FAQs

1. One original Power of Attorney, POA, executed by a person in charge.
In case the appliccantis a legal entity (company or corporation) and own a corporation seal under their jurisdiction, the POA should be signed by authorized person and then affixed the corporation’s seal. In case the corporation seal is not available, only the signatures are acceptable.
No further notarization or legalization is required.
Please be noted that the copy of POA is accepted at filing, but the original POA must be submitted within one [01] month counted from the filing date without any extra fee.

2. The list of interested goods/services for which are applied in specific one by one.Vietnamese Trademark Law requires all the designated goods/services which are covered in the application must be specified. The item of goods/services in general meanings or item in the class headings as well is not accepted.

3. The sample of mark in .JPEG file (with a minimumresolution of 300 dpi) and not exceed 8 centimeters both in length and in width.

The Intellectual Property Law 2005 establishes a set for grounds of signs not registrable as marks in Vietnam, and in terms of formality and substance, here are the most common cases (Article 72 to Article 75)

►Refusal in terms of formality in trademark in Vietnam

There are three typical reasons in the notice of refusal, which are:
– Namely wrong classification of goods/ service,
– Wrong POA ( Power of Attorney)
– Unclear trademark sample.

►Refusal in terms of substance in trademark in Vietnam

Some typical reasons related to Refusal in terms of substance including:

– Refusal in relation to absolute grounds. These grounds for objection concern the nature of the mark itself.

– Refusal in relation to relative grounds which are concerned with conflict between trademark application and the Ones having priority of earlier filling date.

– Three-dimensional (3D) trademark

A power of attorney is required if the application is filed by an IP attorney. When you register a trademark in Vietnam, name and address of an applicant in POA must be strictly consisted in every document of a trademark application.

Please note that, if applicant is Japanese, Chinese, Korean, name and address of the applicant should be transliterated into Latin characters consistently in all documents in one Application and in all Application.

Besides, the information of date, place, title and full name of the signer in the POA must be accurate and sufficient in order to avoid unexpected refusal.

In accordance with Article 15.7, Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN, regarding trademark in Vietnam if the subject mark in the application does not meet formal requirement, the NOIP shall issue a Notice on its intended refusal to grant a Certificate of trademark registration, clearly stating the reason(s) for refusal and setting a time limit of two [02] months from the date of issuance of the Notice for the applicant to give opinions and comply with the requirements in the response.

The given time can be extended for a period of 02 months by paying extension fees.

Please note that, under provisions of trademark in Vietnam, if the applicant does not file response to Notice of refusal or the response is not adequate, the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) will issue a Decision on official refusal. The applicant is given 90 days from the issuing date of the Decision for filing appeal against this Decision. In the Decision, the extension of time is not possible. In case the applicant needs more time for thoroughly preparing the response and/ or supporting materials, a temporary response is recommended.

– To avoid a possible refusal, the Applicant is advised to file request for disclaim initially at the time of filing.

– Supporting materials/ evidence are vital to prove that the applied mark meets the standard of trademark protection in Vietnam. The supporting materials/ evidence should be original or the true certified/ notarized copies. They should be even accompanied with a notarized original Affidavit and may be submitted after filing a response/ appeal. Except the case that the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) sends a Notice to the applicant to require supporting materials before a fixed deadline, the later submission of materials/ evidence should be as soon as possible and within 01-02 months as from the date of filing response/ appeal for the convenient examination. If the trademark examiner has come to conclusion on the case, the late submitted materials/ evidence will not be considered.

When applying for a trade mark in Vietnam, you must specify a class. Wrong classification of goods/ service in trademark application may lead to a refusal trademark in Vietnam.

Although Vietnam has not yet participated in the Nice Agreement, the NOIP applies Nice Classification in practice to determine application fee and protection scope of a trademark.

Due to difference in culture, languages and technology of manufacturing new products, the description of goods/ services are different among countries. It may take a little research to determine the class to which a product or service fits best. In case the classification of goods/ service is not in compliance with the Nice Classification – 10th Editions, which is being adopted by the NOIP, it often takes long time for examination of trademark application. Therefore, the applicants are recommended to consult domestic lawyers before filing trademark in Vietnam.