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At-a-glance: National Office of Intellectual Property 386 Nguyen Trai Str, Than Xuan District, Hanoi, Vietnam Tel: +84 4 3558 8217, 8774, 3069 Email: vietnamipo@noip.gov.vn Website: www.noipvietnam.com Vietnam's National Office of Industrial Property... [more]

Vietnam's National Office of Industrial Property (NOIP) issued several guidelines to clarify matters governed under the Law on Intellectual Property ahead of the legislation's fourth anniversary. Among them are the Guidelines on Handling of Disputed .vn domain names, which acts to freeze the status of a disputed domain name for 60 days or more with the approval of the courts. The Guidelines serve to address complaints that .vn domains are registered by agents who are not owners of its identical registered trade names. It is now clear that if the dispute is settled in favour of the complainant, the party must register the domain within 10 days or risk third parties reregistering or moving the domain to another registrar.

Furthermore, examination guidelines were issued on industrial designs. While it is obvious from the IP Law that the appearance of a design is not protectable, colour in certain decoration compositions may be used as a basic appearance feature. Additionally, designs that cannot be circulated as an independent entity, such as subordinate parts of a major product, cannot be protected. However, a related regulation states that protection can be sought for a product design that contains another registered design as a component part used with authorisation.

IP infringement and counterfeit products continue to plague Vietnam, though recent court rulings revealed that the judicial system is taking an aggressive stance in the hope of reversing the trend. In the first-ever patent infringement hearing in Vietnam, The People's Court of Dak Lak ruled in favour of and awarded significant compensation to the owner of a patent covering an improved brick extruder device. The Copyright Office of Vietnam rendered a decision on a similar position, revoking the copyright certificate of a trophy that had a strikingly similar representation to another registered at an earlier date, on the grounds of breaching an exclusive right to reproduction.

The Vietnamese authorities have also publicised a commitment to protecting IP. In late 2009, the government issued Announcement 323 that outlined a comprehensive plan to combat counterfeit goods by drafting a new decree and raising punishments as a deterrent. Well-received by IP owners, enforcement officials and other practitioners, the decree expands the scope in which sanctions can be administered to include unfair competition, and empowers authorities to remove materials with infringing elements from business facilities. The monetary fine imposed by recent court decisions is approximately four times the value of the infringing goods, or 10 times the value of penalties before the decree was issued.

Another new set of regulations published by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism specifically targeted DVD piracy by imposing a heftier fine for those involved in the selling, renting or purchasing of more than 10 pirated DVDs. Additionally, infringers may be subject to having any equipment involved in the piracy process seized. However, practitioners have lamented several obvious loopholes in this new decree, including the requirement to procure more than 10 articles to impose a fine and the problem that the minor fine is merely a cost as opposed to a deterrent to large infringers.

In healthcare, the Drug Administration of Vietnam requested all local Departments of Health to increase supervision of cosmetic products so as to prevent counterfeits and illegally imported goods with unknown origins from circulation in the market. Issues in Vietnamese drug marketing approvals have also been clarified by a new circular, in which new regulations state that marketing applicants shall be responsible for all IP infringement in relation to the corresponding drug. As a consequence, proof of valid IP rights is no longer necessary for filing such approvals, although advertisers and licensees are advised to conduct a search on the product's IP before applying. Finally, the guidelines also allow drug innovators to seek marketing approval for a generic version of its drug two years ahead of patent expiry, paving the way for future protection of IP owners under Vietnamese law.