How To Register Successfully Your Trademark In Vietnam

To assist you in registering your trademark affordably and swiftly for your branded products/services, Elite Law Firm is excited to share the secrets of successful trademark registration in Vietnam as follows:

What difficulties do you often face when registering a trademark in Vietnam?

ELITE: From decades of our experience as an IP Agent Representative assisting businesses in trademark registration in Vietnam, we see that during the protection registration process, your trademark application may often face typical difficulties as follows:

Your trademark application was refused protection

Under current trademark regulations of Vietnam, your trademark application may be refused protection for the following typical reasons:

Your trademark is identical or confusingly similar to another one’s previously registered trademark(s)

As of August 17, 2023, there have been 458,628 National Trademark Registration Certificates issued by the Vietnam Intellectual Property Office (VNIPO). In 2022 alone, 56,050 trademark applications were filed with the VNIPO. With this huge number of trademark registrations, the chances of your trademark being identical or confusingly similar to someone else’s trademark are not low.

Your mark includes exclusions, is not protected as a trademark, or fails to function as a trademark because they are indistinctive signs (inability to distinguish itself).

This is one of the most common reasons for the refusal of a trademark application because in addition to cause (a) above, unfortunately, there are more than 20 other rejection reasons where your trademark could fall into, for example:

• Signs identical with or confusingly similar to the images of National Flags, National Emblems, National Anthems of Vietnam and other countries;
• Simple shapes and geometric figures, numbers, letters, or scripts in uncommon languages;
• A sign indicating the time, place, production method, type, quantity, quality, properties, ingredients, intended utility, value, or other characteristics that are descriptive of goods or services or signs that significantly add value to the goods;
• A sign indicating the geographical origin of goods or services, unless such sign has been widely used and recognized as a mark before the filing date; …

Trademark registration takes a long time

The time for trademark registration may be longer than regulations (currently (Jul.2023), total registration time is about 18-24 months from the filing date) due to the overload of applications at the VNIPO.

Expensive costs due to the refusal of the trademark application (did not obtain a trademark registration)

When your trademark application is refused protection, you will have to re-design your trademark and restart proceeding with the registration procedure. Of course, this will incur additional registration costs and you will also have to wait another 18-24 months to get a certificate of trademark registration if your trademark meets the requirements for protection.

We always understand and feel these difficulties and will support and accompany you to overcome these obstacles based on our expertise and more than 20 years of experience in this field.

What are the best solutions or secrets to successful trademark registration in Vietnam?

ELITE: From our experience, we would like to share some useful and simple secrets to help you register your trademark successfully, and quickly while saving cost, and time as below:

1. Design your brand to be unique, not in the cases that are not protected as trademarks;
2. In-depth search with experts to check for similar and identical trademarks before filing a registration application.
3. Choose an IP Representative Agent (IP Law Firm) who is reputable and experienced in authorizing the filing of applications and monitoring the status of your trademark application.

What should you do when your trademark application is refused protection?

ELITE: No, you still have a chance. We believe that your trademark still has a chance to be protected when your application is rejected by the VNIPO for the following reasons:

The VNIPO may not be 100% accurate

When your trademark application is refused protection, it is not entirely hopeless because it is not certain that the decisions and assessments of the VNIPO’s experts are 100% accurate. Therefore, when the VNIPO decides to refuse protection of the trademark, you still have the opportunity to continue the registration procedure by filing an appeal or objection to the refusal decision if you find that there are legal grounds to believe that VNIPO’s decision does not have/not enough legal basis.

The cited trademark registration(s) may have expired protection

The cited trademark registration(s) are trademarks used by the VNIPO as a basis to refuse to grant protection Certificates to your trademark application(s) in the process of trademark examination. In practice, there is still the possibility that the cited trademarks have expired but are still used by the VNIPO to refuse to protect your trademark applications.

Your trademark may be an exception

Your trademark may fall in exceptions such as a well-known trademark, widely used trademark, or trademark illegally appropriated by a third party for pre-registration (application based on bad-faith basis or has no right to file trademark)… so it can still be protected and registered.

In Conclusion

To avoid unnecessary difficulties when registering a trademark, and quickly complete the trademark registration procedure to conduct successful business, you should choose an experienced and reputable IP Representative Agent/Patent Law Firm to assist you in registering your trademark successfully, quickly, and cost-effectively.

With a Team having qualified expertise and more than 20 years of experience in the field of intellectual property protection based on our six Core Values, including Integrity, Empathy, Responsibility, Carefulness, Determination, and Learning, We (ELITE Law Firm) are committed to accompany you and will support you to register for trademark protection successfully, quickly and economically. Contact us now!

Tags: Trademark