FAQs

Filing an industrial design in Vietnam requires a formality examination for evaluating its validity.

The time limit for formality examination of an application in Vietnam is one (1) month from the filing date. In the course of formality examination, if the applicant corrects or supplements documents on his/her own initiative or upon the request of The National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP), the time limit for formality examination may be prolonged for a period of time during which documents are corrected or supplemented.

Before the expiration of the time limit above, the NOIP shall complete the formality examination of applications and send notices on examination results to applicants.

• For a valid application, the NOIP shall send to the applicant a notice on acceptance of valid application.

• For an application failing to meet formal requirements, the NOIP shall send to the applicant:

A notice of intended refusal to accept valid applications, clearly stating reasons and setting a time limit for the applicant to correct errors or to object such intended refusal and set a time limit of one month from the date of notification for the applicant to give opinions or correct errors.

If the applicant to whom The National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP), has sent a notice on its intended refusal of the application fails to correct errors or unsatisfactorily corrects errors or makes no opposition or makes unreasonable opposition to the intended rejection within the set time limit, the NOIP shall send a notice on its refusal of the application.

Applicants and all organizations and individuals having rights and interests directly related to the decision may lodge a complaint with the Director General of NOIP or initiate a lawsuit at court if they disagree with this decision within 90 days from the date the person having the right to complaint receives the notice of this decision.

Within 10 days from the date of receipt of a complaint about the decision of refusal, NOIP shall issue a notice of acceptance or rejection of such complaint, clearly stating the reason(s) for rejection.

Upon the expiration of the time limit for settlement of the complaint about decisions or notices concerning the application for an industrial design patent (the 1st complaints) by the NOIP such decisions or notices, if the complaint is not settled or the complainant disagree with complaint-settling decisions of the NOIP, the complainant or person having rights and interests directly related to the decision may further lodge their complaints (the 2nd complaints) to the Minister of Science and Technology or initiate a lawsuit at court within 30 days from the date of expiration of the time limit for settlement of the 1st complaint if by that date the 1st complaint is not settled, or from the date the person having the right to complaint receives or knows about the decision on settlement of the 1st complaint. Upon the expiration of the time limit for settlement of the 2nd complaint above or if the complainant disagree with complaint-settling decisions of the Minister of Science and Technology, such complainant or person may initiate a lawsuit at court.

The purpose of substantive examination of design applications is to assess the eligibility of objects claimed in the application under the requirements and corresponding protection scope. An examination will be carried out by examiners of The National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP), within 6 months from the date of publication.

If the applicant, in the course of substantive examination, corrects or supplements documents or makes justifications on his/her own initiative or upon the request of the NOIP, the time limit for substantive examination may be prolonged for a period of time during which the applicant does so.

In Vietnam, on the date of expiration of the time limit for substantive examination of a design application at the latest, The National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP) shall send to the applicant one of the following notices:

• A notice on its intended refusal to grant an industrial design patent, clearly stating the reason(s) for refusal and setting a time limit of two (2) months from the date of issuance of the notice for the applicant to give opinions and satisfy the requirements(the applicant may request prolongation of the above time limit),if the object claimed in the application fails to satisfy the protection conditions;

• A notice on its intended grant of an industrial design patent and request the applicant to pay the fee , if the signs claimed in the application satisfy the protection conditions or the applicant satisfactorily corrects errors or makes reasonable justifications within the time limit;

Accordance with the Vietnam IP Law, a Design owner shall be entitled to:

(i) Exclusive use of the patented design, including the right to license,

(ii) Request any person infringing his design rights to cease from the infringement and ask for any damage suffered.

The design owner has certain obligations including:

– To pay remuneration to the designer(s),
– To pay the renewal fee for maintenance or renewal of the design patent, and
– To use or license the patented design to a third party in the form of compulsory license according to the decision of the competent State authority.