Instructions on trademark registration procedures

1. Why must register a trademark?

Trademark registration is an administrative procedure conducted by a competent state agency with the meaning of recognizing ownership of the trademark.

To avoid violating someone else's trademark, have a legal basis to protect your rights against illegal uses of that trademark. A trademark is considered an intellectual property of a business, organization or individual. Therefore, registration aims to protect the Intellectual Property assets of each individual and organization. Every business organization and individual has the right to register trademarks for their goods and services.

- For individuals and business organizations in Vietnam:

• Directly apply for trademark registration at the National Office of Intellectual Property;
• Through Intellectual Property representative companies, apply for trademark registration at the Intellectual Property Department.

- For foreign individuals and organizations specified in Article 89 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, include:

• Vietnamese organizations and individuals, foreign individuals permanently residing in Vietnam, foreign organizations and individuals with production and business establishments in Vietnam apply to establish industrial property rights directly or through legal representatives in Vietnam.
• Foreign individuals who do not permanently reside in Vietnam, foreign organizations and individuals without production or business establishments in Vietnam submit an application to establish industrial property rights through a legal representative in Vietnam. .

Thus, foreign organizations and individuals with or without permanent residence in Vietnam, with or without production and business establishments in Vietnam or not all have the right to register trademarks, however, organizations, Foreign individuals need to note which category they belong to in order to determine the subject to whom they can apply to register their rights.

2. Trademark registration procedures

a) Trademark search: to check whether a trademark is identical or similar to another entity's trademark. At the same time, evaluate the possibility of the trademark being granted a protection certificate or not.

There are 02 forms of search for customers to refer to and consider

• Free preliminary lookup on the link http://iplib.noip.gov.vn/WebUI/WSearch.php Department of Intellectual Property.
• Search with paid search fee from the National Office of Intellectual Property

With a large number of applications registered each year, the search is to ensure the possibility of trademark registration.

b) Registration dossier includes:

- 02 declarations requesting issuance of trademark registration certificate (according to form No. 04-NH Circular 01/2007/TTBKHCN)

- 05 attached trademark samples (the overall trademark must be presented in a trademark template measuring 80mm x 80mm. If color protection is required, all trademark samples on the declaration and attached must be are presented in the correct colors that need protection);

- Proof of payment of fees and charges.

- 01 certified copy of business registration license or ID card/passport/citizen identification card to get information for preparing documents (the purpose is to get information for preparing authorization letters and registration documents). sign);

- 01 Power of attorney (in case an individual or organization authorizes an industrial property representation service organization to apply)

- Other documents (if any):

• Document confirming permission to use special signs (if the trademark sought to be protected contains symbols, flags, badges of domestic and international agencies and organizations, etc.);
• Document confirming registration rights;
• Document confirming enjoyment of registration rights from another person;
• Documents proving priority rights (if the application claims priority rights).

c) Application form:

- Submit directly:

Applicants can submit a trademark application directly or via postal service to one of the application receiving points of the National Office of Intellectual Property. Specifically:

• Head office of the Department of Intellectual Property, address: 386 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi city.
• Representative office of the National Office of Intellectual Property 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 the Department of Intellectual Property in Da Nang city, address: 3rd floor, 135 Minh Mang, Khue My ward, Ngu Hanh Son district, Da Nang city

- Apply online:

The applicant needs to have a digital certificate and digital signature, register an account on the Online Application Receiving System and have the account approved by the National Office of Intellectual Property to perform industrial property rights registration transactions.

• First, the applicant needs to declare and submit the trademark application on the Application Receiving System. When completed, the applicant will receive an online application confirmation form.
• Within 01 month from the date of submitting the application, the applicant must go to one of the application receiving points of the National Office of Intellectual Property during business hours to present the online submission confirmation and accompanying documents (if any). ) and pay fees/charges according to regulations. The officer receiving the application will then assign the application number to the Declaration on the System
• In case the applicant does not complete the application procedure, the online documents will be destroyed and a Document Cancellation Notice will be sent to the applicant on the Application Receiving System.

Note: In fact, online application form has been applied but must go through many processes (with digital signature or digital certificate), moreover, when paying fees/fees, businesses can only transfer money through the Bank and not in other forms. Therefore, if there is a need to register a trademark, businesses should apply directly or through the postal service.

d) Follow up the application:

From the date it is received by the National Office of Intellectual Property, the trademark registration application is considered in the following order:

• Formal appraisal: 01 month
• Publication of application: within 02 months from the date the trademark application has a Decision accepting the valid application
• Content appraisal: no more than 09 months from the date of publication of the application.

In case the trademark registration application is eligible for protection, the National Office of Intellectual Property will issue a notice granting a registration certificate to the owner.

Note: Trademark protection period is 10 years from the filing date (priority date). Individuals and organizations have the right to renew the protection certificate and have it renewed many times in a row, each time for 10 years for all or part of the list of goods and services specified in Point a, Clause 19, Article 1. Circular 16/2016/TT-BKHCN.