TRADEMARK

Under current law, a trademark is defined as any sign used to distinguish goods and/or services of different organizations or individuals.

A trademark must satisfy the requirements of:

• Visible sign or sound trademark that can be graphically presented.
• Being distinctive for the relevant goods or services

Vietnam is a member of Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Protocol Relating to that Agreement. Therefore, the international applications under the Madrid System can designate Vietnam.

Under Article 87 of the Law on Intellectual Property (IP Law), in general, the following organizations and individuals shall have the right to file the trademark application:

• The ones who produces produce products or render the services;
• The ones who trade in products produced by others register marks for such products, provided that the producers neither use such marks nor object to such registration;
• Collective organizations for collective marks;
• Organizations with the function of controlling and certifying quality, properties, origin or other relevant criteria of goods or services for certification marks.

Under Article 89 of the IP Law, it is required for foreign individuals not permanently residing in Vietnam, and foreign organizations and individuals without production or business establishments in Vietnam to file their trademark applications through Vietnamese IP representatives.

For the rest, the filer can be the applicant.

• Trademark Sample;
• Description of Goods and Services classified as per Nice International Classification (11th edition);
• Information of the Applicant (Name and Address) and the Priority Claim;
• Power of attorney (POA) & Priority document (most frequently used: the certified copy of the Application).