How can i protect trademark around the world?

If you want to protect your trademark around the world you should keep in mind one thing - trademarks are territorial. The registration of your trademark in one country doesn’t mean protection in the whole world. If you want your mark protected worldwide you have to register it in each country of the world but this is such an expensive and long process.

Trademark in Vietnam

The most cost-effective decision will be the registration of your mark in the countries where you already have or plan to have your business.

Also, there are some opportunities for those who want to register their brand in the European Union countries - a EU trademark which includes the registration of your mark in all 28 European Union countries. One more advantage is that applying for a EU trademark is much cheaper than for each EU country separately. But you should remember that your registered trademark must be used in commerce, otherwise, it can be canceled.

Source: Quora 

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How do I get my hospital name and logo trademarked?

For getting the logo and the name of your hospital trademarked you need to file an application for registration of trademark in the designated Registry for your area. But before filing any application for trademark registration, you need to check that the brand you are planning to register is already registered by someone else or is pending for registration.

Also you also need to mention the class in which the trademark has to be registered, the correct description of goods/services you are offering and the date from which you have been using the trademark. In case you plan to use the trademark in future, you need to file it on *proposed to be used* basis.

The above mentioned details are extremely crucial while filing an application for registration of a trademark and any oversight on these details may prove to be fatal in case there is any litigation in future.

Filing of a trademark application form is easy but the follow up is an extremely complicated task and it is always better to get your Trademark application through an IP attorneys specialising in trademark registration and brand protection.

ANT Lawyers - A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property rights in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

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How can I register a trademark internationally?

Trademark is the asset of individuals, and organizations which is protected independently in each nation therefore a trademark being registered in a country would still be a subject of violation in another country because it is not yet registered.

Trademark in Vietnam

Currently based on a trademark patent or a national trademark application, by filing an international application, the trademark owner shall acquire the right of trademark registration in some or all members of the Madrid system.

Trademarks are intangible assets, and can be bought, sold or licensed, making your company more valuable. However, you have to analyze your company to determine the value in seeking trademark protection in foreign countries. An experienced intellectual property attorney is the best person to speak to regarding this decision. There is a mechanism for obtaining a trademark in other countries: the Madrid Protocol.

Conditions of international registration under Madrid System

-People who have been granted the Certificate of Trademark Registration have the right to register their respective international trademarks under the Madrid Agreement;

-People who have already filed an application for registration of a trademark and who have been granted a certificate of registration of a trademark shall have the right to make an international registration of the mark corresponding to the Madrid Protocol.

To sum it up, you should first file for a trademark in your home country. From there, your country will forward it to WIPO. After WIPO examines it, and hopefully approve it, it will send you a certificate of your international registration and notify the IP Offices in all the territories where you seek trademark protection in. The last step is for those territories to make a decision within the time limit (12 or 18 months) in accordance with their own rules. WIPO will record the decisions of the IP Offices in the International Register and notify you when they are made. If a particular Office refuses to grant protection, you can contest a refusal decision directly before it. Conversely, if an IP Office accepts to protect your mark, it will issue a statement of grant of protection.

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What is the difference between trademark (TM) and registered(R) in the logo of a company?

TM (Trademark)

Trademark is a sign that help distinguish the goods or services of one enterprise from those of others. Together with industrial design and patent, trademark of goods and services plays an extremely important role for the growth of the enterprise. Trademark establishes a link between enterprise and customer.  A strong trademark will attract customers to use goods or services.

Register trademark in Vietnam

Trademarks are for words, symbols, devices or names that are used to distinguish the goods of one manufacturer or seller from that of another. Any distinctive name, symbol, or word is designated as trademarked with the symbol "TM". If a company has trademarks that are not officially registered, it can use the letters "TM" to show that it claims ownership of the mark. A company must continue using the "TM" symbol until the trademark office actually registers a mark. A company cannot use the R circle symbol while a trademark registration application is still pending.

R(Registered Trademark)

A company can only use the circled R symbol in conjunction with its products and brands if it has officially registered a trademark with the trademark office. A company can continue simply using the "TM" symbol in conjunction with its brands instead of officially registering a trademark and using the R circle symbol, but trademark registration carries certain legal benefits. Trademark registration includes public notice of the owner's claim to the mark, a legal presumption that the party that registered the mark owns it and has the exclusive right to use the mark.

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Opposition Procedures of Trademark in Vietnam

How to Oppose Trademark Registration in Vietnam?

Trademark is the priceless asset of a company because of being used to distinguish goods or services of different organizations or individuals. Many international companies have found that others have registered trademark protection in Vietnam at National Offices of Intellectual Property (NOIP).

Because trademark is protected independently in each nation, it is easy for violators to abuse trademarks of other well known companies for their interests in Vietnam. This could potentially put the real trademark owner’s under challenges when the clients or customers realize the product bearing the trademark they trust do not meet the standard they expected.

In Vietnam, after detecting their infringement registration process, you should submit an opposition notice to NOIP in Vietnam to prevent the violating trademark registration. To ensure your opposition shall be effective, you should enclose evidences and related documents.

With highly professional staff and great experience in IP aspect in Vietnam, ANT Lawyers, a qualified attorney and registered IP agent, could support you in opposition procedure of trademark in Vietnam.

Deadline for filing an opposition to a trademark application in Vietnam

The deadline for filing an opposition to a trademark application in Vietnam is stipulated particularly in the IP Law.

According to IP Law of Vietnam, during examination of trademark applications as from the date when a trademark application is published on the Industrial Property Official Gazette until prior to the date of decision on granting Certificate of trademark registration, an opposition request should be filed to the NOIP. Such request will not be accepted by the NOIP for handling if it is filed after the date of decision on granting trademark registration. However, under our current practice, the applicant could request for an acceleration examination, shorter than provided period of 09 months. Therefore please be noted that possible opposition should be filed as soon as possible.

Requirements

Pursuant to the IP Law, foreign opponents are not allowed to file opposition request directly at the NOIP but must authorize a lawful IP representative in Vietnam to proceed with such action based on a required original Power of Attorney (POA). Under current practice in Vietnam, a copy of POA may be acceptable for filing opposition and the original one could be filed later. However, the NOIP will not consider the opposition until the original POA is filed and all formality requirements are satisfied.

Trademark opposition Procedure in Vietnam

The opposition request must be in written form and the source of its accompanied supporting materials (if any) must be specified.

A possible opposition will be considered at the time of the trademark application’s examination as to substance.

As a general procedures, within 01 month (in fact, the time can extend to 02-04 months) as from the receiving date of our opposition, the NOIP will consider and then may convey its contents to the Applicant and fix about 01 month for them to present opinions. After receiving response of the Applicant (if they submit), the NOIP will inform and give the Opponent 01 month for filing response, submission of opinions.

In some cases, the NOIP may give conclusion upon consideration of opposition without conveying its contents to the Applicant if they think that it is clear enough to conclude. It is possible for the NOIP to organize conversation between the Opponent and the Applicant, upon request of the two parties, to clarify the matter (if necessary).

Upon considering the evidences submitted by the two parties, the NOIP will make a decision to accept opposition or not.

How ANT Lawyers Could Help Your Business?

Please click here to learn more about ANT Lawyers IP Practice or contact our IP lawyers in Vietnam for advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call our office at (+84) 24 32 23 27 71

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How To Protect Trademark in Vietnam?

Trademark registration services in Vietnam

Trademark protection in Vietnam is initially obtained through trademark registration.

Trademark opposition could be filed to prevent a pending application for a mark from being granted application.  Litigation is the final measure to handle dispute during trademark protection in Vietnam.

Trademark is a sign that help distinguish the goods or services of one enterprise from those of others. Together with industrial design and patent, trademark of goods and services plays an extremely important role for the growth of the enterprise. Trademark establishes a link between enterprise and customer.  A strong trademark will attract customers to use goods or services. When trademark is popular and economic benefits achieved through sale of goods or provision of services coupled with trademark is large, the violation of trademark is inevitable.

The annual reports of the Vietnam National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) prove that trademark violation in Vietnam is the most popular, among other industrial property rights.  According to the preliminary annual report in 2011, and 2012, there has been more than 1,000 cases of trademark violations each year.  Report of 2013 and after shows more than 2,000 trademark infringements were handled with the total fines of trademark violators of around USD 1 million per year.  Having said that, it is important for trademark owner to register trademarks in Vietnam for better protection.  This is also suggested for even well-known trademarks.

For registration, trademark owner has two options: either directly register trademark in Vietnam by filling an application for registration with the Vietnam NOIP, or seek the protection in Vietnam through Madrid’s system.  For the first option, the trademark owner needs to prepare, file for registration, and pay fee as the requirement of Vietnam Intellectual Property law.  In case trademark needs to be protected in a number of nations, including Vietnam, trademark owner may register trademark through Madrid’s system.

Where the violation of trademark occurs, trademark owner needs to judge the level of infringement, level of damage to choose suitable resolutions.  Initially, the trademark owner may protect by requiring to the trademark violator to terminate the infringing acts, apologize, and rectify. In case of being damaged, trademark owners have rights to claim compensation.  If failing to reach result, trademark owner may use settlement mechanism through negotiation or mediation or could request the competent state agencies to handle acts of infringement through i.e. filling a denunciation application and submitting to the Vietnam NOIP.  Litigation might be required to handle acts of infringement.  Generally, the proceeding of civil litigation is more complex than the arbitration proceeding. In cases the trademark owner needs a decision from court in order to end trademark infringement, civil litigation is top priority. In the remaining cases, arbitration is a better choice with advantages of cheaper cost, shorter settling time, and more flexible.

Learn more about our ANT Lawyers Intellectual Property practice, its experience, and team members here.

Please contact our trademark attorneys in Vietnam for advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call us at +84 912 817 823.

Let ANT Lawyers help your business in Vietnam.

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