving System.