1. Minimum documents
- 02 Declaration for registration which are typed according to form No. 01-SC Appendix A of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN;
- 02 descriptions of the invention or utility solution; [a description of the invention or utility solution must satisfy the general requirements specified at Points 23.6 of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN and must be adequately and clearlydemonstratethe following:
+ Title of the invention or utility solution;
+ Use field of the invention or utility solution;
+ Technical state of the use field of the invention or utility solution;
+ Technical nature of the invention or utility solution;
+ Brief description of accompanied drawings (if any);
+ Detailed description of inventionor utility solution realization variations;
+ Examples of inventionor utility solution; realization;
+ Benefits (effects) expected to be achieved];
+ 02 invention protection coverage (hereinafter referred to as the protection coverage or protection claim);
- Fee and charge receipts.
2. Other documents (if any)
- 02 copies of an inventionor utility solution abstract [with no more than 150 words and be presented on an A4 paper sheet. An inventionor utility solution abstract is not required at the time of filing the application and can be added later].
- Power of attorney
- Paper on assignment of the right to file an application (if any);
- Documents certifying the lawful right of registration (in case the applicant enjoys the right to file from another person);
- Documents evidencing the right of priority (if the patent application has a claim for priority right).
3. General requirements for Patent registration applications
- Each application can request grant of one protection title which is of a type suitable to the technical solution object stated in the application;
- All documents of the application must be in Vietnamese. For documents that are allowed to made in another language according to the provisions of Points 7.3 and 7.4 of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN must be translated into Vietnamese;
- All documents of the application must be presented in the portrait format (particularly, drawings, figures, charts and tables may be presented landscape) on A4 paper sheets (210 mm x 297 mm), of which the top, bottom, left and right margins are all 20 mm, in Times New Roman font, text is not smaller than size 13, except for accompanied documents originally not intended to be included in the application;
- For documents that must be made according to pre-designed forms, those forms shall be used with all necessary information filled in appropriate sections;
- A document consisting of many pages must have page numbers in Arabic;
- All documents must be typewritten or printed with a non-fading ink, clear and clean, and free from erasures and modifications; if detecting any negligible spelling error in a document submitted to the Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam (IPVN), the applicant may correct such error but shall append his/her signature of certification (and a seal, if any) at the corrected words;
- Terms used in the application must be common ones (other than dialects, rare words, coined words). Symbols, units of measurement, electronic fonts and spelling rules used in the application must conform to Vietnam standards;
- The application may be accompanied with carriers of electronic data of part or the entire content of its documents.
4. Time limit for processing invention or utility solution registration applications
From the date on which the registration application is received by the IPVN, the registration application of an invention or utility solution shall be examined in the following order:
- An invention or utility solution registration application shall have its formality examination within 01 month from the filing date.
- Publication of invention registration applications:
(i) An invention or utility solution registration application shall be published in the nineteenth month from the date of priority or the filing date in case the application has no date of priority or within 02 months after it is accepted as a valid application, whichever is later;
(ii) An invention or utility solution registration application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (hereinafter abbreviated to PCT) shall be published within 02 months from the date it is accepted as a valid application and enters the national phase;
(iii) An invention or utility solution registration application containing a request for earlier publication shall be published within 02 months from the date the IPVN receives that request or the date it is accepted as a valid application, whichever is later.
- An industrial property registration application shall be substantively examined within the following time limits:18 months from the date of its publication if a request for substantive examination is filed before the date of application publication, or from the date of receipt of a request for substantive examination if such request is filed after the date of application publication.