Definition - What is Trademark

Trademark means any sign used to distinguish goods or services of different organizations or individuals.

Signs eligible for being registered as trademarks must be visible ones in the form of letters, numerals, words, pictures, images, including three-dimensional images or their combinations, presented in one or several given colors.

1. Minimum documents

- 02 Declaration for registration which are typed according to form No. 04-NH Appendix A of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN [The trademark description: the sample of the mark must be described in order to clarify elements of the mark and the comprehensive meaning of the mark, if any; where the mark consists of words or phrases of hieroglyphic languages, such words or phrases must be transcribed; where the mark consists of words or phrases in foreign languages, such words or phrases must be translated into Vietnamese. If the mark contains numerals other than Arabic and Roman numerals, those numerals must be transliterated into Arabic numerals. The section “List of goods and services bearing the mark” in the written declaration must be divided into groups in accordance with the International Classification of Goods and Services under the latestversion of Nice Agreement published by the IPVN in the Industrial Property Official Gazette.].

- In addition to the mark specimen attached to the written declaration, the application must be enclosed with 05 identical mark specimens that satisfy the following requirements: a mark specimen must be clearly presented with the dimensions of each element of the mark ranging between 8 mm and 80 mm, and the entire mark must be presented within a mark model of 80 mm x 80 mm in size in the written declaration; For a mark involving colors, the mark specimen must be presented with the colors sought to be protected.

- Fee and charge receipts.

* For an application for registration of a collective mark or certification mark, in addition to the documents specified above, the application must also contain the following documents:

- Regulations on use of collective marks and certification marks;

- Explanation of particular characteristics and quality of the product bearing the mark (if the to-be-registered mark is a collective mark used for a product with unique characteristics or a mark for certification of the quality of a product or a mark for certification of geographical origin);

- Map showing the indicated territory (if the to-be-registered mark is a mark for certification of the geographical origin of a product);

- Document of the People's Committee of a province or city directly under the Central Government permitting the use of geographical names or signs indicating the geographical origin of local specialties to register a trademark (if the registered mark is a collective mark certification mark contains place names or signs indicating the geographical origin of local specialties).

2. Other documents (if any)

- Power of attorney (in case the request is filed through a representative);

- Documents certifying the permission to use special signs (if the trademark contains emblems, flags, armorial bearings, abbreviated names or full names of Vietnamese state agencies/ organizations or international organizations, etc.);

- 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 industrial property (IP) registration applications

- Each application can request grant of one protection title which is of a type suitable to the trademark 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 trademark registration applications in Vietnam

From the date on which the registration application is received by the IPVN, the registration application of a trademark shall be examined in the following order:

- A trademark registration application shall have its formalityexamination within 01 month from the filing date.

- Publication of trademark registration applications: A trademark registration application shall be published within 02 months after it is accepted as a valid application;

- An industrial property registration application shall be substantively examined within09 months from the date of application publication.