What are Tools Allow a Business to Protect Intellectual Property?

The Tools Allow a Business to Protect Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is something you have created. It is not just an idea. It must have a content. It can be material such as a design or immaterial such as a software.

 

Intellectual Property Rights in Vietnam

To protect intellectual property in a business, different tools can be used depending on your type of creation. There are two mainly different types of protections: automatic protection and protection you have to apply for.

1.Two types of automatic protections : Copyright and Design right

For these both protections you don’t to do any application or pay any fee. Copyright and Design right prevent people from using your work without your permission.

Copyright:

Copyright protection encompasses art, photography, web content, films, music… 

To inform that your idea is protected you can mark your work with the following :

The copyright symbol : ©

Your name

The year of creation

If your country has signed international agreements, your work can be protected overseas. Usually the protection lasts around 25 years for photographs and 50 years for the other types of work.

Design right:

Design right protects the shape and configuration of your object. To benefit from this right you will have to prove the date of creation. This protection lasts 10 years once it is sold and 15 years from its creation.

 2. Application for protection : Trade marks, patents, registered designs

With the following protections you have the right to take a legal action against someone who uses your creation or invention without your permission.

Trade marks:

Logos, jingles and product names can be protected by Trademarks. The protection lasts 10 years. However it is renewable.

Patents:

A patent is an effective protection for your invention. However the process is time-consuming and very expensive. For instance your invention can be an artistic work, a playing game or a diagnosis. To benefit from this protection, your invention has to be new.

Registered designs:

By registering your design you protect its appearance, decoration or shape. The protection lasts up to 25 years (you have to renew it every 5 years).

At last, to protect your intellectual property you can also sign an non-disclosure agreement. In the contract you share confidential information that can include intellectual property. The second party is not allowed to disclose this information.

Source: Quora

ANT Lawyers, a law firm with a team of experienced lawyers, IP consultants and IP services in Vietnam in the field of Intellectual Property will help customers implement procedures for registering intellectual property rights in Vietnam the most effective way.

 

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“First to File” Principle in Intellectual Property Registration

First to file principle is one of the two principles in protecting industrial property besides priority principle.

 

Intellectual Property Rights in Vietnam

Accordingly, in case many applications are filed for registration of the same invention or similar inventions, or for registration of industrial designs identical with or insignificantly different from one another, the protection title may only be granted to the valid application with the earliest priority or filing date among applications satisfying all the conditions for the grant of a protection title.

Regarding trademark, in case there are more than one applications filed by different persons for registration of identical or confusingly similar marks for identical or similar products or services, or in case there are more than one applications filed by the same person for registration of identical marks for identical products or services, the protection title may only be granted for the mark in the valid application with the earliest priority or filing date among applications satisfying all the conditions for the grant of a protection title.

In case there are many registration applications specified above and satisfying all the conditions for the grant of a protection title and having the same earliest priority or filing date, the protection title may only be granted for the object of a single application out of these applications under an agreement of all applicants. Without such agreement, all relevant objects of these applications will be refused for the grant of a protection title.

To be concluded, this principle makes sure that one object of industrial property is granted for only one person or one organization. If the owner of object of industrial property could not consent to an agreement, all relevant objects of these applications will be refused for the grant of a protection title.

If the client needs help with handling such complaint, our IP attorneys in Vietnam at ANT Lawyers will be of help.

 

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Objects of Intellectual Property Rights in Vietnam

Intellectual property rights in Vietnam are the rights of organizations or individuals to trademarks, inventions, designs or other forms of creation. Currently, intellectual property rights are recognized as an asset class, which can constitute corporate assets. Popular Objects of intellectual property today include:

 

Objects of Intellectual Property Rights in Vietnam

1. Objects of copyright include literary, artistic and scientific works; objects of copyright-related rights include performances, sound recordings, video recordings; broadcasting programs; satellite signals carrying encrypted programs.

2. Objects of industrial property rights include inventions; industrial designs; layout-designs of semi-conductor integrated circuits; business secrets; trademarks; trade names and geographical indications.

3. Objects of rights to plant varieties are plant varieties and its propagating materials.

If you are looking for an experienced IP services in Vietnam to help you with your IP application, you should visit ANTLawyers.vn. Our attorneys have experience with the IP process and will work closely with you as you apply for your IP in Vietnam.

 

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Subject Matters of Intellectual Property Rights in Vietnam

Subject matters of intellectual property rights in Vietnam is divided into three groups included: subject matter of copyright, subject matter of industrial property rights, subject matter of rights to plant varieties. In details:

 

Protect Intellectual Property Rights in Vietnam

-The subject matter of copyright shall comprise literary, artistic and scientific works; the subject matter of copyright related rights shall comprise performances, audio and visual fixation, broadcasts and satellite signals carrying coded programmes.

-The subject matter of industrial property rights shall comprise inventions, industrial designs, designs of semi-conducting closed circuits, trade secrets, marks, trade names and geographical indications.

-The subject matter of rights to plant varieties shall comprise plant varieties and harvested materials.

Pursuant to Intellectual Property right 2005 (amended in 2009), Intellectual property rights means rights of an organization or individual to intellectual assets comprising copyright and copyright related rights, industrial property rights and rights to plant varieties. For example, software computer program can be protected under Copyright, or name of a product can be protected under Industrial property right that is Trademark or the outward appearance of a car can be protected as Industrial design.

However, intellectual property rights are generated and established based on certain grounds:

Firstly, copyright shall arise at the moment a work is created and fixed in a certain material form, irrespective of its content, quality, form, mode and language and irrespective of whether or not such work has been published or registered. For instance, a musician is about to write a song, however, the idea of the song still bears in mind of the musician and have not written down yet. At that time, copyright of the musician still does not generate.

Secondly, related rights shall arise at the moment a performance, audio and visual fixation, broadcast or satellite signal carrying coded programmes is fixed or displayed without causing loss or damage to copyright. Related right is the right related to copyright. Proceeding to above example, when the musician has finished writing his song and is sung by the singer on stage, the right of the singer to sing the song of the musician is related right.

Thirdly, different grounds for the generation and establishment of industrial property right. As said above, industrial property rights include 7 subject matters: inventions, industrial designs, designs of semi-conducting closed circuits, trade secrets, marks, trade names and geographical indications. These subjects have different grounds for generating and establishing right:

-Industrial property rights to an invention, industrial design, layout design, mark or geographical indication shall be established on the basis of a decision of the competent State body to grant a protection title in accordance with the registration procedures;

-Industrial property rights to a trade name shall be established on the basis of lawful use thereof;

-Industrial property rights to a trade secret shall be established on the basis of lawful acquirement of the trade secret and maintaining confidentiality thereof.

Fourthly, rights to a plant variety shall be established on the basis of a decision of the competent State body to grant a plant variety protection title in accordance with the registration procedures

It is wise to consult the advice of a IP attorneys in Vietnam to help assist you with your patent. We are a legal marketplace with quality lawyers who are knowledgeable in various areas of the law—including patents.

ANT Lawyers is a law firm in Vietnam, recognized by Legal500, IFLR1000. We are an exclusive Vietnam member of Prea Legal, the global law firm network covering more than 150 jurisdictions. The firm provides a range of legal services to multinational and domestic clients.

 

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Matters on Intellectual Property Rights Registration in Vietnam

Important Matters on Intellectual Property Rights Registration in Vietnam

In the process of development of global business, the growth of multinational corporations or business will help individuals and companies to bring their products to the world. In addition to bringing their products to customers, the protection of intellectual property rights for products created is extremely important and necessary. We would like to highlight important matters when registering for intellectual property rights protection in Vietnam.

First, in order to be able to register for protection of intellectual property rights, the protected product must meet all conditions to be protected under the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law of Vietnam.

 

Protect intellectual property rights in Vietnam

After meeting all of conditions for protection of intellectual property rights, the owner should pay attention to the procedures for registering intellectual property rights. According to the Intellectual Property Law 2005, the time of intellectual property rights to copyright is when products are created and expressed in a certain material form without needing to register. However, industrial property rights for inventions, industrial designs, layout designs, trademarks, geographical indications are established on the basis of a decision to grant protection titles by competent state agencies rights under the registration procedures prescribed in the Intellectual Property Law or recognition of international registration under the provisions of international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member; for well-known trademarks, ownership is established on the basis of use, regardless of the registration procedure. Therefore, in order to be able to establish their intellectual property rights for products created, the owner needs to register for product protection in accordance with regulations, the order given by the Law on Intellectual Property in Vietnam. 

In addition to the prescribed registration procedures, the owner should pay attention to the time of filing the application for protection, and it is suggested to submit the application as soon as possible. Under the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law, in cases where many applications for inventions are identical or similar, industrial designs are identical or not significantly different from each other, the protection title shall be granted only for an invention or industrial design on a valid application, the earliest priority date or filing date shall be among the applications that meet the conditions for being granted a protection title. In the case of multiple applications by different people registering marks that are identical or confusingly similar to each other for products or services that are identical or similar to each other or in the case of multiple applications of the same those who register identical marks for identical products or services, the protection title is only granted to the trademark in the valid application with the earliest priority date or filing date among the applications that meet the requirements sued to be granted a protection title. In case there are many applications for registration as stipulated above and all meet the conditions to be granted a protection title and have the same priority date or the earliest filing date, the protection title will only be granted to the subject of a single application of those applications as agreed by all applicants; if no agreement is reached, the corresponding objects of those applications are refused the protection certificate.

Therefore, in order to protect their intellectual property rights, the owner needs to meet all conditions for the product, in addition to necessary procedures as prescribed by law and promptly apply for a certificate of protection for the product. The protection of products will help individuals and companies gain competitive edge during their commercial operation, in addition to avoiding the risks of being infringed upon intellectual property rights.

ANT Lawyers, a law firm in Vietnam with a team of experienced lawyers, IP consultants and IP services in Vietnam in the field of Intellectual Property will help customers implement procedures for registering intellectual property rights in the most effective way.

 

Read More

Subject Matters of Intellectual Property Rights in Vietnam

Subject matters of intellectual property rights in Vietnam is divided into three groups included: subject matter of copyright, subject matter of industrial property rights, subject matter of rights to plant varieties. In details:

 

Protect Intellectual Property Rights in Vietnam

-The subject matter of copyright shall comprise literary, artistic and scientific works; the subject matter of copyright related rights shall comprise performances, audio and visual fixation, broadcasts and satellite signals carrying coded programmes.

-The subject matter of industrial property rights shall comprise inventions, industrial designs, designs of semi-conducting closed circuits, trade secrets, marks, trade names and geographical indications.

-The subject matter of rights to plant varieties shall comprise plant varieties and harvested materials.

Pursuant to Intellectual Property right 2005 (amended in 2009), Intellectual property rights means rights of an organization or individual to intellectual assets comprising copyright and copyright related rights, industrial property rights and rights to plant varieties. For example, software computer program can be protected under Copyright, or name of a product can be protected under Industrial property right that is Trademark or the outward appearance of a car can be protected as Industrial design.

However, intellectual property rights are generated and established based on certain grounds:

Firstly, copyright shall arise at the moment a work is created and fixed in a certain material form, irrespective of its content, quality, form, mode and language and irrespective of whether or not such work has been published or registered. For instance, a musician is about to write a song, however, the idea of the song still bears in mind of the musician and have not written down yet. At that time, copyright of the musician still does not generate.

Secondly, related rights shall arise at the moment a performance, audio and visual fixation, broadcast or satellite signal carrying coded programmes is fixed or displayed without causing loss or damage to copyright. Related right is the right related to copyright. Proceeding to above example, when the musician has finished writing his song and is sung by the singer on stage, the right of the singer to sing the song of the musician is related right.

Thirdly, different grounds for the generation and establishment of industrial property right. As said above, industrial property rights include 7 subject matters: inventions, industrial designs, designs of semi-conducting closed circuits, trade secrets, marks, trade names and geographical indications. These subjects have different grounds for generating and establishing right:

-Industrial property rights to an invention, industrial design, layout design, mark or geographical indication shall be established on the basis of a decision of the competent State body to grant a protection title in accordance with the registration procedures;

-Industrial property rights to a trade name shall be established on the basis of lawful use thereof;

-Industrial property rights to a trade secret shall be established on the basis of lawful acquirement of the trade secret and maintaining confidentiality thereof.

Fourthly, rights to a plant variety shall be established on the basis of a decision of the competent State body to grant a plant variety protection title in accordance with the registration procedures

It is wise to consult the advice of a IP attorneys in Vietnam to help assist you with your patent. We are a legal marketplace with quality lawyers who are knowledgeable in various areas of the law—including patents.

ANT Lawyers is a law firm in Vietnam, recognized by Legal500, IFLR1000. We are an exclusive Vietnam member of Prea Legal, the global law firm network covering more than 150 jurisdictions. The firm provides a range of legal services to multinational and domestic clients.

 

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Notice of operation of the National Office of Intellectual Property

Due to the recently complicated situation of the Covid-19 epidemic, especially the appearance of new clusters unidentified infections in residential areas, offices, and enterprises, and to implement guidance of the Prime Minister, National Steering Committee for prevention and control, and Ministry of Science and Technology, and the guidance of the emergency dispatch no. 11/CD-UBND dated May 24^th 2021 of Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee on strengthening of measures to prevent and control Covid-19, to contribute to the protection of public health, The National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) would like to announce

 

How to protect intellectual property rights in Vietnam?

-From May 27^th 2021, NOIP will stop receiving and releasing results of application for industrial property (IP) at NOIP (no. 386 of Nguyen Trai street, Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi). IP application and dispatches, documents submitted to NOIP office only received through online form or post.

-NOIP also stops consulting at NOIP office (386 of Nguyen Trai street, Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi). Accordingly, consulting activities on IP in general and procedure for IP application in particular, only are implemented through telephone or email.

-The receipt of application and consulting activities at Representative office of NOIP at Ho Chi Minh city and Da Nang will still go on as usual.

If you're looking for an affordable IP attorneys in Vietnam, check out ANT Lawyers.vn was established to meet these needs by providing fast, effective and economical solutions. Hope that clears things up a bit. Feel free to message me directly to chat further about any other IP questions that you face. 

 

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Application of Administrative Measures to Protect Intellectual Property Rights

Since joining WTO, Vietnam has been coping to comply with the international commitments in general and intellectual property area in particular. In order to ensure fair legal environment and the benefits of intellectual property right holders, the Vietnam laws provide a number of ways in which holders can apply the following methods to protect their intellectual property rights in Vietnam:

 

Negotiation: requesting organizations, individuals committing infringement acts of intellectual property rights to terminate the infringing acts, apologize, publicly rectify and compensate damages;

Using administrative remedies: requesting the competent agencies to handle infringement acts of intellectual property rights;

Filing claim at court or arbitration center: initiating a lawsuit at a competent court or an arbitrator to protect their legitimate rights and interests;

Negotiation is often used in the first step to request the violator to stop the infringement of intellectual property rights. However, this measure is not potentially effective because it dependents on goodwill and cooperation of the violator as well as the legal basis, evidences that you can provide to demonstrate and warn of violating acts.

Relating to the dispute settlements, due to high costs, complicated procedures and extended time, this measure is not commonly selected as the best treatment.

In Vietnam, intellectual property infringement is mainly dealt with through administrative measures. Depending on their functions and responsibility, competent state management agencies deal with infringements of intellectual property rights as per request of the IP holders Currently, through the following agencies:

Inspectorate of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

Economic Police of the Ministry of Public Security and;

Market management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

In case of dealing with infringements of intellectual property rights in Vietnam, the holders should carry out the following steps:

1.Submission of a written request to terminate an infringement of intellectual property rights:

This step is optional to save costs for the infringed party as well as deal with the infringement on the basis of goodwill and cooperation. The infringed party should send documents, including a persuasive Cease and Desist letter and evidences, to the violator for the purpose of requesting them to terminate the violation and commit not to repeat the infringement in the future. In fact, many intellectual property right holders have reached their goals at this step providing that they can collect enough proof.

2.Requesting the competent state agencies to handle acts of infringement of intellectual property rights:

In this step, the infringed party must prove both its ownership to the intellectual property and information, evidence of the infringement by the infringing party.

The application of administrative remedies is effective handled, so it should be preferable to filling a lawsuit. After requesting the administrative agency to penalize the infringing party, the right holder still remain their right to initiate a lawsuit in court to claim of damages. Actually, the combination of administrative measures and lawsuits at court would be more effective for intellectual property right holders.

ANT Lawyers - a Law firm in Vietnam with a team of experienced lawyers, IP consultants and IP agent in Vietnam in the field of Intellectual Property will help customers implement procedures for registering intellectual property rights in Vietnam in the most effective way

 

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Subject Matters of Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual property subject matter is divided into three groups included: subject matter of copyright, subject matter of industrial property rights, subject matter of rights to plant varieties. In details:

 

Protect Intellectual Property Rights in Vietnam

-The subject matter of copyright shall comprise literary, artistic and scientific works; the subject matter of copyright related rights shall comprise performances, audio and visual fixation, broadcasts and satellite signals carrying coded programmes.

-The subject matter of industrial property rights shall comprise inventions, industrial designs, designs of semi-conducting closed circuits, trade secrets, marks, trade names and geographical indications.

-The subject matter of rights to plant varieties shall comprise plant varieties and harvested materials.

Pursuant to Intellectual Property right 2005 (amended in 2009), Intellectual property rights means rights of an organization or individual to intellectual assets comprising copyright and copyright related rights, industrial property rights and rights to plant varieties. For example, software computer program can be protected under Copyright, or name of a product can be protected under Industrial property right that is Trademark or the outward appearance of a car can be protected as Industrial design.

However, intellectual property rights are generated and established based on certain grounds:

Firstly, copyright shall arise at the moment a work is created and fixed in a certain material form, irrespective of its content, quality, form, mode and language and irrespective of whether or not such work has been published or registered. For instance, a musician is about to write a song, however, the idea of the song still bears in mind of the musician and have not written down yet. At that time, copyright of the musician still does not generate.

Secondly, related rights shall arise at the moment a performance, audio and visual fixation, broadcast or satellite signal carrying coded programmes is fixed or displayed without causing loss or damage to copyright. Related right is the right related to copyright. Proceeding to above example, when the musician has finished writing his song and is sung by the singer on stage, the right of the singer to sing the song of the musician is related right.

Thirdly, different grounds for the generation and establishment of industrial property right. As said above, industrial property rights include 7 subject matters: inventions, industrial designs, designs of semi-conducting closed circuits, trade secrets, marks, trade names and geographical indications. These subjects have different grounds for generating and establishing right:

-Industrial property rights to an invention, industrial design, layout design, mark or geographical indication shall be established on the basis of a decision of the competent State body to grant a protection title in accordance with the registration procedures;

-Industrial property rights to a trade name shall be established on the basis of lawful use thereof;

-Industrial property rights to a trade secret shall be established on the basis of lawful acquirement of the trade secret and maintaining confidentiality thereof.

Fourthly, rights to a plant variety shall be established on the basis of a decision of the competent State body to grant a plant variety protection title in accordance with the registration procedures

It is wise to consult the advice of a IP attorneys in Vietnam to help assist you with your patent. We are a legal marketplace with quality lawyers who are knowledgeable in various areas of the law—including patents.

ANT Lawyers is a law firm in Vietnam, recognized by Legal500, IFLR1000. We are an exclusive Vietnam member of Prea Legal, the global law firm network covering more than 150 jurisdictions. The firm provides a range of legal services to multinational and domestic clients.

 

Read More