How to protect Industrial Design in Vietnam

Before a new design is launched, or sold in a new country, client company needs to ensure the Intellectual Property protection of industrial design in Vietnam.

 

ANT Lawyers IP Practice offers industrial design services as following:

- Look-up, assess and consult possibilities to register industrial design in Vietnam and abroad;

-Represent clients in applying for certificates of industrial design, record modification, extend degree of industrial protection in Vietnam and abroad;

-Evaluate the effectiveness of the certificate of industrial design registration and the possibility of industrial design rights violation;

-Implement of the protected industrial design rights: investigate, monitor, negotiate, seek arbitration or initiate a lawsuit or request other competent agencies for handling of infringement in Vietnam and abroad;

-Negotiate, draft, evaluate and register the of changing industrial design ownership in Vietnam and abroad;

-Advise on building strategies, brand development;

If you are looking for an experience Industrial design attorney in Vietnam to help you with your Industrial design matters, 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.

 

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Register industrial design in Vietnam

Register industrial design in Vietnam is necessary for individual and organization.

Industrial design is the outward appearance of a product embodied in three-dimensional configuration, lines, colors or a combination of such elements. An impressed appearance shall increase the value of products, the attraction to customers and the distinction from other same products. In fact, however, appearances of products can be copied easily if there no legal protection and prior prevention. Filling industrial design in National Office of Intellectual Property shall guarantee that your product appearance is protected from violation of others.

 

Register industrial design in Vietnam

With highly professional staff and great experience in IP aspect in Vietnam, ANT Lawyers would like to offer you Industrial Design Filing service as follow:

ANT Lawyers service in Industry Design

Our services in this area include:

a. Evaluate the possibility of registration and use of Industrial Design;

b. Search for information on the registration and use of Industrial design;

c. File application and proceed with the legal procedures on the registration of Industrial design;

d. Advise and proceed with the legal procedures on the record of assignment of Industrial Design application;

e. Advise and proceed with the legal procedures on the record of amendment of Industrial Design application such as: name and address of the applicant;

f. Advise and proceed with the legal procedures on the amendment of the Industrial Design Certificate on the basis of transferring of ownership, merging companies; record of change of name and address of the Certificate holder;

g. Advise on the renewal of validity of the exclusive Industrial Design Certificate.

h. License and Assignment;

i. Opposition against proceedings;

j. Appeal; cancellation; invalidation;

 

How to file Industrial Design in Vietnam?

Required documents:

i. Original Power of Attorney from the Applicant(s);

The POA must be signed by an applicant or duly authorized representative on behalf of the Applicant (no further notarization or legalization is required);

The POA is required at the time of filing, please therefore arrange to have and provide us with scan copy via fax or email first and original one can be followed within one [01] month later.

ii. Full name and address of applicant(s);

iii. Full name, address and nationality of designer(s);

iv. Drawing of design;

The drawings of design must show clearly 7 views (separately in jpeg. format is preferable): perspective view, front view, rear view, right view, left view, top view, bottom view, at a same scale; and the minimum resolution is 300DPI.

v. Original certified true copy of priority document (if any);

vi. Salient novelty features description in which showing the using purpose or Lorcano classification of design, if any.

Time and procedures:

The ID application will be examined by National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam (NOIP) with ID Examination Procedure as below:

i. Formality examination: Under Intellectual Property Law of Vietnam, the above application will be examined as to form within one [01] month as from the filing date or date entering the national phase. If the ID application meets the requirements as to form, the NOIP will issue a decision of formality acceptance and then the application will be further processed.

ii. The Substantive Examination: The above application will be examined as to substance within 12 months.

• Notification of the Substantive Examination Results.

• The Decision of Refusal or Request to pay fee.

• Issuing the ID of Invention

Note: The deadline for filing design application in Vietnam on the basis of claiming priority right under Paris convention is 6 months counted from the earliest priority date;

iii. The total time from filing to registration in straightforward case is 12-14 months. However, in practice, this duration can be extended further 3-6 months;

ID Term and Maintenance:

A registered industrial design is given an initial protection period of 5 years from the date of filing and is extended for two further consecutive terms of 5 years each. The maximum protection period is 15 years.

If you are looking for an experience Industrial design attorney in Vietnam to help you with your Industrial design matters, 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.

 

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What Are the Order of Disciplining Employee in Vietnam?

Labour discipline is the provisions on compliance matters relating to work time, technology and production and business management in labor regulations. It can be understood simply that when an employee violates the labor regulations, depending on the extent and regulations of the company, he or she will be subject to disciplinary action. The order of disciplining labor is conducted in accordance with the provisions of labour code in Vietnam. Failing to follow the order of discipline would lead to potential disputes which both employer and employee should consult with dispute lawyers in Vietnam for advice to protect their best interests.

 

Firstly, the employer must confirm the employee’s violations

In the cases where an employee found committing a violation, the employer shall issue an offence notice, inform the employee representative organization (or the employee’s parent or legal representative if the employee is under 18) in order to hold a disciplinary meeting.

Secondly, issuing notice of the disciplinary meeting

This step is only carried out in case the employer detects violations of labor discipline after the time when the violation has occurred, there are sufficient grounds to prove the fault of the employee and the statute of limitations for disciplining.

The employer sends the notice with the content, time and place of the meeting to handle the labor discipline to the organization representing the labor collective at the grassroots level; workers; In the case of a person under 18 years old, there must be the participation of a parent or legal representative.

The employer must ensure these recipients receive notice before the meeting takes place and conduct a labor discipline meeting with the participation of the notification components.

Thirdly, conducting a disciplinary meeting

It is mandatory to have the minutes of the disciplinary meeting, which have to be approved by the participants before the end of the meeting. The minutes shall bear the participants’ signatures. If any participant that refuses to sign the minutes, there should be explanation.

Fourthly, disciplinary decisions

The person that concludes the employment contract on the employer’s side also has the power to issue the disciplinary decision. The disciplinary decision shall be issued before expiration of the original or extended time limit for penalty imposition specified the labour code.

The disciplinary decision shall be sent to the employee (or his/her parent or legal representative if the employee is under 18) and the employee representative organization.

ANT Lawyers is an employment dispute 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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Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights Under Vietnam’s Criminal Code

For the purpose of ensuring legitimate interest of manufacturers as well as consumers, reduction and elimination unfair commercial competition, the Vietnam government has been increasingly focusing on protection of intellectual property (IP) rights. This is expected to contribute to technical enhancement in domestic production industry, foreign investment attraction, reduction of IP infringement in Vietnam.

 

Intellectual property rights always plays an important role in international trade agreements which Vietnam has been a contracting party, especially ASEAN and WTO. The WTO requires its members to impose penalties or fines, or both, to prevent acts of intellectual property infringement for commercial purposes, in accordance with the penalty applicable to the crime of corresponding severity.

In order to consolidate and protect the social order; punish crimes; raise people’s awareness of compliance with the law; prevent and fight crimes, Vietnam has legalized sanctions for infringements of intellectual property rights in Vietnam under administrative, civil and criminal measures.

The Criminal Code 1999 (amended and supplemented in 2009) regulated provisions on “Infringement of industrial property rights” (Article 171). The criminal sanctions for infringement of intellectual property right are regulated in Article 225 and Article 226 of the Criminal Code 2015.

Regarding the subject of infringement of intellectual property rights, the offenders shall be (i) person who is at the sufficient age to bear criminal responsibilities; or (ii) corporate legal entity as defined in the Civil Code.

The effective protection of intellectual property rights will be an important factor that protect the interests of consumers, manufacturers, eliminating “distortion” of competition and commerce.  In common playgrounds, Vietnam as well as other member countries must strictly comply with the regulations on IP issues to integrate into global economy.

To learn more about ANT Lawyers IP Practice or contact our IP attorneys lawyers in Vietnam for advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call our office at (+84) 24 730 86 529

 

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