Cancellation against of trademark in Vietnam

Under the Article 96 of the Law on Intellectual Property of Vietnam (IP Law), a certificate of trademark registration may be cancelled wholly or partly, by any third party’s request.

The applicant may request to the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) in written form to cancel protection titles in the cases specified provided that they pay fees and charges.

1. Period for filling cancellation request

– To request cancellation of a trademark due to the Applicant’s bad faith: the period for lodging such a request is the whole term of a Protection Title.

– To request cancellation of a trademark due to other legal reasons: the period for lodging such a request is within 5 years as from the granting date;

2. The case for cancellation

A certificate of trademark registration may be cancelled wholly or partly, by any third party’s request, in the following cases:

– The registration applicant has neither had nor been assigned the right to register an invention, industrial design, layout-design or mark;
– The subject matter of industrial property fails to satisfy the protection conditions at the time the protection title is granted.

3. Required documents

A written request may invoke the same reason for termination or cancellation of one or more than one protection titles, if the requester pays the prescribed fee for each protection title.

A written request for cancellation of a protection title comprises the following documents:

– Written declaration to request termination or Cancellation of the protection title, made according to a set form
– Proofs (if any);
– Power of attorney;
– Written justification of the reason for request (clearly stating the serial number of the protection title, reason, legal grounds, contents of the request for termination or Cancellation of part of or the entire protection title) and relevant documents
– Receipts of the prescribed fees and charges.

4. Time and procedures

In case a request for cancellation of trademark protection title is made by a third party, the NOIP shall notify in writing the third party’s opinions to the protection title holder, setting a time limit of two months from the date of notification for the trademark protection title holder to respond. The NOIP may organize an exchange of opinions between the third party and the protection title holder.

After considering opinions of the parties, the NOIP shall issue a decision on cancellation of part of the entire protection title or notify its refusal to cancellation the trademark protection title according to the provisions of Clause 4, Article 95 and Clause 4, Article 96 of the Intellectual Property Law.

If disagreeing with the NOIP’s decision on handling of the request for Cancellation of the trademark protection title, the requester or an involved party may lodge a complaint about that decision or the relevant notice according to the procedures specified at Point 22 of this Circular.

A decision on cancellation of a trademark protection title shall be published in the Industrial Property Official Gazette and recorded in the National Register of Industrial Property within two months from the date of its signing.

In case you require more information or require advice on cancellation of trademark as well as other IP matters in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, please do not hesitate to contact us via email: info@apta.vn