WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION  
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE  
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIO  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
12 February 2008 
 (08-0627) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects 
of Intellectual Property Rights Original:   English/ 
 anglais/  inglés 
 
 
MAIN DEDICATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY  
LAWS AND REGULATIONS NOTIFIED UNDER  
ARTICLE 63.2 OF THE AGREEMENT 
 
VIET NAM 
 
 The present document reproduces the text
1 of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN of 
February 14, 2007, Guiding the Implementation of  the Government’s Decree No. 103/2006/ND-CP of 
September 22, 2006, Detailing and Guiding the Impl ementation of a Number of Articles of the Law 
on Intellectual Property Regarding Industrial Property,  notified by Viet Nam under Article 63.2 of the 
Agreement (see document IP/N/1/VNM/1). 
 
 
Conseil des aspects des droits de propriété intellectuelle qui touchent au commerce 
 
PRINCIPALES LOIS ET RÉGLEMENTATIONS CONSACRÉES À LA  
PROPRIÉTÉ INTELLECTUELLE NOTIFIÉES AU TITRE  
DE L'ARTICLE 63:2 DE L'ACCORD 
 
VIET NAM 
 
 Le présent document contient le texte
1 de la Circulaire n° 01/2007/TT-BKHCN du 
14 février 2007 contenant des orientations pour  la mise en œuvre du Décret gouvernemental 
n° 103/2006/ND-CP du 22 septembre 2006 contenant des détails et des orientations pour la mise en 
œuvre de certains articles de la Loi sur la propriété intellectuelle concernant la propriété industrielle, 
notifié par le Viet Nam au titre de l'article 63: 2 de l'Accord (voir le document IP/N/1/VNM/1). 
 
 
Consejo de los Aspectos de los Derechos de Propiedad 
Intelectual relacionados con el Comercio  
 
PRINCIPALES LEYES Y REGLAMENTOS DEDICADOS A LA  
PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL NOTIFICADOS EN VIRTUD  
DEL PÁRRAFO 2 DEL ARTÍCULO 63 DEL ACUERDO 
 
VIET NAM 
 
 En el presente documento se reproduce el texto1 de la Circular Nº 01/2007/TT-BKHCN, de 
14 de febrero de 2007, que contiene directrice s sobre la aplicación del Decreto gubernamental 
Nº 103/2006/ND-CP, de 22 de septiembre de 2006, qu e contiene disposiciones detalladas y directrices 
sobre la aplicación de varios artícul os de la Ley de propiedad intelectual relativos a la propiedad 
industrial, notificado por el Viet Nam en virtud de  lo dispuesto en el párrafo 2 del artículo 63 del 
Acuerdo (véase el documento IP/N/1/VNM/1). 
                                                      
1 In English only./En anglais seulement./En inglés solamente. IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 2  
 
  CIRCULAR No. 01/2007/TT-BKHC N OF FEBRUARY 14, 2007, 
GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GOVERNMENT’S 
DECREE No. 103/2006/ND-CP OF SEPTEMBER 22, 2006, DETAILING 
AND GUIDING THE IMPLEMEN TATION OF A NUMBER OF 
ARTICLES OF THE LAW ON  INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 
REGARDING INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY 
 
Pursuant to the November 29, 2005 Law on Intellectual Property;  Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 103/2006/ ND-CP of September 22, 2006, detailing and 
guiding the implementation of a number of article s of the Law on Intellectual Property regarding 
industrial property;  Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 54/2003/ND -CP of May 16, 2003, defining the functions, 
tasks, powers and organizational structure of th e Ministry of Science and Technology, and Decree 
No. 28/2004/ND-CP of January 16, 2004, amendi ng and supplementing a number of articles of 
Decree No. 54/2003/ND-CP;  The Ministry of Science and Technology guides the implementation of the Government’s Decree 
No. 103/2006/ND-CP of September 22, 2006, as follows: 
 
Chapter I 
PROCEDURES FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS 
 Section 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS ON PROCEDURES FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS 
 
1. Grounds for establishment of industrial property rights  1.1. Industrial property rights arise/are established on the grounds specified in Clause 3, Article 6 of the November 29, 2005 Law on Intellectual Property (hereinafter referred to as the Intellectual 
Property Law), Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4, Article 6 of  the Government’s Decree No. 103/2006/ND-CP of 
September 22, 2006, detailing and guiding the im plementation of a number of articles of the 
Intellectual Property Law regarding industrial prop erty (hereinafter referred to as the Decree on 
industrial property) and specific provisions of this Point.  1.2. Industrial property rights to inventions, lay out designs of semi-conductor integrated circuits 
(hereinafter referred to as layout designs), indust rial designs and marks shall be established under 
decisions of the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) on the grant of protection titles to persons that register those objects. Persons who are granted protection titles by the NOIP are owners 
and enjoy the rights to industrial property objects w ithin the protection coverage stated in and the 
validity duration of protection titles. Upon occurrence of  a dispute, the owner of  an industrial property 
object may use the protection title as evidence to prove  his/her/its rights wit hout having to invoke any 
other proofs.  1.3. Industrial property rights to geographical indi cations shall be established under decisions of the 
NOIP on the grant of certificates of registered geog raphical indications to organizations managing 
those geographical indications. 
  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 3 
 
 
  1.4. Industrial property rights to marks internati onally registered under the Madrid Agreement and the 
Madrid Protocol (hereinafter referred to as intern ationally registered marks) shall be established under 
decisions on acceptance for protection or certificat es of protection in Vietnam of internationally 
registered marks granted by the NOIP upon the re quest of mark proprietors. These decisions and 
certificates are as valid as protection titles granted to persons registering marks in Vietnam. 
 
1.5. Industrial property rights to well-known marks shall be established on the basis of their actual 
public use that has made them well known, and for t hose marks the registration with the NOIP is not 
required. While exercising the rights to and upon the settlement of a dispute over a well-known mark, 
its proprietor shall evidence his/her/its rights with appropriate proofs specified in Article 75 of the 
Intellectual Property Law. 
 1.6. Industrial property rights to trade names sha ll be established on the basis of the lawful use of 
those trade names, and for those trade names the procedures for registration with the NOIP is not required. While exercising the rights to and upon th e settlement of a dispute over, a trade name, the 
entity owning that trade name shall evidence his/ her/its rights with proofs indicating the period of 
time, territory and field in which the trad e name has been used by that entity. 
 1.7. Industrial property rights to business secrets shall be established on the basis of financial 
investment and intellectual labor or the results of  other lawful activities aimed to find, create or 
acquire information constituting business secrets and keep confidential such information, and for 
those business secrets the registration with the NOIP is not required. While exercising the rights to 
and upon the settlement of a dispute over rights to  a business secret, the entity owning that business 
secret shall evidence his/her/its rights with pr oofs indicating activities in which information 
constituting the business secret has been created, fo und or acquired as well as the measure to keep 
confidential such information. 
 
1.8. The right to suppression of unfair competition shall be established on the actual situation of 
competitive practices, and for that right the registration with the NOIP is not required. While exercising the right to suppression of unfair competi tion, right holders shall evidence their right with 
proofs indicating business entities, fields, territories  and periods of time related to competitive 
practices. 
 
2. Owners of industrial property registration applications  2.1. Owners of industrial property registration appli cations (hereinafter referred to as application 
owners) are organizations or indivi duals that file applications for registration of inventions, layout 
designs, industrial designs, marks or geographical indications. As soon as invention, layout design, 
industrial design or mark protection titles are grante d, application owners are recognized as protection 
title holders. As soon as geographical indication prot ection titles are granted, application owners are 
recognized as geographical indication registrants.  2.2. Application owners must satisfy the condition s for the right of industrial property registration 
provided for in Articles 86, 87 and 88 of the Intell ectual Property Law and Articles 7, 8 and 9 of the 
Decree on industrial property. If those conditions are not satisfied, the industrial property registration 
shall be considered invalid.  3. Representatives of application owners 
 
3.1. Application owners may themselves carry out or  authorize their lawful representatives in Vietnam 
to carry out the procedures for industrial prope rty registration with the NOIP according to the 
provisions of this Point and Point 4 of this Circular.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  3.2. The following organizations or individuals may act as representatives of application owners: 
 a/ For organizations or individuals defined in Cl ause 1, Article 89 of the Intellectual Property Law: 
 (i) If application owners are indi viduals: Their representatives at law or mandated representatives, or 
industrial property representation servi ce organizations under their mandate; 
 (ii) If application owners are organizations: Their representatives at law or staffs of organizations 
mandated by their representatives at law; industr ial property representation service organizations 
(under their mandate); heads of their Vietnam-ba sed representative offices or  branches (for foreign 
organizations). 
 b/ For organizations or individuals defined in Clau se 2, Article 89 of the Intellectual Property Law: 
industrial property representation service organi zations (mandated by application owners). 
 
3.3. When carrying out the procedures for industria l property registration, the NOIP may only contact 
application owners or their lawful representatives. Organizations or individuals that do not fall into 
the cases specified at Point 3.2 of this Circular  shall be regarded as unlawful representatives of 
application owners.  4. Mandate of representatives to carry out industrial property registration procedures 
 
4.1. The mandate of representatives and the carrying out by mandated representatives of procedures 
for industrial property registration (hereinafter  referred to as mandate) must comply with the 
provisions on mandate in Part III of the Civil Code and the provisions of this Circular. 
 
4.2. The mandate shall be established in writing ( power of attorney) with the following principal 
contents:  a/ Names (full names) and full addresses of the mandator and the mandated party;  b/ Name (full name) and full address of the party un dertaking to act as a surrogate mandated or sub-
mandated party (if any); 
 c/ Scope of mandate a nd mandated work volume; 
 d/ Mandate duration (a power of attorney with an  unspecified validity duration will cease to be valid 
only when the mandator declares the termination of the mandate); 
 e/ Date of signing of the power of attorney;  f/ Signature(s) (with full names, titles and seals, if any) of the lawful representative of the mandator 
(and of the party undertaking to act as a surroga te mandated or sub-mandated party, if any). 
 
4.3. The date when a power of attorney takes legal effect in transactions with the NOIP is determined 
to be:  a/ The date the NOIP receives a valid power of attorney; 
 
b/ The date the NOIP approves the valid  surrogate mandate or sub-mandate; 
 c/ The date the NOIP receives a notice on change of  the mandate scope, ahead-of-time termination of 
mandate, change of the address of the mandated party.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 5 
 
 
   
4.4. In case of surrogate mandate or sub-mandate, a power of attorney is considered valid when the 
party acting as a surrogate mandate d or sub-mandated party commits to bear responsibility for all 
matters arising from prior transactions c onducted by the mandator with the NOIP. 
 
4.5. If the scope of mandate stated in a power of  attorney covers many independent procedures and 
the original power of attorney has been submitted to the NOIP, the mandated party, when carrying out 
subsequent procedures, shall submit copies of the power  of attorney and give an accurate indication of 
the serial number of the application containing that power of attorney.  
5. Responsibilities of application owners and their representatives 
 5.1. Application owners and their representatives sh all ensure the truthfulness of information and 
documents supplied to the NOIP in the course of industrial property registration according to the 
following regulations: 
 
a/ All transaction documents must be certified with  the signatures of application owners or their 
representatives, appended with certification seals of or ganizations (if any). If certification of a notary 
public or another competent agency is required, such certification must be obtained;  b/ All Vietnamese translations of foreign-language  documents must be guaranteed by application 
owners or their representatives to be verbat im translations of the original documents. 
 5.2. Application owners are liable for all con sequences and obligations arising from transactions 
conducted by their representatives with the NOIP.  
5.3. Representatives of application owners are account able to application owners for all consequences 
of the declaration or supply of untruthful information in transactions with the NOIP and pay compensations for any damage caused.  5.4. Application owners and th eir representatives are below collec tively referred to as applicants, 
unless otherwise specifically provided for. 
 
6. Handling of opinions of the third party before issuing decisions on the grant of protection titles 
 6.1. From the date an industrial property registrati on application is published in the Industrial Property 
Official Gazette to the date prio r to the issuance of a decision on the grant of a protection title, any 
organization or individual may send to the NOIP its/h is/her written opinions on the registration right, 
the right of priority, protection conditions and other issues related to the industrial property registration application according to the provisions of Article 112 of the Intellectual Property Law. 
Written opinions of the third party shall be regarded as an informa tion source for reference in the 
course of processing an industrial pr operty registration application. 
 
6.2. Within one month after receiving written opinions  of the third party, the NOIP shall notify such 
opinions to the applicant and set a time limit of  one month from the date of notification for the 
applicant to give feedback in writing. After rece iving the applicant’s fee dback, when necessary, the 
NOIP shall notify the feedback to the third party a nd set a time limit of one month from the date of 
notification for the third party to respond in writi ng to that feedback. The NOIP shall process opinions 
of applicants and third parties on the basis of proofs and arguments furnished by the parties and 
documents included in the applications.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 6  
 
  6.3. When considering opinions of the third part y groundless, the NOIP is not required to notify those 
opinions to the applicant but shall notify the third party of its refusal to consider the opinions, clearly stating the reason for refusal.  6.4. If opinions of the third party are related to the registration right, when finding it impossible to 
determine whether or not such opinions are grounded, the NOIP shall notify such to the third party so 
that the latter can file a petition with a court for handling. Within one month after the NOIP issues the 
notice, if the third party fails to notify the NOIP of  the filing of a petition with a court for handling, 
the NOIP shall regard the third party as having wit hdrawn its opinions. If the NOIP is notified by the 
third party within the above time limit, it shall suspend the application processing until the results of 
dispute settlement by the court are obtained. After the results of dispute settlement by the court are 
obtained, the application processing shall be  resumed in accordance with those results. 
 6.5. When necessary and upon the request of both parties, the NOIP shall organize face-to-face 
meetings between the third party and the applicant to further clarify the matter challenged by an 
opposition. 
 6.6. The time limit for the applicant to respond to the opposition of the third party shall not be counted 
into the time limit for the NOIP to carry out relevant procedures according to regulations. 
 7. General requirements for industria l property registration applications 
 
7.1. Minimum documents The NOIP shall only receive an industrial property regi stration application (hereinafter referred to as 
the application) which, upon its filing, contains at least the documents listed at Points a, b and e, 
Clause 1, Article 100, and Clause 1, Article 108 of  the Intellectual Property Law and specified as 
follows: 
 a/ For an application for registration of an invention, layout design, industrial design, mark or geographical indication, mandatory documents include:  (i) Declaration for registration; 
 
(ii) Documents, specimen and information disclos ing the industrial property object sought to be 
registered;  Particularly for an invention registration application,  a description of the invention; for an industrial 
design registration application, a set of photos, a set  of drawings and a description of the industrial 
design; for a mark registration application, the mark specimen and list of goods and services bearing 
the mark; for a geographical indication, a description of particular characteristics and quality of products bearing the geographical indication and a map of the geographical area subject to the 
geographical indication;  
(iii) Fee and charge receipts. 
In case of absence of any of the above document s, the NOIP may refuse to accept the application. 
 b/ For an application for registration of a collectiv e mark or certification mark, in addition to the 
documents specified at Point 7.1.a above, the app lication must also contain the following documents: 
 
(i) Rules on the use of the collective mark/certification mark;   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 7 
 
 
  (ii) 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); 
 (iii) Map showing the indicated territory (if the to-be -registered mark is a mark for certification of the 
geographical origin of a product). 
 7.2. Requirements for applications  a/ Applications must meet the general require ments specified in Articles 100 and 101 of the 
Intellectual Property Law and spec ific requirements for each type  of industrial property object 
specified in Articles 102, 103, 104, 105 and 106 of the Intellectual Property Law and guided in detail 
at Points 23, 28, 33, 37 and 43 of this Circular.  b/ To ensure the technical requirements in the cour se of processing, an application must also satisfy 
the following formality requirements: 
 (i) Each application can request grant of one pr otection title which is of a type suitable to the 
industrial property object stated in the application;  (ii) All documents of the application must be in Vi etnamese, except for documents that are allowed to 
made in another language according to the provisi ons of Points 7.3 and 7.4 of this Circular; 
 (iii) All documents of the application must be presen ted 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, except for accompanied documents 
originally not intended to be included in the application; 
 (iv) For documents that must be made according to  pre-designed forms, those forms shall be used 
with all necessary information filled in appropriate sections;  (v) A document consisting of many pages must have page numbers in Arabic;  
 
(vi) All documents must be typewritten or printe d with a non-fading ink, clear and clean, and free 
from erasures and modifications; if detecting any ne gligible spelling error in a document submitted to 
the NOIP, the applicant may correct such error but shall append his/her signature of certification (and 
a seal, if any) at the corrected words; 
 
(vii) Terms used in the application must be comm on ones (other than dialect s, rare words, coined 
words). Symbols, units of measurement, electronic fonts and spelling rules used in the application 
must conform to Vietnam standards;  (viii) The application may be accompanied with carriers of electronic data of part or the entire content 
of its documents. 
 c/ The application must fully satisfy the re quirements on quantities of documents, specimens, 
drawings and photos, and specific requirements for each type of application specified in this Circular. 
 
d/ The declaration form and other documents of the application must contain fully mandatory and 
consistent information; the Vietnamese translations of the application’s documents must be true to the 
original documents; the power of attorney must i ndicate the contents of work within the scope of 
mandate.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 8  
 
  e/ The object(s) stated in the application must be accurately grouped and classified according to 
regulations.  f/ Documents that require certification of competent agencies (the agency that  has first received the 
application, the notary public, People’s Committee, et c.) must be affixed with those agencies’ seals of 
certification. 
 7.3. The following documents may be made in languages other than Vietnamese but must be 
translated into Vietnamese:  
a/ Power of attorney; 
 b/ Documents certifying the right of registration in case the applicant enjoys another person’s right of registration (inheritance certificate; certificate of or  agreement on transfer of the right to file an 
application, covering also the transfer of a filed a pplication; job assignment contract or labor contract, 
etc.); 
 c/ Documents evidencing the grounds for enjoyi ng the right of priority (certification by the 
application-receiving agency of copies of the initial application(s); the list of goods and services in the 
initial mark registration application; the paper on tran sfer of the right of priority in case the applicant 
enjoys that right from another person). 
 
7.4. The following documents may be made in languages other than Vietnamese but must be 
translated into Vietnamese upon the request of the NOIP:  a/ Copies of the initial application to evidence the ground for enjoying the right of priority; 
 
b/ Other documents annexed to the application.  8. Industrial property registration fees and charges  8.1. Applicants shall pay fees and charges accord ing to the Ministry of Finance’s regulations. 
 
8.2. Collection of fees and charges                                  a/ When receiving an application or a request fo r any other procedures to be carried out, the NOIP 
shall ask the applicant to pay prescribed fees and charges and check fee and charge receipts included 
in the application. 
 b/ If fees and charges are not yet fully paid accord ing to regulations, the NOIP shall issue a fee and 
charge collection notice to the applicant.  After the applicant has fully paid fees and charges, the NOIP shall i ssue two originals of each fee or 
charge receipt clearly indicating the fee or charge amount paid, of which one shall be enclosed with 
the application as an evidence of payment of fees and charges.  8.3. Refund of paid fee and charge amounts  
a/ Paid fee and charge amounts shall be partially or  wholly refunded upon the request of the applicant 
in the following cases:  (i) Fees and charges have been overpaid;   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 9 
 
 
  (ii) Jobs for which fees and charges have been paid are not performed due to non-occurrence of 
circumstances requiring these jobs.  b/ In case of acceptance of a request for fee and char ge refund, the NOIP shall issue a fee and charge 
refund notice to the applicant, clearly stating the refunded amount and the mode of refund. 
 
c/ In case of rejection of a request for fee a nd charge refund, the NOIP shall notify such to the 
applicant, clearly stating the reason for rejection.  9. Time limits 
 
9.1. Time limits specified in the Intellectual Pr operty Law, the Decree on industrial property and this 
Circular shall be counted according to the provisi ons of Chapter VIII, Part I of the Civil Code. 
 9.2. The time limit for applicants and concerned par ties to submit, modify or add documents or give 
their opinions may be prolonged once for a period of time equal to the set time limit, if the applicant 
submits a written request for prolongation before the da te of expiration of the set time limit and pay a 
prescribed fee.  9.3. Applicants may request in writing the NOIP to  carry out the procedures before the set deadline 
and shall pay a prescribed fee. In case the NOIP reje cts such a request, it shall notify the applicant of 
the rejection, clearly stating the reason. 
 10. Forms of documents and protection titles  10.1. Forms of application documents are provided in the Appendices to this Circular (not printed 
herein). Applicants shall use these forms to compile  documents of their appl ications for industrial 
property registration.  10.2. Forms of protection titles are provided in the A ppendices to this Circular (not printed herein). 
The NOIP shall archive these forms of protection titl es in order to check the legality of protection 
titles in use. Any change of a protection title form may only be made under a decision of the Minister 
of Science and Technology. 
 11. General procedures  All types of industrial property registration application shall be processed by the NOIP in the 
following order: receipt of applications; formality examination of applicati ons; publication of valid 
applications; substantive (ex-officio) examina tion of applications (except for layout design 
registration applications, which are not subject to subs tantive examination); grant of or refusal to grant 
protection titles; official registration and publicatio n of decisions on the grant of protection titles. 
 12. Filing and receipt of applications 
 
12.1. Applications may be filed with the NOIP or at other application receipt places arranged by the 
NOIP. Applications may also be sent by post to the above places of application receipt.  12.2. Upon receipt of an application, the NOIP shall check the application’s documents and compare 
them with those listed in the declaration before d eciding whether or not to receive the application: 
 a/ If the application contains all the minimum documen ts specified at Point 7.1 of this Circular, the 
application-receiving officer shall accept the applicati on, affix a seal to certify the filing date and the 
serial number of the application in the declaration form; IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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b/ If the application lacks any of the minimum documents specified at Point 7.1 of this Circular, the application-receiving officer shall reject the application or send a notice of the NOIP’s rejection of the application to the applicant (if the application is sen t by post). For the reject ed application, the NOIP 
is not required to return the application’s documents to the applicant, but shall refund the paid fee and 
charge amounts according to the fee and charge refund procedures specified at Point 8 of this 
Circular;  c/ In case of acceptance of the application, the NO IP shall hand over (send) to the applicant one 
declaration form bearing the seal of certification of the filing date, the serial number of the application 
and the result of the checking of the list of appli cation documents, and the full name and signature of 
the application-receiving officer. This handed over (sen t) declaration form is valid as an application 
receipt.  13. Formality examination of applications 
 
13.1. Purposes and contents of form ality examination of applications 
Formality examination of applica tions means examination of observa nce of regulations on formalities 
applicable to applications, serving as a basis for conc luding whether applications are valid or invalid. 
Valid applications shall be further examined. Inva lid applications shall be rejected (shall not be 
further examined). 
 
13.2. Valid applications An application is considered valid if it complies wi th the provisions of Point 7 of this Circular and 
does not fall into one of the following cases:  
a/ The application is made in a language othe r than Vietnamese, unless otherwise specified at 
Points 7.3 and 7.4 of this Circular;  b/ The declaration form contains insufficient in formation on the author (for invention, industrial 
design or layout design registration applications), on the applicant or his/her representative, the 
signature and/or seal of the applicant or his/her re presentative; the mark registration application lacks 
the list of goods and services; the geographical indica tion registration applicatio n fails to list products 
bearing the geographical indication;  c/ There is a ground to confirm that the applicant does not have the right of registration;  
d/ The application is filed in contravention of the provisions of Article 89 of the Intellectual Property 
Law;  e/ The application contains errors specified at Point 13.3 of this Circular, which affect its validity, and 
the applicant, after receiving a request of the NOI P, fails to amend or unsatisfactorily amends the 
application; 
 
f/ There is a ground to immediately confirm that th e object stated in the application is apparently 
ineligible for protection by the State according to the provisions of Articles 59, 64, 69, 73 and 80 of the Intellectual Property Law.  
For an application that involves many objects and fa lls into the case specified at Points 13.2.a, 13.3.b 
and 13.3.c of this Circular, if it contains errors related to only one or some of the objects in that 
application, the application shall be consider ed partially invalid (corresponding to erroneous 
object(s)). For other objects, the application is still considered valid.   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 11 
 
 
  13.3. Correction of errors in applications  at the stage of formality examination 
 If an application still contains the following errors , the NOIP shall notify them to the applicant for 
correction within one month from the date of notification:  
a/ The application fails to satisfy the formality requ irements specified at Point 7.2 of this Circular 
(containing an insufficient number of copies of an y of mandatory documents; failing to satisfy the 
uniformity requirement; failing to satisfy the re quirements on the presentation format; a mark 
registration application fails to clearly state the mark sought to be registered, lacks the mark description, inaccurately classifies goods and services,  lacks translations of documents enjoying 
priority, when necessary; or information on the appli cant in different documents  is inconsistent or 
erased or not properly certified);  b/ The application filing fee and publication fee have not yet been fully paid;  
c/ There is no power of attorney or the power of attorney is invalid (for applications filed through 
representatives).  13.4. Determination of filing date  The filing date is determined as follows: 
 
a/ The filing date is the date an application is accepted by the NOIP indicated in the seal of receipt 
affixed on the declaration form according to the provisions of Point 12.2.a of this Circular; 
 b/ For an international application that designa tes or/and elects Vietnam, the filing date is the 
international filing date. 
 13.5. Determination of date of priority  a/ If an application does not contain a claim for prior ity or contains a claim for priority but that claim 
is not accepted by the NOIP, the application shall be regarded as having no date of priority. 
 
b/ If an application contains a claim for priority, the da te(s) of priority is (are) the date(s) stated in that 
claim and accepted by the NOIP.  c/ The determination of the date of priority accord ing to the claim for priority shall be based on the 
first application(s) filed in Vietnam in accordance with the principles specified in Article 91 of the 
Intellectual Property Law and relevant  provisions of Points b, c and e, Clause 1, Article 10 of the 
Decree on industrial property.  13.6. Notification of results of formality ex amination and acceptance of valid applications 
 
a/ For an application falling into one of the cases spec ified at Point 13.2 of this Circular or containing 
errors specified at Point 13.3 of  this Circular, the NOIP shall send to the applicant a notice on its 
intended rejection of the application. Such a noti ce must clearly state the name and address of the 
applicant; the name of the industrial property repr esentation service organization (if the application is 
filed through that organization); the name of the object  stated in the application; the filing date and the 
serial number of the application; errors and reasons  for which the application is rejected; and set a 
time limit of one month from the date of notifica tion for the applicant to give opinions or correct 
errors.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  b/ For a valid application, the NOIP shall send to the applicant a notice on acceptance of valid 
application, clearly stating the name and addr ess of the applicant, the name of the mandated 
representative (if any) and information on the object st ated in the application, the filing date and the 
date of priority (in case a claim for priority is  not accepted, the reason for non-acceptance must be 
clearly stated). 
 
13.7. Rejection of applications If the applicant to whom the NOIP has sent a no tice on its intended rejection of the application 
according to the provisions of Point 13.6.a of this Ci rcular fails to correct errors or unsatisfactorily 
corrects errors or makes no opposition or mak es unreasonable opposition to the intended rejection 
within the set time limit, the NOIP shall send to  the applicant a notice on its rejection of the 
application and, upon the applicant’s request, refund  the paid fee and charge amounts for jobs to be 
done after the formality examination.  13.8. Time limit for formality examination of applications 
 
a/ The time limit for formality examination of an  application is one month from the filing date. 
 b/ In the course of formality ex amination, if the applicant corrects or supplements documents on 
his/her own initiative or upon the request of the NOIP , the time limit for fo rmality examination may 
be prolonged for a period of time during whic h documents are corrected or supplemented. 
 
c/ Before the expiration of the time limit specified at Point 13.8.a above, the NOIP shall complete the 
formality examination of applications and send no tices on examination results to applicants according 
to the provisions of Point 13.6 of this Circular.  
14. Publication of valid applications 
 14.1. All applications accepted as valid shall be  published by the NOIP in the Industrial Property 
Official Gazette. Applicants sha ll pay a fee for such publication. 
 14.2. Time limit for publication of applications 
 
a/ Publication of invention registration applications:  i/ An invention registration application shall be pub lished in the nineteenth month from the date of 
priority or the filing date in case the application has no date of priority or within two months after it is 
accepted as a valid application, whichever is later; 
 (ii) An invention registration application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (hereinafter abbreviated 
to PCT) shall be published within two months fro m the date it is accepted as a valid application and 
enters the national phase;  
(iii) An invention registration application cont aining a request for earlier publication shall be 
published within two months from the date the NOIP r eceives that request or the date it is accepted as 
a valid application, whichever is later.  b/ Publication of other applications: Layout design,  industrial design, mark or geographical indication 
registration applications shall be published within two months from the date they are accepted as valid 
applications.   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 13 
 
 
  14.3. Contents of publication of applications 
 Information related to valid applications, including  divisional applications published in the Industrial 
Property Official Gazette, includes information relate d to valid applications’ formality as stated in 
notices on acceptance of valid applications, informati on related to valid app lications (transfer of 
applications, division of applications, serial numbers of parent applications, etc.); invention abstracts 
accompanied with drawings (if any); sets of photos or drawings of industrial designs; specimens of 
marks and enclosed lists of goods and services; summa ries of particular characteristics and names of 
products bearing geographical indications.  
14.4. Access to information on published va lid applications           
 Everyone may access detailed information on the nature of objects stated in the applications published 
in the Industrial Property Official Gazette or re quest the NOIP to supply such information and is 
liable to pay an information supply fee according to regulations. 
 
15. Substantive examination of applications  15.1. Purpose and coverage of substantive examination 
 a/ The purpose of substantive examination of app lications is to assess the protectability of objects 
stated in those applications under the protecti on conditions and correspondi ng protection coverage 
(volume).  b/ The procedures for substantive examination are not applicable to layout design registration applications. 
 
15.2. Use of information search results  a/ In the course of substantive examination of i nvention/industrial design registration applications 
with claims for priority, the NOIP may use the resu lts of information search and examination of those 
applications filed overseas. 
 
b/ Applicants may supply (on their own initiative or upon the NOIP’s request) the following documents for use in service of substantive examination of their applications:  (i) For an invention/industrial design registrati on application: Results of information search or 
examination of the application filed overseas for th e object stated in the application; copies of the 
protection title granted on the basis of a similar application filed overseas; documents on technical 
conditions of the object stated in the invention registration application supplied by a competent 
foreign authority to the applicant and other documents;  (ii) For a mark or geographical indication registra tion application: Documents proving that the mark 
or geographical indication has been protected in a foreign country, including documents explaining 
the use of the mark or geographical indication and other documents.  15.3. Correction of errors, explanation of the c ontents of applications, supply of information 
 
a/ The NOIP may request applicants to explain the contents of their applications, supply information 
pertaining to the nature of objects stated in the app lications, if full disclosure of the nature of objects 
is necessary for substantive examination of the applications.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 14  
 
  b/ All amendments or supplements to erroneous documents of applications shall be made by 
applicants themselves. The NOIP may only make t hose amendments or supplements when applicants 
so request in writing. Applicants shall pay a prescr ibed fee for such amendm ent and supplementation. 
Written requests for amendment or supplementation of applications shall be enclosed with relevant 
documents of applications and regarded as official documents of applications. 
 
15.4. Ahead-of-time termination of subs tantive examination of applications 
 a/ In the following cases, the substantive examination of an application shall terminate ahead of time: 
 
(i) The application fails to demonstr ate the nature of the object: Documents related to the nature of the 
object, such as the description, the list of goods a nd services, etc., contain insufficient information, 
thus making it impossible to identify the nature of  the object, or information on the nature of the 
object stated in an invention registration applicatio n is unclear or too concise or general that it is 
impossible to identify the object sought to be protected; 
 
(ii) The object is incompatible with the type of prot ection title applied for or the object is ineligible for 
the State’s protection according to regulations;  (iii) There is a ground to confirm that the object fa ils to satisfy one or several protection conditions, 
and it is therefore unnecessary to assess other conditi ons before conclusions can be made that the 
object fails to satisfy the protection conditions; 
 (iv) The applicant fails to fulfill the request for corr ection of errors or explanation of contents of the 
application or fails to supply necessary information upon the NOIP’s request specified at Point 15.3 of 
this Circular; 
 
(v) The applicant requests termination of the substant ive examination of the application or declares to 
withdraw or cancel the application.  b/ Except for the cases specified at Point 15.4.a (v) above, the NOI P shall send to the applicant a 
notice on ahead-of-time termination of substantive exam ination, clearly stating the reason therefor and 
setting a time limit of two months from the date of  notice for the applicant to give opinions. 
 15.5. Resumption of substantive examination of applications  a/ If applicants make written oppositions to notic es on termination of substantive examination of 
applications within the time limit specified at Poin t 15.4.b of this Circular, the NOIP shall consider 
those oppositions.  b/ If oppositions are reasonable, the NOIP shall resu me the substantive examination of applications, 
and the time for applicants to give their opinions sh all not be counted in the time limit for substantive 
examination. 
 
If oppositions are unreasonable, the NOIP shall offici ally terminate the substantive examination of 
applications and issue notices on its refusal to gran t protection titles. Applicants may lodge complaints 
about those notices according to the procedur es specified at Point 22 of this Circular. 
 
15.6. Examination contents 
 a/ Substantive examination of an appl ication covers the following contents: 
  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 15 
 
 
  (i) Assessment of compatibility of the object stated in  the application with the type of protection title 
applied for;  (ii) Assessment of the object based on each protection condition;  
(iii) Inspection of observance of the first-to-file rule. 
 b/ The assessment of the object based on the prot ection conditions shall be conducted for objects one 
after another (if the application contains many and still ensures the uniformity). For each object, the assessment shall be conducted based on each specific protection condition: 
 
(i) For an invention registration application, th e assessment shall be conducted with regard to the 
points stated in the (requested) protection coverage one after another;  (ii) For an industrial design registration applicati on, the assessment shall be conducted for the design 
of each product (if the application is for a set of  products); in case the application shows many 
variations of an industrial design, those variati ons shall be assessed one after another, starting from 
the basic variation (the first variation shown in the application);  (iii) For a mark registration application, the assessment shall be conducted with regard to each 
component of the mark for each goods or service on the list of goods and services. 
 
c/ The substantive examination with regard to each object specified at Point 15.6.b (i), (ii) and (iii) 
above shall be completed when that object has been assessed based on all protection conditions and 
there are enough grounds to conclude whether or not the object satisfies the protection conditions, 
specifically: 
 
(i) Any reason is found to conclude that the object fails to satisfy one/sever al/all protection conditions; 
or  (ii) No reason is found to conclude that the object  fails to satisfy at least one protection condition. 
 
d/ Before issuing a notice defined at Point 15.7.a of this Circular, the NOIP shall review the results of 
substantive examination of the application by chec king relevant applications with earlier dates of 
priority received by it after the substantive examination starts.  15.7. Jobs to complete th e substantive examination 
 
a/ Notification of results of substa ntive examination of applications 
 On the date of expiration of the time limit for subs tantive examination of an application specified at 
Point 15.8 of this Circular at the latest, the NOIP shall send to the applicant one of the following 
notices: 
 
(i) If the object stated in the application fails to satisfy the protection conditions, the NOIP shall issue 
a notice on its intended refusal to grant a protection title, clearly stating the reason(s) for refusal, possibly guiding the change of the protection cove rage (volume) and setti ng a time limit of two 
months from the date of issuance of the notice fo r the applicant to give opinions and satisfy the 
requirements. The applicant may request prolong ation of the above time limit according the 
provisions of Point 9.2 of this Circular;  (ii) If the object stated in the application satisfi es the protection conditions but the application still 
contains errors, the NOIP shall issue a notice on its intended refusal to grant a protection title, clearly IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 16  
 
  pointing out errors in the application and setting a ti me limit of two months from the date of issuance 
of the notice for the applicant to justify or correct  errors. The applicant may request prolongation of 
the above time limit according to the provisions of Point 9.2 of this Circular;  (iii) If the object stated in the application satisfies the protection conditions or the applicant 
satisfactorily corrects errors or makes reasonable ju stifications within the time limit specified at 
Points 15.7.a (i) and (ii) above, the NOIP shall issu e a notice on its intended grant of a protection title, 
setting a time limit of one month from the date of issuance of the notice for the applicant to pay the 
fee for the grant of a protection title, the fee for notification of the protection title grant decision, the registration fee and the fee for maintenance of th e first year’s validity of invention patent. The 
applicant may request prolongation of the above time li mit according to the provisions of Point 9.2 of 
this Circular.  b/ Upon the expiration of the time limit specified at  Points 15.7.a (i) and (ii) above, if the applicant 
fails to correct errors or unsatisfactorily co rrects errors, makes no opposition or an unreasonable 
opposition, the NOIP shall, within 15 days after the time limit expiration, i ssue a notice on its refusal 
to grant a protection title. The applicant may lodge a complaint about this notice according to the 
provisions of Point 22 of this Circular.  c/ If the applicant fails to pay the fee for the gran t of a protection title, the fee for notification of the 
protection title grant decision or the registration fee w ithin the time limit specified at Point 15.7.a (iii) 
above, the NOIP shall, within 15 days after the e xpiration of the corresponding time limit, issue a 
notice on its refusal to grant a protection title. Particul arly for an invention registration application, if 
the applicant pays fully the fee for the grant of a protection title, the fee for notification of the 
protection title grant decision and the registration fee within the time limit specified at Point 15.7.a (iii) above but fails to pay the fee for maintenance of the first year’s validity of invention 
patent or utility solution patent, such a protection title shall be granted but becomes invalidated right 
after the date of grant.  15.8. Time limits  a/ The time limit for substantive examination of applications is determined as follows: 
 
(i) For an invention registration application, 12 m onths from the date of receipt of a request for 
substantive examination (if such request is made afte r the application is published) or from the date of 
publication of the application (if such request is  made before the application is published); 
 
(ii) For a utility solution, mark or geographical i ndication registration appli cation, 6 months from the 
date of publication of the application.  b/ If the applicant, in the course of substantive examination, corrects or supplements documents or 
makes justifications on his/her ow n initiative or upon the request of  the NOIP, the time limit for 
substantive examination may be prolonged for a pe riod of time during which the applicant does so. 
 
16. Re-examination of applications  16.1. Re-examination of an appli cation challenged by an opposition after the issuance of a notice on 
intended grant/intended refusal to grant a protection title. 
 
a/ The re-examination of an application according to  the provisions of Clause 4, Article 117 of the 
Intellectual Property Law shall be conducted in the following cases:   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 17 
 
 
  (i) A written opinion is sent by the applicant to the NOIP during the period from the date of issuance 
of a notice on intended grant/intended refusal to gr ant a protection title to the date prior to the 
issuance of a decision on grant/an official notice on refusal to grant the relevant protection title; or a report is made by a third party, stating justifiabl e reason(s) for the absence of a reasonable condition 
or opportunity to express his/her/its opinions; 
 
(ii) Opinions mentioned at Point 16.1.a (i) above are well-grounded and supported by proofs or 
references to reliable information sources; (iii) Arguments or evidence to prove that opinions mentioned at Point 16.1.a (i) above are different 
from those previously furnished (if any), or though they are not different from the previously 
furnished ones but the NOIP has not yet replied acco rding to the provisions of Point 6.2 of this 
Circular.  b/ The time limit for re-examination of applications  is equal to two thirds of the time limit for 
examination specified at Point 15.8 of this  Circular; for complicated cases involving many 
circumstances which need to be verified or re quiring expert opinions, that time limit may be 
prolonged but must not exceed the time limit for examination.  c/ Contents and procedures for re-examination mu st comply with the relevant provisions of 
Points 15.6 and 15.7 of this Circular.  
d/ The re-examination of an appli cation shall be conducted only once. 
 16.2. The re-examination of an a pplication upon the protection title holder’s request for narrowing of 
the protection coverage  
If a protection title holder requests narrowing of th e coverage of the industrial property rights 
protection according to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 97 of the Intell ectual Property Law, the 
NOIP shall re-examine that application according to the contents and procedures specified at 
Points 15.6 and 15.7 of this Circular, if th e requester pays the prescribed fees and charges. 
 17. Amendment/supplementation/division/c onversion/transfer of applications 
 
17.1. Amendment and supplem entation of applications 
 a/ Before the NOIP issues a notice on its rejection of an application, a notice on its refusal to grant a 
protection title or a decision on the grant of a protection title, the applicant may amend or supplement 
documents of the application on his/her ow n initiative or upon the request of the NOIP. 
 b/ In response to a request for amendment or supplementation of the following documents, the 
applicant shall submit amended or supplemented copies of documents enclosed with a detailed written 
explanation of the amended contents as comp ared with the initially submitted documents: 
 
(i) Invention description or abstract, for an invention registration application; 
 (ii) Drawings, photos or description, for an  industrial design registration application; 
 (iii) Mark specimen, list of goods and services beari ng the mark, for a mark registration application; 
 
(iv) Description of distinct characteristics, a map of  the geographical area subject to the geographical 
indication, for a geographical indication registration application.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 18  
 
  c/ The amendment and supplementation of an appli cation must not expand the protection coverage (or 
increase the protection volume) beyond the contents disclosed in the description, for invention or 
industrial design registration applications, in the list of goods and services, for mark registration 
applications, and must not change the nature of th e object stated in the application. If the amendment 
expands the protection coverage (increases the protec tion volume) or changes the nature of the object 
sought to be protected, the applicant shall file a ne w application and all procedures shall be carried out 
anew.  d/ The applicant may request correction of errors in the names and addresses of the applicant and the 
author.                  
 
e/ All requests for amendment and supplementation mu st be made in writing according to a set form 
(not printed herein). A request may be made fo r amendment of the same content related to many 
applications, provided that the requester pays  a fee based on the number of to-be-amended 
applications. 
 
f/ If the applicant amends or supplements the a pplication’s documents on his/her own initiative after 
the NOIP issues a notice on acceptance of valid applica tion, the amendments or supplements shall be 
made according to the provisions of Points 13.2 , 13.3 and 13.6 of this Circular. Amended and 
supplemented application contents shall be publis hed in the Industrial Property Official Gazette 
according to the provisions of Point 14 of this Circ ular and applicants shall pay a prescribed fee for 
such publication. 
 g/ The amendment and supplementation of an appli cation, including change of the mandated party, 
which is made by the applicant on his/her own initi ative or upon the request of the NOIP, must be 
made in writing, clearly specifying the amended a nd supplemented contents, and enclosed with an 
amendment and supplementation fee receipt. Docume nts containing amendments and supplements to 
applications must comply with the relevant provi sions of Points 7, 10 and 13 of this Circular. 
 17.2. Division of applications  a/ The applicant may divide, on his/her own initiative or upon the request of the NOIP, his/her 
application (division and transfer of one or several  technical solutions in an invention registration 
application, one or several industrial designs in an  industrial design registration application, one or 
several components of a mark or part of the list of goods and services in a mark registration 
application to one or several new applicati ons referred to as divisional applications). 
 
b/ A divisional application must bear a new serial nu mber and is entitled to the filing date or date(s) of 
priority (if any) of the parent application; and shall be published according to the provisions of 
Point 14 of this Circular after the issuance of the notice on acceptance of valid application. 
 c/ For each divisional application, the applicant shall pay a filing fee and all fees and charges for 
procedures carried out independently  from the parent application but is exempted from the fee for 
claim for priority rights. Divisional applications are subject to formality examination and shall be 
further processed according to the procedures not yet completed for their parent applications. 
Divisional applications shall be re -published and applicants shall pa y a publication fee if the division 
is effected after the NOIP issues notices on acceptance of valid applications for parent applications. 
 
d/ Parent applications (after being divided) sha ll be further processed according to normal procedures 
and applicants shall pay an amendment and supplement fee.   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 19 
 
 
  17.3. Conversion of applications 
 a/ Before the NOIP issues a notice of  its refusal to grant a protection title or a decision on the grant of 
a protection title, an invention registration applican t may convert the application for an invention 
patent into one for a utility solu tion patent or vice versa according to the provisions of Point e, 
Clause 1, Article 115 of the Intellectual Property Law,  if the applicant pays a prescribed application 
conversion fee.  b/ After receiving a valid request for application c onversion, the NOIP shall continue carrying out the 
procedures for processing the converted application according to relevant provisions but shall not 
carry out again the procedures already completed for the application before the conversion request is 
made.  c/ Requests for application conversion made after the time limit specified at Point 17.3.a above shall 
not be considered. Applicants may file new applica tions bearing the filing dates (dates of priority, if 
any) of parent applications. 
 17.4. Transfer of applications  Before the NOIP issues any of notices specified at  Point 17.1.a of this Circular, an applicant may 
request the NOIP to record the transfer of his/ her application to another person. Requests for 
recording of the transfer shall be made according to a set form (not prin ted herein) and relevant 
provisions of Point 17.1 of this Circular, and must contain documents proving that the transferee 
satisfies the requirement on the right of registration.  18. Refusal to grant, grant or re-grant of protection titles, grant of protection title duplicates 
 
18.1. Refusal to grant protection titles  Applications for protection titles may be rejected if  they fall into one of the cases specified in 
Clauses 1 and 2, Article 117 of the Intellectual Prope rty Law. In these cases, the NOIP shall carry out 
the procedures for refusal to grant protection titles according to the provisions of Clauses 3 and 4, 
Article 117 of the Intellectual Property Law. 
 18.2. Grant of protection titles  a/ Within 10 days after applicants pay fully and on time the prescribed fees and charges, the NOIP 
shall carry out the procedures for grant of protec tion titles according to the provisions of Article 118 
of the Intellectual Property Law.  b/ Upon receiving protection titles, if protection title hol ders detect errors therein, they may request 
the NOIP to correct the protection titles according to the provisions of Point 20.2 of this Circular. 
 
c/ As from the date the NOIP issues decisions on gran t of protection titles, the transfer of applications 
shall not be considered.  18.3. Grant of protection title dupli cates and renewal of protection titles 
 
a/ In case the industrial property rights are under co -ownership, a protection title shall only be granted 
to the first person named in the list of co-applican ts. Other co-holders may request the NOIP to grant 
duplicates of the protection title but shall pay a fee therefor.   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 20  
 
  b/ In the following cases, an industrial property right holder who has been granted a protection 
title/duplicate of protection title may request the NOIP to renew the protection title/duplicate of 
protection title but shall pay a renewal fee.  (i) The protection title/duplicate of protection title is lost; 
 
(ii) The protection title/duplicate of protection title is damaged, torn, stained or faded out that it can no 
longer be used.  c/ Request for grant of duplicates/renewal of protection titles 
 
Unless it is already included in the registration declaration of an industrial property object, any 
request for grant of a duplicate/renewal of protec tion title must be made in writing and comprise the 
following documents:  
(i) Written declaration for the grant of duplicate/re newal of protection title, made according to a set 
form (not printed herein);  (ii) One mark specimen; one set of photos of industrial design drawing identical to the mark specimen, and one set of photos of industrial  design drawing in the original protection title; 
 
(iii) Power of attorney (in case the request is filed through a representative); 
 (iv) Receipt of the fee for grant of a protection title or the fee for grant of a protection title duplicate.  d/ Handling of requests for grant of duplicates or renewal of protection titles 
 
(i) Within one month after receiving an application,  the NOIP shall consider a request for grant of 
protection title duplicate/renewal of protection title. If that request satisfies the above requirements, 
the NOIP shall issue a decision on the grant of a protection title duplicate/renewal of the protection title and record it in the section for registration of  the protection title in the National Register of 
Industrial Property; 
 
(ii) A protection title duplicate must contain all in formation of the original protection title. A renewed 
protection title/protection title duplicate must contain all information of the initially granted protection 
title/protection title duplicate and the indication “renewed,” “duplicate” or “renewed duplicate”; 
 
(iii) If a request for renewal/grant of duplicates of a protection title fails to satisfy the requirements 
specified at Point 18.3.c above, the NOIP shall issu e a notice on its refusal to grant duplicates/refusal 
to renew the protection title, clearly stating the reason(s) for the refusal. 
 19. The National Register of Industrial Property, p ublication of decisions on grant of protection titles 
 
19.1. The National Register of Industrial Property 
 a/ The National Register of Industrial Property serves as an official and public database of the State, 
supplying all information on the legal status of established industrial property rights. The National 
Register of Industrial Property includes the following registers: 
 
(i) National Register of Inventions;  (ii) National Register of Utility Solutions;   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 21 
 
 
  (iii) National Register of Industrial Designs; 
 (iv) National Register of Layout Design s of Semi-conductor Integrated Circuits; 
 (v) National Register of Marks; 
 
(vi) National Register of Geographical Indications;  (vii) National Register of Assignment of Industrial Property Rights;  
(viii) National Register of Industrial Property Representation. 
 b/ The national registers specified at Point 19.1.a (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v) and (v i) above contains various 
sections relevant to each prot ection title, and consists of: 
 
(i) Information on the protection title: serial number and date of grant; name of the protected object, 
protection coverage/volume and va lidity duration; name and address of the protection title holder/the 
registrant of the geographical indication, name a nd address of the author of the invention, layout 
design or industrial design;  (ii) Information on the application for grant of the protection title (serial number, filing date, date of 
priority, name of the industrial property representation service organization, if any); 
 (iii) All information on the amendment of the protection title, the validity status of the protection title (maintenance, prolongation, termination of valid ity, and invalidation); assignment of industrial 
property rights, licensing of the industrial property ob ject; serial number, date of grant and grantees of 
duplicates or renewed protection title. 
 c/ The national register specified at  Point 19.1.a (vii) above contains various sections relevant to each 
registered contract on assignment of industrial property rights, specifically as follows:  (i) Information on the certificate of registration of  the contract on assignment of industrial property 
rights (serial number and date of grant); 
 (ii) Information on the registered contract (name, date and place of signing, names and addresses of the assignor and the assignee, the assigned object and scope of assignment);  
(iii) Information on changes related to the cont ract (amendments or supplements to, extension, 
termination and invalidation of the contract);  (iv) Information on compulsory licensing, termination of compulsory licensing of the invention under decisions.  
d/ The national register specified at Point 19.1.a (viii)  above contains various se ctions relevant to each 
industrial property representation service organization, specifically as follows:  (i) Information on the industrial property repr esentation service organization (full name, transaction 
name, address, recording or deletion of name, m odification of information on the industrial property 
representation service organization); 
 (ii) Information about the list of industrial pr operty representatives of the organization (full name, 
permanent residence address and serial number of the practice certificate of each representative on the list); IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 22  
 
   
(iii) Information on changes in the list of indus trial property representatives (grant, renewal or 
withdrawal of practice certificates, etc.).  e/ The national registers shall be made by the NOIP and archived in the printed or electronic form or 
in other media. Any person may refer to the electr onic registers or request the NOIP to issue copies or 
extracts of the registers but shall pay a fee for copy issuance.  19.2. Publication of decisions on grant of protection titles  
a/ All decisions on grant of protection titles, deci sions on recognition of inte rnational registrations 
shall be published by the NOIP in the Industrial Pr operty Official Gazette within two months from the 
date of their issuance and after applicants pay the prescribed publication fee.  b/ Information published according to the provisi ons of Point 19.2.a above includes information 
written in relevant decisions: invention abstract; set of industrial design photos or drawings; mark 
specimens and list of goods and services bearing the mark; geographical indication and products 
bearing the geographical indication.  20. Modification, change of holders of prot ection titles, narrowing of protection coverage, 
maintenance or extension of validity of protection titles 
 
20.1. Recording of change in the name and addr ess of the protection title holder, narrowing of the 
protection coverage and modification of the descrip tion of the nature/quality/reputation of the product 
bearing the geographical indication, the map of the geographical area subject to the geographical indication, and regulations on the use of collective or certification marks 
 
a/ Requests for modification or change of holders of protection titles The holder of a protection title may request the NOIP to record changes in that protection title in the 
following cases:  (i) Change in the name or address of the protection title holder; 
 
(ii) Change of the protection title holder (trans fer of ownership on the ground of inheritance, 
succession, merger, separation, split-up, joint vent ure, association or establishment of a new legal 
entity under the same owner, transformation of  the business operation, or under a decision of a 
competent state agency). 
 
The requester for recording of the change in the name, address of or change of the protection title 
holder shall pay the fee for protection title modification and the fee for publication of a decision on recording of modification of the protection title.  b/ Requests for narrowing of the protection cove rage and modification of descriptions of the 
nature/quality/reputation of produc ts bearing geographical indicati ons, maps of geographical areas 
subject to geographical indications, regulations on the use of collective or certification marks 
 A request for narrowing of the protection coverage acc ording to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 97 
of the Intellectual Property Law may contain any of the following: 
 
(i) Request for modification of some details wit hout any substantial change  in the mark specimen 
stated in the certificate of registered mark;   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 23 
 
 
  (ii) Request for exclusion of one or several goods or services or groups of goods or services from the 
list of goods or services specified in the certificate of registered mark without any change in the mark specimen;  (iii) Request for reduction of one or several indepe ndent or dependent points within the (requested) 
protection coverage stated in the invention or utility solution patent; 
 (iv) Request for exclusion of one or several indus trial design variations, one or several products from 
the set of products stated in the industrial design patent; request for removal of one or several basic 
design features of the industrial design. 
 
c/ Written requests for modification of protection titles  Depending on contents which need to be amende d or supplemented as defined at Points 20.1.a 
and 20.1.b above and Point b, Clau se 1, Article 97 of the Intellectual Property Law, a written request 
comprises the following documents: 
 (i) Written declaration requesting modification of th e protection title, clearly stating the request for 
recording of change in the name or address of the protection title holder, change of the protection title 
holder, request for narrowing of the protection cove rage or modification of the description of the 
nature/quality/reputation of the product beari ng the geographical indication, the map of the 
geographical area subject to the geographical indication, or regulations on the use of collective or 
certification marks, made according to a set form (not printed herein);  (ii) Original protection title;  
(iii) Documents certifying the change of the name or  address (the originals or notarized copies of the 
decision on rename or change of address; the business registration certificate that records the name or address change; other documents of legal validity ev idencing the name or address change) in case the 
content requested to be modified is such name or address;  (iv) Documents evidencing the transfer of ownershi p according to the provisions of Point 20.1.a (ii) 
above, for a request for change of the protection title holder (documents evidencing the inheritance, 
succession, merger, separation, join t venture, association, establishment of a new legal entity under 
the same owner, transformation of business opera tion, or under a decision of a competent state 
agency);  
(v) Documents explaining in detail the modified contents; 
 (vi) Five modified mark specimens (for a request  for modification of mark details); five sets of 
industrial design photos or drawings (for a re quest for industrial design modification); two 
descriptions of the nature/quality/reputation of th e product bearing a geographical indication, the map 
of the geographical area subject to the modi fied geographical indication (for a request for 
geographical indication modification); or two regula tions on the use of the modified collective or 
certification mark (for a request for collec tive or certification mark modification); 
 (vii) Power of attorney (if the requ est is filed through a representative); 
 
(viii) Receipts of the prescribed fee for modification of the protection title, the fee for examination of 
the content of the request for narrowing of the protection coverage, and the charge for publication of the modification decision and registration.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 24  
 
  A written request for protection title modification ma y be made for many protection titles that have 
the same content requested to be modified, if the requester pays fees and charges for each protection 
title.  d/ Handling of requests for modification of protection titles 
 
Within one month after receiving an application, the NOIP shall consider the request for modification 
of protection title. If the request is considered va lid, the NOIP shall issue a decision on modification 
of the protection title, register and publish it in the Industrial Property Official Gazette. If the request 
is considered invalid, the NOIP shall send to the requester a notice on its intended refusal to accept the 
modification, clearly stating the reason for refusal and setting a time limit of one month from the date 
of notice issuance for the requester to correct errors or make an opposition. If within the set time limit 
the requester fails to correct errors or unsatis factorily corrects errors, makes no opposition or an 
unreasonable opposition, the NOIP shall issue a notice on its rejection of the request for protection 
title modification. 
 
20.2. Correction of errors in protection titles  a/ When an error is detected in a protection title , the NOIP shall revoke, on its own initiative or upon 
the request of the error-detecting person, the errone ous protection title and grant a new protection title. 
 
b/ The protection title holder shall pay a protection title correction fee according to the provisions of 
Clause 1, Article 97 of the Intellectual Property Law if the error is caused due to its fault. If the error 
is caused due to the fault of the NOIP, the protec tion title holder is not required to pay the fee. 
 20.3. Maintenance of validity of invention protection titles 
 
To have the validity of his/her invention protecti on title maintained, a protection title holder shall pay 
a validity maintenance fee within six months before  the expiration of the validity term. The payment 
of the validity maintenance fee may be delayed for no  more than six months af ter the expiration of the 
current validity term but the protection title holder shall pay the maintenance fee plus 10% for each 
month of delayed payment. 
 
20.4. Extension of validity of protection titles  a/ The validity of invention patents, utility soluti on patents and certificates of registered layout 
designs shall not be extended. The validity of an industrial design patent may be extended at most 
twice for a period of five years each. The validity of a certificate of registered mark may be extended 
many times for a period of ten years each.  b/ To have the validity of an industrial design pate nt or certificate of regist ered mark extended, the 
patent or certificate holder shall, within six months before the date of expiration of the validity of the 
patent or certificate, file an app lication for extension to the NOIP. 
The filing of the application for validity extension ma y be delayed for no more than  six months after 
the expiration of the protection title’s validity but th e protection title holder shall pay an extension fee 
plus 10% for each month of delayed filing.  c/ Applications for validity extension  
An application for extension of validity of a protection title comprises the following documents: 
 (i) Written declaration to request extension of th e protection title validity, ma de according to a set 
form (not printed herein);   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 25 
 
 
  (ii) Original protection title (if the extension is requested to be recorded in the protection title); 
 (iii) Power of attorney (if the appli cation is filed through a representative); 
 (iv) Receipts of the prescribed fees for extension, publication and registration of the decision on 
extension of the protection title’s validity. 
 d/ Handling of applications for validity extension  The NOIP shall consider an application for validity extension within one month after the date of its 
receipt. If the application is error-free, the NOIP shal l issue a decision on validity extension, record it 
in the protection title, register and publish it in the Industrial Property Official Gazette.  The NOIP shall issue a notice on its intended refusal to extend validity, clearly stating the reason for 
refusal and setting a time limit of one month from th e date of notice issuan ce for the applicant to 
correct errors or make an opposition if the applicat ion for validity extension falls into one of the 
following cases:  (i) It is invalid or filed in contra vention of the prescribed procedures; 
 (ii) The applicant is not the protection title holder. 
 
If within the set time limit the applicant fails to co rrect errors or unsatisfactorily corrects errors, makes 
no opposition or an unreasonable opposition, the NOIP shall issue a notice on its refusal to extend 
validity.  
21. Termination or invalidation of protection titles 
 21.1. Requests for termination or  invalidation of protection titles 
 Requests for termination or invalidation of pr otection titles shall be handled according to the 
provisions of Articles 95 and 96 of the Intellectual Property Law and this Point. 
 
21.2. Written requests for termination or invalidation of protection titles 
 a/ A written request may invoke the same reason for te rmination or invalidation of one or more than 
one protection titles, if the requester pays the prescribed fee for each protection title. 
 
b/ A written request for termination or invalida tion of a protection title comprises the following 
documents:  (i) Written declaration to request termination or i nvalidation of the protection title, made according to 
a set form (not printed herein); 
 
(ii) Proofs (if any);  (iii) Power of attorney (if the written re quest is filed through a representative); 
 
(iv) Written justification of the reason for request (c learly stating the serial number of the protection 
title, reason, legal grounds, contents of the request fo r termination or invalidation of part of or the 
entire protection title) and relevant documents specified at Points 7.2, 22.2 and 22.3 of this Circular; 
 (v) Receipts of the prescribed fees and charges. IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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21.3. Handling of requests for termina tion or invalidation of protection titles 
 a/ In case a request for termination or invalidation of a protection title is made by a third party, the 
NOIP shall notify in writing the third party’s opini ons to the protection title holder, setting a time 
limit of two months from the date of notificati on for the protection title holder to respond. The NOIP 
may organize an exchange of opinions between the third party and the protection title holder. 
 b/ After considering opinions of the parties, the NOIP shall issue a decision on termination/invalidation of part of/the entire prot ection title or notify its refusal to terminate/ 
invalidate the protection title according to the provisions of Clause 4, Article 95 and Clause 4, 
Article 96 of the Intellectual Property Law.  c/ If disagreeing with the NOIP’s decision on handli ng of the request for termination or invalidation 
of the protection title, the requester or an involved party may lodge a complaint about that decision or 
the relevant notice according to the procedur es specified at Point 22 of this Circular. 
 d/ A decision on termination or invalidation of a protection title shall be pub lished in the Industrial 
Property Official Gazette and recorded in the Na tional Register of Industrial Property within two 
months from the date of its signing.  
21.4. Termination or invalidation of international registrations of marks 
 a/ For a third party’s application for termination or  invalidation of an international registration of 
mark under the Madrid Agreement or the Madrid Pr otocol, the NOIP shall notify the content of the 
request for termination or invalidation to the pr oprietor through the International Bureau, setting a 
time limit of three months from the date of notification for the proprietor to respond. 
 b/ A decision on termination or invalidation of an inte rnational registration of mark shall be sent to the 
International Bureau for carrying out relevant pr ocedures under the Madrid Agreement or the Madrid 
Protocol and published in the Indus trial Property Official Gazette. 
 
22. Complaints and settlement of complaints a bout the procedures for establishment of industrial 
property rights  22.1. Persons with the right to complain, compla int objects and statute of limitations for lodging 
complaints 
 
Persons with the right to complain defined in Clauses 1, Article 14 may carry out, within the statute of 
limitations for lodging complaints specified in Clause 4, Article 14 of the Decree on industrial 
property, the procedures for complaining about offici al notices or decisions of the NOIP related to the 
procedures for establishment of industrial property rights.  
22.2. Complaints 
 a/ Each complaint should mention one complained decision or notice. A complaint may mention two or more decisions or notices that have the same complained content and for the same complaining 
reason, if the complainant pays the prescribed comp laint fee for each complained decision or notice. 
 
b/ A complaint comprises the following documents:  (i) Written declaration for complaining, made according to a set form (not printed herein);   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 27 
 
 
  (ii) Written explanation of the complaint and pr oofs supporting the complaining reason (clearly 
stating the reason, legal grounds, complained c ontents, enclosed list of proofs, if any); 
 (iii) Copy of the NOIP’s complained decision or notice;  
(iv) Copy of the decision on settlement of the first-time complaint (for a second-time complaint); 
 (v) Power of attorney (if the applica tion is filed through a representative); 
 (vi) Receipts of the prescribed fees a nd charges related to the complaint. 
 
c/ Proofs include documents (evidence) or objects (exhibits) to prove or clarify the complaining 
reason. A proof must satisfy the following requirements:  (i) It may be a document in a foreign language enclo sed with its Vietnamese translation if the person 
competent to settle the complaint so requests; 
 (ii) If it is a document made and signed by an individual or organization that has no lawful seal or a foreign individual or organization, the signature of th at individual or organization must be certified by 
a notary public or a competent agency;  
(iii) If it is an information carrier (printed matter, vi deo tape, etc.), the origin and date of distribution 
or publication of that carrier, or the origin or th e date of publication of information stored in that 
carrier shall be clearly indicated on a case-by-case basis;  (iv) An exhibit must be accompanied with a written d escription of its features that are directly related 
to the complained contents. 
 22.3. Responsibilities of complainants  A complainant shall ensure the truthfulness of supp lied proofs and are liable for consequences of the 
supply of untruthful proofs. 
 
22.4. Withdrawal of complaints  a/ At any time, a complainant may notify in writing the withdrawal of his/her complaint. If the withdrawal of a complaint is made by an indus trial property representation service organization, the 
mandated withdrawal must be clearly stated in the power of attorney. 
 b/ A withdrawn application shall be regarded as havi ng not been filed. The written complaint shall not 
be returned and the paid complaint fee and charge  amounts shall not be refunded to the complainant. 
 22.5. Acceptance of complaints 
 
a/ Within ten days after receiving a complaint, a person competent to settle complaints shall examine 
the complaint according to the formality requireme nts and notify in writing  the complainant of 
whether the complaint is accepted or not, clearly stating the date of complaint acceptance or the 
reason for its refusal to accept the complaint. 
 
b/ A complaint shall not be accepted if it falls into one of the following cases:  (i) The complainant does not have the right to complain;  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 28  
 
  (ii) The complaint is lodged after the expiration of the prescribed statute of limitations; 
 (iii) The complaint fails to satisfy the requirements specified at Points 22.1 and 22.2 of this Circular. 
 22.6. Related parties                    
 
a/ For an accepted complaint, th e person competent to settle complaints shall notify in writing the 
complained contents to persons with directly rela ted rights and benefits (rela ted parties), setting a time 
limit of one month from the date of notification for those parties to give their opinions.  
b/ Related parties may supply information or proof s supporting their arguments within the time limit 
specified at Point 22.6.a above, and the persons co mpetent to settle complaints shall consider those 
information or proofs while settling the complaint.  c/ Upon the expiration of the above time limit, if re lated parties give no opinions, the complaint shall 
be settled based on the complainant’s opinions. 
 22.7. Decisions on complaint settlement   a/ Based on arguments and proofs of the complain ant and related parties, the person competent to 
settle complaints shall issue a decision on complain t settlement within the time limit for complaint 
settlement provided for by the law on complaints. 
 b/ Before issuing a decision on complaint settlement , the person competent to settle complaints shall 
notify the complainant or a related party of the other party’s arguments and proofs used in the 
settlement of the complaint, and complaint settlement conclusions. 
 
c/ A decision on complaint settlement must have the contents defined by the law on complaints. 
 22.8. A decision on complaint settlement shall be pub lished in the Industrial Property Official Gazette 
within two months from the date of its signing.  
22.9. Validity of decisions on complaint settlement 
 Any procedure for establishment of industrial prope rty rights that depends on the complaint settlement 
results shall only be carried out on the basis of:  
a/ A decision on settlement of the first-time complaint, if upon the expiration of the statute of 
limitations for lodging second-time complaints the complainant does not lodge a second-time 
complaint, or if upon the expiration of the statut e of limitations for institution of administrative 
lawsuits the complainant does not file an administrative lawsuit; or  b/ A decision on settlement of the second-time comp laint if the complainant fails to file an 
administrative lawsuit within a set time limit, or und er an effective court rulin g if the complainant has 
filed an administrative lawsuit.  Section 2. PROCEDURES FOR REGISTRATION OF INVENTIONS  
23. Requirements for invention registration applications 
 23.1. An invention registration application (appl ication) must satisfy the general requirements 
specified at Points 7 and 10.1 of this Circul ar and the specific requirements of this Point. 
  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  23.2. An application must clearly indicate that the object sought to be protected is a product or process 
complying with the provisions of Clause 12, Article 4 of the Intellectual Property Law.  23.3. An application must ensure uniformity as specified in Clauses 1 and 2, Article 101 of the 
Intellectual Property Law, which is guided as follows: 
 
An application is considered uniform if:  a/ It requests protection of only one object; or,  
b/ It requests protection of a group of technically interrelated objects that demonstrate the sole 
inventive idea and fall into the following cases:  (i) An object is used to create (produce, manufacture or prepare) another object;  
(ii) An object is used to accomplish another object; 
 (iii) An object is used to utilize another object;  (iv) Objects are of the same type and have the sa me function to secure the achievement of the same 
result. 
 
23.4. When there is a ground (information, proof ) to challenge the truthfulness of information 
contained in an application, the NOIP may request  the applicant to supply documents certifying such 
information within one month from the date of re quest notification, especially documents certifying 
the lawful right of registration in case the app licant enjoys the filing right of another person 
(certificate of inheritance right, certificate of or agreement on assignment of the filing right; contract 
on job assignment or labor contract, etc.); documents disclosing the test results of a drug on humans 
or animals stated in the description (when the obj ect sought to be protected is a pharmaceutical for 
humans, animals or plants).  23.5. Requirements for declaration  
 
The applicant shall submit two copies of a written declaration made according to a set form (not printed herein). In the section “International pate nt classification” in the written declaration, the 
applicant shall state the classification criteria of te chnical solutions sought to be protected according 
to the latest International Patent Classification (under the Strasbourg Agreement) published by the 
NOIP in the Industrial Property Official Gazette. If th e applicant fails to classify or correctly classify, 
the NOIP shall conduct the classification and the appl icant shall pay a classifi cation service charge as 
prescribed.  23.6. Requirements for invention description  
The applicant shall submit two copies of an inve ntion description. An i nvention description must 
consist of the section of invention descrip tion and the invention protection coverage. 
 a/ The description section must completely disclose th e nature of the technical solution sought to be 
registered. It must contain sufficient information based on which any person with average skill in the 
art can deduce the solution. It must clarify the n ovelty, inventive steps and susceptibility of industrial 
application of the technical solution (if the protecti on title applied for is an invention patent); clarify 
the novelty and susceptibilit y of industrial applicati on of the technical solution (if the protection title 
applied for is a utility solution patent).  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 30  
 
  Person with average skill in the art means a person who has ordinary technical practice skills and is 
acquainted with publicly availabl e general knowledge in the art. 
 b/ The description section must contain the following:  
(i) Title of the invention, which briefly expresses  the object or objects sought to be registered 
(hereinafter collectively referred to as the object). Th e title of the invention must be brief and must not 
be of a promoting or advertising nature;  (ii) Use field of the invention: The field in whic h the object is utilized or to which the object is 
relevant; 
 (iii) Technical state of the use field of the inventio n: The technical level in this field at the time of 
filing (known similar objects, if any);  
(iv) Technical nature of the invention: The nature of the object, with signs (characteristics) featuring 
the object as well as those considered novel compared  to those of known similar technical solutions 
clearly indicated;  (v) Brief description of accompanied drawings (if any);  
(vi) Detailed description of inve ntion realization variations; 
 (vii) Examples of invention realization;  (viii) Benefits (effects) expected to be achieved. 
 
c/ The invention protection coverage (hereinafter referred to as the protecti on coverage or protection 
claim)  The protection coverage (claim) shall be used to determine the scope of industrial property rights to 
inventions. The protection coverage (claim) must be  presented briefly and clearly in conformity with 
the description and drawings, making clear signs of novelty of the object sought to be protected 
(hereinafter referred to as the object), and comply with the following regulations:  d/ The protection coverage (claim) must be ade quately demonstrated by the description, including 
prerequisite and sufficient substantial technical si gns to identify the object, achieve the set objective 
and distinguish the object from a known object. 
 e/ Technical signs within the protection coverage (claim) must be clear, precise and recognizable in 
the art.  f/ The protection coverage (claim) should not invoke the description and drawings, except for 
invocation to parts that cannot be accurately describ ed with words, such as  nucleotide sequences and 
amino acid sequences, diffraction charts, workflow diagrams, etc.   g/ If the application contains drawings illustrating the protection claim, signs shown in the protection 
coverage (claim) may be accompanied with indicat ion numbers put in brackets. Those indication 
numbers are not considered confining the protection coverage (claim).  
 h/ The protection coverage (claim) should (is not required to) be expressed in two sections: 
“Restriction” and “Distinction.” The section “Restric tion” covers the title of the object and signs of 
the object that are identical to those of the la test known object and is connected to the section  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 31 
 
 
  “Distinction” by the phrase “distinguishable by” or “characterized by” or equivalent expressions. The 
section “Distinction” covers signs  that distinguish the object from the latest known object and are 
combined with signs of the section “Restriction” to constitute the object sought to be protected. 
 i/ The protection coverage (claim) may include one or more than one points. A multi-point protection 
coverage (claim) may be used to present an object sought to be protected, with the first point (called 
independent point) and subsequent point(s) used to concretize the independent point (called dependent 
point(s)); or to present a group of objects sought to be protected, with several independent points, 
each presenting an object sought to be protected in the group. Such an inde pendent point may have 
dependent point(s), 
 
j/ Points of the protection coverage (claim) must be numbered with Arabic numerals, followed by a 
dot.  k/ A multi-point protection coverage (claim) used  to present a group of objects must satisfy the 
following requirements: Independent points presenti ng different objects must not invoke other points 
of the protection coverage (claim), unless the invocat ion helps avoid total repetition of the content of 
another point; dependent points must immediately follow the independent point on which they are 
dependent.  23.7. Requirements for invention abstracts 
 
An applicant shall submit two copies of an invent ion abstract. An invention abstract is used to 
concisely describe (with no more than 150 words) the nature of the invention. The abstract must 
disclose principal details of the nature of the technical solution for the informatory purpose. The 
abstract may contain typical drawings or formulas. 
 
23.8. Additional provisions applicable to applica tions for registration of inventions concerning 
biotechnologies  a/ Apart from the general requirements for an inve ntion description specified at Point 23.6 of this 
Circular, for an application for registration of an invention concerning  genetic sequences or part of 
genetic sequences, the description section must contain a list of genetic sequences presented 
according to standard WIPO ST.25 section 2 (ii) (the  standard of presentation of a list of nucleotide 
sequences and amino acid sequences in an invention registration application). 
 b/ The NOIP may request the applicant to submit el ectronic information carriers (floppy disks, optical 
disks, etc.) readable by common electronic de vices on which nucleotide sequences and amino acid 
sequences identical to those on the list of se quences in the description section are recorded. 
 c/ Particularly, an invention for/concerning biologi cal materials, which can neither be described nor 
adequately described so that any person with av erage knowledge of biotechnology can realize, shall 
be regarded as being fully disclosed only if it satisfies the following conditions: 
 
(i) The biological material sample is deposited at a competent depositary office defined at Point 23.9 
of this Circular no later than the filing date;  (ii) The description section clearly discloses nece ssary information on the characteristics of the 
biological material the applicant might obtain; 
 (iii) The written declaration clearly defines the biol ogical material depositary office, the identification 
number of the deposited biological material gr anted by the depositary office, and documents 
certifying such information shall be submitted to the NOIP within 16 months from the date of priority IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 32  
 
  or no later than the date of filing the request for early publication of application (if any), whichever is 
earlier, except for the cases specified at Point 23.9.d of this Circular. 
 d/ If the applicant is not the depositor of the biolog ical material, the written declaration must clearly 
state the name and address of the depositor, and doc uments certifying the lawful use of the biological 
material shall be submitted to the NOIP within 16 m onths from the date of priority, or no later than 
the date of filing the request for early publication of application (if any), whichever is earlier, except 
for the cases specified at Point 23.9.d of this Circular. 
 23.9. Deposit of samples of biological materials 
 
a/ The deposit of samples of biological materials aims to serve the substantive examination of applications for registration of inventions concerning tho se biological materials.                    
 b/ Samples of a biological material must be subm itted to a competent biological material depositary 
office no later than the date of filing the applicati on for registration of an invention concerning that 
biological material.  c/ Competent biological material depositary office is an office in Vietnam or a foreign country 
designated or accredited by the Ministry of Scien ce and Technology as having the biological material 
depositary function. 
 
d/ The deposit of samples of biological materials and certification documents for international patent 
applications shall comply with the provisi ons of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). 
 e/ For samples of a biological material deposited at a foreign depositary office, the NOIP may request 
the applicant to additionally deposit samples of th e biological material at a competent depositary 
office in Vietnam when it finds it necessary to clarify th e nature of the object sought to be protected or 
to satisfy a third party’s request for access to the object.  23.10. Additional provisions applicable to applicat ions for registration of inventions concerning 
pharmaceuticals 
 
Apart from the general requirements for an inventi on description specified at Point 23.6 of this 
Circular, for an application for registration of  an invention concerning a pharmaceutical, the 
description section must state the results of clin ical trials and pharmaceutical effects of the 
pharmaceutical, including at least  the following information: 
 
a/ Used substances/mixtures;  b/ Employed trial method (system);  c/ Trial results; 
 
d/ Correlation between the result of the pharmaceutical effects obtained in the trials and the practical 
usage of the pharmaceutical in disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment.  23.11. Additional provisions applicable to applicati ons for registration of i nventions concerning gene 
source or traditional knowledge 
 Apart from the general requirements for invention re gistration applications specified at Points 23.1 
thru 23.7 of this Circular, an application for regi stration of an invention concerning gene source or 
traditional knowledge must also contain documents e xplaining the origin of the gene source and/or  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 33 
 
 
  traditional knowledge accessed by the inventor or the a pplicant, if the invention is directly based on 
that gene source and/or traditional knowledge. If th e inventor or the applicant cannot identify the 
origin of the gene source and/or traditional knowledg e, he/she shall so declare and bear responsibility 
for the truthfulness of his/her declaration.  
24. Formality examination and publication of invention registration applications 
 The procedures for formality examination and publica tion of invention registra tion applications shall 
comply with the general procedures specifie d at Points 13 and 14 of this Circular. 
 
25. Substantive examination of i nvention registration applications 
 25.1. Request for substantive examination of an invention registration application 
 a/ The applicant or any third party may request the NOIP to conduct the substantive examination of an 
invention registration application according to th e provisions of Article 113 of the Intellectual 
Property Law and the following specific provisions:  (i) A request for substantive examination of an in vention registration application must be made in 
writing according to a set form (not printed herein ) and presented in the written declaration of the 
invention registration application (if the requester is  the applicant and such request is made upon the 
filing of the application); 
 (ii) A request for substantive examination of an invention registration application must be filed 
within 42 months from the date of priority if th e application contains a request for grant of an 
invention patent, or within 36 month from the date of priority if the application contains a request for 
grant of a utility solution patent. The time limit fo r filing a request for substantive examination may 
be prolonged for plausible reasons but must not exceed 6 months.  (iii) A requester for substantive examination of an  invention registration a pplication shall pay the 
prescribed search charge and substantive examinati on charge. If a request for substantive examination 
is filed later than the set time limit, the requester  shall additionally pay a prolongation fee according to 
the provisions of Point 20.4.b of this Circular. If th e substantive examination charge is not paid, the 
request for substantive examination filed with the NO IP shall be considered invalid and the NOIP will 
not conduct the substantive examination of the application.  b/ A request for substantive examination of an invention registration application filed after the 
application is published shall be published in the Industrial Property Official Gazette in the second 
month after it is received. If such a request is ma de by a third party, it shall be notified to the 
applicant.  A request for substantive examination of an inve ntion registration application filed before the 
application is published shall be publis hed together with the application. 
 
c/ In case no request for substantive examination is  filed within the time limit set at Point 25.1.a 
above, the application shall be regarded as havi ng been withdrawn upon the expiration of the said 
time limit.  
25.2. Order for carrying out the procedures for substantive examination 
 The substantive examination of an invention regi stration application shall be conducted according to 
the general order specified at Point 15 of this Circular and specific provisions of this Point.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 34  
 
  25.3. Assessment of compatibility of the object stated  in the application with  the type of invention 
protection title  a/ The object stated in an inventio n registration application shall be considered incompatible with the 
type of invention protection title applied for by the applicant (inv ention patent/utility solution patent) 
if it is not a technical solution, particularly not a product or a process. The method of identifying 
technical solutions is provided at Point 25.3.b below.  b/ A technical solution - an object to be protected as an invention - is a collection of prerequisite and 
sufficient information on technical methods and/or technical devices to accomplish a given task (solve 
a given problem). 
 A technical solution may take one of the following forms:  (i) A product in the form of a tangible object (tool, machine, equipment, part, electric circuit, etc.) 
which is presented by a collection of information identifying a man-made product, characterized by 
signs (features) of its configura tion, and functions (is utilized) as a device to meet a certain human 
need; or a product in the form of a material (mat erial, component, food, pharmaceutical, etc.) which is 
presented by a collection of information identifying  a man-made product, characterized by signs 
(features) of its presence, ratios and state of its el ements, and functions (is utilized) as a device to 
meet a certain human need; or a product in the fo rm of a biological material (gene, genetically 
modified plant/animal, etc.) which is presented by a collection of information on a product containing 
genetic information modified by human mani pulations and capable of self-regeneration; 
 (ii) A process (technological process; diagnosing, fo recasting, checking or treating method) which is 
presented by a collection of information identifying the method of performing a given process or job, 
characterized by signs (features) of the order, conditions, components, methods and devices for 
performing manipulations to achieve a certain objective.  c/ An object stated in an application shall not be  considered a technical solution in the following 
cases:  
(i) It is merely an idea or a scheme that rather ra ises a question than offers solution(s) to a problem, 
gives no answer to the question “how” and/or “by what means”;  (ii) Problem (task) raised for solution is not a t echnical problem and cannot be technically solved; 
 
(iii) Natural products other than those created by humans. 
 25.4. Assessment of susceptibility of industrial application according to the provisions of Article 62 of 
the Intellectual Property Law  a/ A technical solution stated in an application sh all be considered “susceptible of utilization” if: 
 
(i) Information on the nature of the solution a nd instructions on necessary technical conditions are 
presented so clearly and adequately that any pers on with average knowledge in the art can create, 
produce, utilize, exploit or realize that solution;  
The concept “person with average knowledge in the art” is understood according to the provisions of 
Point 23.6.a of this Circular.   (ii) The creation, production, utilization, exploita tion or realization of the above solution may be 
repeated with the same result identical to th e result stated in the invention description.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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b/ A technical solution shall be considered unsuscep tible of industrial application in the following 
cases:  (i) The nature of the object or instructions for realization of the object run counter to the basic 
scientific principles (for instance, non-complian ce with the conservation of energy law); 
 (ii) The object consists of elements or components which are not technically interrelated or cannot be 
interlinked (through connections, cons traints, interdependence, etc.); 
 
(iii) The object contains an inherent contradiction; 
 (iv) Instructions on the object can only be reali zed in a limited number of times (unrepeatable); 
 (v) To be able to apply the solution, a person mu st have a special skill which cannot be passed down 
or guided to others; 
 (vi) Results achieved at different times of realization are not the same;  (vii) Achieved results are different fro m those stated in the application; 
 
(viii) The most important instructions to reali ze the solution are totally absent or insufficient; 
 (ix) Other cases where there exist other justifiable reasons.  25.5. Assessment of novelty according to the provisio ns of Article 60 of the Intellectual Property Law 
 
a/ Mandatory minimum information source  To assess the novelty of a technical solution stated in an application, information search shall be 
conducted at least from (but not confined to) the following mandatory sources:  
(i) All invention registration app lications received by the NOIP with classification criteria the same as 
those of the object stated in the application curre ntly under examination - considering also division 
criteria (third-class criteria), and having publication dates earlier than the fili ng date or the date of 
priority of the application currently under examination;  
(ii) Invention registration applications or invent ion protection titles published by other organizations 
or countries within 25 years before the filing date or the date of priority of the application currently 
under examination (if that application enjoys priori ty) stored in the patent database of the NOIP and 
other information sources defined by the NOIP, with the scope of search specified at Point 25.5.a (i) 
above.  
When necessary and possible, the search may be extended to scientif ic presentations and reports on 
achievements of research programs and projects and other documents in the same technical field published and stored at the National Center fo r Scientific and Technological Information. 
 b/ Purposes of the search 
 
The purpose of the information search is to find a technical solution with the nature similar or 
identical to that of the technical solution stated in the application. 
 At this point: IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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(i) Two technical solutions are considered identical  when all their substantial signs (features) are 
identical or equivalent (interchangeable);  (ii) Two technical solutions are considered similar when most of their substantial signs (features) are 
identical or equivalent (interchangeable); 
 (iii) “Control technical solution” means a technical so lution identical or most similar to the technical 
solution stated in the application;  
(iv) “Control document” means a document describ ing the control technical solution or evidence 
proving that the control technical so lution has been publicly disclosed. 
 c/ Search reports  
Information search results must be shown in a search report which clearly states the field and scope of 
search, and search results within that scope (sta tistics on control technical solutions found, clear 
indication of identical signs, titles of control docume nts, numbers of pages and lines, origins of and 
dates of publication of those documents) and the full name of the report maker (search person). 
 d/ Method of assessing novelty of technical solutions 
 
To assess the novelty of a technical solution stated in an application, a comparison must be made 
between substantial signs (features) of that technical  solution and signs of a control technical solution 
found through the information search, in which:  
(i) Substantial signs of the technical solution may be  its characteristics in terms of function, utility, 
disposition, inter-connection, composition, etc., wh ich constitute, together with other substantial 
signs, a prerequisite and sufficient combination to  determine the nature (content) of the object; 
 (ii) Substantial signs of the technical solution st ated in the application and protection titles are 
presented in the invention pr otection coverage (claim); 
 
(iii) Substantial signs of techni cal solutions stated in other doc uments are expressed and noticed 
according to written descriptions or real forms of expression of those technical solutions.  e/ Conclusions on novelty of technical solutions 
 
Corresponding to a point of the protection coverage  (claim), the technical solution stated in the 
application shall be considered novel to the technical level worldwide if: 
 (i) No control technical solution is found through the information search; or  
(ii) A control technical solution is found but the tec hnical solution stated in the application has at least 
one substantial sign not found in the control technical  solution (and such sign is called the distinctive 
substantial sign).  25.6. Assessment of inventive steps according to Article 61 of the Intellectual Property Law 
 
a/ Mandatory minimum information source  To assess inventive steps of a tec hnical solution, information search must be conducted at least from 
(but not confined to) the mandatory source de fined at Point 25.5.a of this Circular.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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b/ Assessment of inventive steps  The assessment of inventive steps of  a technical solution stated in an application shall be conducted 
through assessing distinctive substantial sign(s) stat ed in the protection coverage (claim) before 
concluding: 
 (i) Whether or not distinctive substantial sign(s) is/are regarded as having been disclosed in the 
mandatory minimum information source, and;  
(ii) Whether or not the combination of distinctive s ubstantial signs is consider ed obvious to a person 
with average knowledge in the art. Corresponding to a point of the protection coverage (claim), the technical solution shall be regarded 
as having inventive steps if the inclusion of a di stinctive substantial sign in a combination of 
substantial signs of the technical solution is the resu lt of inventive work and is  not obvious to a person 
with average knowledge in the art.        
 c/ In the following cases (but not only in those cases), corresponding to a point of the protection 
coverage, a technical solution shall be regarded as having no inventive step: 
 (i) The combination of distinctive substantial signs  is obvious (any person with average knowledge in 
the art knows that to perform a given function or to achieve a set objective, it is a must to use that 
combination of signs and once that combination of signs is used the set objective can necessarily be 
achieved or the given function performed);  (ii) The combination of distinctive substantial signs has been disclosed in the same or similar form in 
one/several known technical solutions in the mandatory minimum information source; 
 (iii) The technical solution is a simple combinati on of known technical solu tions and its function, 
objective and effect are also simple combina tions of those of known technical solutions. 
 d/ At this point: 
 
(i) Two signs shall be considered the same if they have the same nature;  (ii) Two signs shall be considered equivalent if they have similar natures, the same objective and 
basically similar ways to achieve the objective. 
 
25.7. Inspection of observance of the first-to-file ru le defined in Article 90 of the Intellectual Property 
Law         Before issuing a decision on the grant of a protec tion title, the NOIP shall inspect the observance of 
the first-to-file rule for invention registration applications already subs tantively examined and 
concluded as having satisfied the protection co nditions according to the following provisions: 
 a/ Mandatory minimum information source  To inspect the observance of the first-to-file rule , the information search must be conducted at least 
from (but not confined to) the following mandatory sources: 
 All invention registration applications received by  the NOIP (up to the date of inspection) with 
classification criteria the same as those of the obj ect stated in the application currently under 
examination - taking into account the division criteria (third-class criteria) and with filing dates or IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 38  
 
  dates of priority earlier than the filing date or da te of priority of the application currently under 
examination (if that application enjoys priority) and not yet published, or with filing dates or dates of 
priority later than the filing date or date of prio rity of the application currently under examination (if 
that application enjoys priority);  
b/ The purpose of the search is to find applicatio n(s) for registration of the same invention and 
identify the application with the earliest filing date or date of priority;  c/ If there are many applications for registration of  the same invention, the protection title shall only 
be granted for the valid application with the earliest date of priority or fili ng date among applications 
satisfying the conditions for grant of protection title; 
 d/ If there are many applications for registration of  the same invention satisfy ing the conditions for the 
grant of a protection title and having the same date of  priority or earliest filing date, the protection title 
may only be granted for only one application among those applications as agreed upon by all 
applicants. If no agreement is reached, all applications shall be refused; 
 e/ If an invention registration applicant makes a clai m for priority on the basis of an initial application 
for registration of the same invention already f iled in Vietnam, the protection title may only be 
granted for the accepted invention registration appli cation containing a claim for priority while the 
initial application filed in Vietnam shall be considered withdrawn. 
 
25.8. Notification of substantive examination results  The notification of results of substantive examinatio n of invention registration applications shall be 
carried out according to the general procedures specified at Point 15.7.a of this Circular. 
 
26. Grant, registration and publication of invention patents, utility solution patents 
The issuance of decisions on grant, registration or  publication of invention patents or utility solution 
patents shall comply with the general procedures specified at Points 18 and 19 of this Circular. 
 27. Processing of internati onal patent applications 
 
27.1. Application-receiving agency  The agency competent to receive international patent applications in Vietnam is the NOIP. 
 
The NOIP shall: 
 a/ Receive international applications originating in Vietnam;  b/ Collect the fee for sending international applicati ons and notify applicants of the prescribed fees to 
be paid to the International Bureau and the Inte rnational Search Office under the Patent Cooperation 
Treaty - PCT (hereinafter referred to as the Treaty); 
 c/ Check whether or not the fees are paid on time;             d/ Check and process international applicati ons originating in Vietnam under the Treaty; 
 
e/ Identify objects sought to be protected: If objects sought to be protected of applications are classified as national secrets, next steps shall not be  performed and paid fees shall be refunded to 
applicants, except for the fees for sending and copying international applications; 
  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 39 
 
 
  f/ Send a copy (file copy) of an international appli cation originating in Vietnam to the International 
Bureau and another copy (search copy) to the International Search Office; 
 g/ Send and receive mails to/from applic ants and the International Bureaus. 
 
27.2. Languages 
 International applications originating in Vietnam and filed to the NOIP must be in English. An 
application shall be made in three copies.  
For applications with insufficient copies, the NOIP shall make additional copi es and applicants shall 
pay the copying fee.  27.3. International search offices and inte rnational preliminary examination offices 
 
For international applications originating in Vi etnam, competent international search offices and 
international preliminary examination offices are pa tent offices, industrial property or intellectual 
property offices of Australia, Austria, the Russian Fe deration, Sweden, the Republic of Korea and the 
European Patent Office.  27.4. International applications designating Vietnam 
 
a/ If an international application designates Vietnam,  the NOIP is the designated office. In this case, in 
order to enter the national phase, the applicant sh all submit, within 31 months from the date of 
priority, to the NOIP the following:  
(i) Written declaration requesting invention registrati on, made according to a set form (not printed 
herein);  (ii) Copy of the international application (if the applicant requests the entry into the national phase 
before the date of publication of the international publication);  
(iii) Vietnamese translation of the internationa l application: The description, consisting of a 
description section, protection request, annotations fo r drawings and abstract (the published copy or 
initially filed original application, if the appli cation has not yet been published, and modified copy 
and explanation of modified contents, if the in ternational application has been modified under 
Article 19 of the Treaty); 
 
(iv) National charges and fees.  b/ International applications filed with the NOIP within six months after the expiration of the time 
limit specified at Point 27.4.a above may be ac cepted on the condition that applicants pay the 
prescribed charges and fees. 
 
27.5. International applications electing Vietnam  a/ If an international application elects Vietnam, th e NOIP is the elected office. In this case, if the 
election of Vietnam is made within 19 months from th e date of priority, in order to enter the national 
phase, the applicant shall submit, within 31 mont hs from the date of priority, to the NOIP the 
following documents:  (i) Written declaration requesting invention registrati on, made according to a set form (not printed 
herein); IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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(ii) Vietnamese translation of the international app lication: The description, consisting of a description 
section, protection request, annotations for drawings and abstract (the published copy or initially filed 
original application, if the application has not ye t been published, and modified copy and explanation 
of modified contents, if the international appli cation has been modified under Article 19 and/or 
Article 34(2)(b) of the Treaty); 
 (iii) Vietnamese translations of annexes to the in ternational preliminary ex amination report (when 
substantive examination of the application is requested);  
(iv) National charges and fees. 
 b/ International applications filed with the NOIP within six months after the expiration of the time 
limit specified at Point 27.5.a above may be ac cepted on the condition that applicants pay the 
prescribed charges and fees. 
 
27.6. Claims for priority  To enjoy the priority, an applicant shall reaffirm it in the written declaration, pay the charge for 
priority claim and submit, upon the NOIP’s request, Vietnamese translations of necessary documents already submitted to the International Bureau as defined in Rule 17.1(a) of the Regulation on 
implementation of the Treaty. 
 For PCT applications, the handling of claims for priority shall comply with the Treaty and the 
Regulation on implementation of the Treaty.  
27.7. Processing of international applications in the national phase 
 a/ Amendment and supplementation of documents in the national phase In compliance with Rule 51bis of the Regulation im plementation of the Treaty, an applicant shall 
submit the power of attorney and the paper on assignmen t of the right to file an application in the 
national phase (if any) within 34 months from the date of priority. 
 
In compliance with Articles 28 and 41 of the Treaty and Rules 52.1(b) and 78.1(b) of the Regulation 
on implementation of the Treaty, an applican t may amend and supplement documents of the 
application in the national phase. Right at the time of entry into the national phase, the applicant may 
also amend and supplement the description. The ab ove amendment and supplementation shall comply 
with the provisions of Article 17 of this Circular. 
 Amended and supplement ed documents submitted by the applicant to the NOIP must be in 
Vietnamese.  b/ Time of beginning of the national phase 
 
The time when the processing of an international a pplication designating or electing Vietnam in the 
national phase starts is the first day of the thirty sec ond month from the date of priority if the applicant 
files no written request for entry into the nati onal phase earlier than the above time limits. 
 
c/ Examination of international applications 
 After entering the national phase, an international application shall be put to formality examination 
and substantive examination according to the procedur es applicable to ordinary invention registration 
applications. If the applicant requests in writing earli er examination of his/her application and pay the  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 41 
 
 
  prescribed charge, the international application sha ll be examined earlier than the time limit specified 
at Point 27.7.b above in accordance with the provisions of Article 23(2) of the Treaty. 
 d/ International applicati ons considered withdrawn 
 
In addition to the cases where an international appli cation is considered withdrawn specified in the 
Treaty and the Regulation on implementation of the Tr eaty, an international application designating or 
electing Vietnam shall be considered withdrawn if th e national fees are not paid to the NOIP or there 
is no Vietnamese translation upon the expiration of the set time limit.  
27.8. International registration charges and fees 
 a/ Applicants whose international applications enter the national phase shall pay the prescribed 
charges and fees for invention registration a pplications directly filed in Vietnam. 
 
b/ Applicants whose international applications or iginate from Vietnam shall pay the charges and fees 
prescribed by the Regulation on implementation of the Treaty and the Ministry of Finance’s Circular guiding the collection, remittance, management and use of industrial property charges and fees. 
 Section 3. PROCEDURES FOR REGISTRATION OF LAYOUT DESIGNS  
28. Requirements for layout design registration applications 
 28.1. A layout design registration application (app lication) must satisfy the general requirements 
specified at Points 7 and 10 of this Circular a nd the specific requirements specified at this Point. 
 
28.2. Documents, specimens and information presenti ng a layout design defined at Point 7.1.a (ii) of 
this Circular include:  (i) Four sets of photos or four sets of drawings of the layout design;  b/ Four specimens of the integrated circuit manufact ured under the layout design, if that layout design 
has been commercially exploited; 
 c/ Description of the integrated circuit manufactured under the layout design, including information disclosing the nature of the layout design.  
28.3. An application must ensure uniformity accordi ng to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 101 of 
the Intellectual Property Law, i.e., it requests protec tion of only one layout design of an integrated 
circuit.  28.4. When having grounds (information, proofs) to  doubt the truthfulness of information in an 
application, the NOIP may request the applicant to  submit within one month documents certifying 
such information, especially documents certifying the lawful right of registration, in case the applicant 
enjoys the right to file from another person (certificate of inheritance right, certificate or agreement on assignment of the right to file; contract on assignment of jobs or labor contract, etc.);  28.5. Requirements for written declarations 
An applicant shall submit two copies of a written declaration, made according to a set form (not 
printed herein).  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  28.6. Requirements for sets of photos and drawings of layout designs 
 a/ General requirements: A set of photos or drawin gs of a layout design must adequately show the 
three-dimensional disposition of circuit elemen ts and their inter-connections in a semi-conductor 
integrated circuit, based on which onl y one layout design can be deduced.   
For the above purpose, a set of photos/drawings of a layout design must satisfy the conditions 
specified at Points 28.6.b, c and d below.  b/ Types of document:  
A set of photos/drawings of a layout design must include at least one of the following three types of 
document:  (i) Automated drawings of the layout design for each integrated circuit layer;  
(ii) Drawings or photos of photolithographic mask fo r the fabrication of each integrated circuit layer; 
 (iii) Photos of each layout design layer incorporated in the integrated circuit; 
 c/ Form of documents: A set of photos/drawings of a layout design must be submitted in the paper 
form and may be annexed by carriers of the electronic data of part of or the entire set of 
photos/drawings. 
 d/ Presentation of documents:  (i) A set of photos/drawings of a layout design must include (a combination of) separate 
photos/drawings for each layout design layer, annotat ed by the symbol of each layer, dimensions of 
the integrated circuit and the magnification;  (ii) All photos/drawings of a layout design must be of the same scale. For paper documents: Each photo/drawing of the layout design must be at least 20 times larger than the original size of the integrated circuit and make basic circuit designs visible to bare eyes; 
 
(iii) Each photo/drawing of a layout  design may be presented on an A4 paper sheet or a paper sheet of 
a larger size folded down to A4 size;  (iv) Photos/drawings of a layout desi gn must be clear and well defined. 
 
28.7. Requirements for specimens of integrated  circuits manufactured under layout designs 
 a/ A specimen to be submitted must be part of or the entire integrated circuit totally compatible with 
the layout design stated in the application. If an integrated circuit manufactured under a layout design 
constitutes an integral part of another product, such product shall be s ubmitted together with a 
document precisely indicating the section of the inte grated circuit manufactured under that layout 
design.  b/ For a layout design that is commercially exported anywhere in the world before the filing date, the 
applicant shall submit the commercially exploited specimen. 
 
28.8. Requirements for descriptions of semi-conduc tor integrated circuits manufactured under layout 
designs   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 43 
 
 
  A description must contain the following detailed information on a semi-conductor integrated circuit 
manufactured under a layout design sought to be protected:  a/ Appellation/sign: A combination of letters and/or numerals used to distinguish an integrated circuit 
from another when being circulated in the market; 
 
b/ Description of basic functions of  the integrated circuit (for example: memory or logic function or 
other functions);  c/ Description of the basic disposition of the inte grated circuit (for example: bipolar, MOS, Bi-MOS 
or photo-electronic disposit ion or other dispositions); 
 d/ Description of the technology for manufacture of the integrated circuit (for example: TTL or DTL or ECL or ITL or CMOS or NMOS or PMOS technology or other technologies);  
e/ Description of main features to distinguish the integrated circuit from other integrated circuits on 
the market at the time of filing the application or the time of first commercial exploitation in the world, whichever is earlier.  29. Confidentiality of information in layout design registration applications 
 
An applicant may file a written requ est for information confidentiality together with a layout design 
registration application according to the following provisions:  29.1. Permitted maximum degree of confidentiality:  
a/ For a layout design not yet commercially exploited: 50% of each layer’s surface; 
 b/ For a commercially exploited layout design: two la yers in each group of five layers in a top-down 
hierarchy.  29.2. To enjoy information confidentiality, an appl icant shall file a written request for information 
confidentiality made under the NOIP’s guidance and indicating documents and materials containing 
confidential information.  29.3. Documents containing confidential information must be put in separate packs and may be submitted in the following forms: 
 
a/ Microfilm or similar forms, for documents s howing dimensions of the design on computer-aided 
drawings;  b/ Electronic data;  
c/ Drawings or photos containing invisible sections , provided that features of the layout designs are 
basically visible.  29.4. The NOIP is obliged to keep confidential information upon the request of applicants in 
accordance with the provisions of  Point 29.1 of this Circular. 
 
30. Formality examination of layout  design registration applications 
 IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  30.1. The procedures for formality examination of la yout design registration applications shall comply 
with the general provisions of Points 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.4 and 13.8 of this Circular and specific 
procedures applicable to layout design registra tion applications specified at this Point. 
 30.2. Notification of results of formality examination 
 
a/ If an application falls into one of the cases specifi ed at Point 13.2 of this Circular or still contains 
errors defined at Point 13.3 of this Circular, the NOIP shall carry out the procedures specified at Point 
13.6.a of this Circular.  
b/ For a valid application, the NOIP shall send to the applicant a notice on acceptance of valid 
application, clearly stating the name and address of  the applicant, the name of the representative (if 
any) and information on the object stated in the app lication, the filing date, and concurrently declaring 
that the object stated in the application may be gran ted a certificate of registered layout design if no 
reasonable opposition is made by a th ird party to the registration of that layout design within three 
months after the layout design is published in the Industrial Property Official Gazette. 
 30.3. Refusal to accept applications  If an applicant, after receiving a NOIP notice on the r esults of formality examination, which points to 
errors and states the NOIP’s intended refusal to acce pt the application accordin g to the provisions of 
Point 13.6.a of this Circular, fails to correct erro rs or unsatisfactorily corrects errors or makes no 
opposition or an unreasonable opposition within a set time  limit, the NOIP shall send to that applicant 
a notice on its refusal to accept the layout design re gistration application and, at the applicant’s 
request, refund paid charges and fees for jobs to be performed after the formality examination. 
 
31. Publication of layout design registration applications 
 31.1. A layout design registration application accep ted as valid shall be published according to the 
general procedures specified at Point 14 of this Circular and this Point. 
 31.2. Access to detailed information on valid  layout design registration applications 
 
a/ After a layout design registration application is published in the Industrial Property Official 
Gazette, any person may access detailed information on th e nature of the layout design stated in the 
published application, except for information kept  confidential according to the provisions of 
Article 29 of this Circular. 
 
b/ Only the agency competent to carry out pr ocedures for invalidation of protection titles or 
procedures for administrative handling of infringem ents of rights to layout designs can access 
confidential information on layout designs.  32. Grant, registration and publication of decisions on grant of certificates of registered layout designs 
 
32.1. Notification of intended grant of certificates of registered layout designs  If no opposition is made by a third party to the registration of a layout design within three months after the layout design is published in the Industr ial Property Official Gaze tte or though an opposition 
is made, it is later proved unreasona ble through handling, the NOIP shall notify its intended grant of a 
certificate of registered layout design for the object stated in the application. The time limit for the 
applicant to pay the fees for publication, registrati on and grant of a protection title is one month from 
the date of notification.   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 45 
 
 
  32.2. Grant, registration and publication of decisi ons on grant of certificates of registered layout 
designs  The procedures for grant, registration and publication of certificates of registered layout designs shall 
comply with the general procedures specified at Points 18.2 and 19 of this Circular. 
 
32.3 Refusal to grant certificates of registered layout designs  If an opposition is made by a third party to the grant of  a certificate of registered layout design within 
three months after the layout design is published in the Industrial Property Official Gazette and that 
opposition is proved reasonable, the NOIP shall carry out procedures for refusal to grant a certificate 
of registered layout design according to the general procedures specified at Point 18.1 of this Circular. 
 Section 4. PROCEDURES FOR REGISTRATION OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS  
33. Requirements for industrial design registration applications 
 33.1. Industrial design registration applications mu st satisfy the general re quirements specified at 
Points 7 and 10.1 of this Circular and the sp ecific requirements specified at this Point. 
 33.2. Industrial design registration applications must  ensure uniformity according to the provisions of 
Clauses 1 and 3, Article 101 of the Intellect ual Property Law and the following provisions. 
 An industrial design registration app lication is considered uniform if: 
 a/ It requests protection of an industrial design of a product; or 
 
b/ It requests protection of industrial designs of more  than one products in a set of products, of which 
each product has its own industrial design; or  c/ It requests protection of an industrial design of a product accompanied with one or several variations of that industrial design. 
 
33.3. Requests for information supply  a/ When there is a ground (information, proof) to doub t the truthfulness of information in an industrial 
design registration application, the NOIP may re quest the applicant to submit within one month 
documents certifying such information, especia lly documents certifying the lawful right of 
registration in case the applicant enjoys the right to  file from another person (c ertificate of inheritance 
right, certificate or written agreement on assignment of the right to file; contract on job assignment or labor contract, etc.)  b/ The NOIP may also request the applicant to submit within one month documents certifying the 
lawful ownership or the lawful right to use trade indications (marks, geographical indications or trade 
names), protected industrial designs of other pers ons, if it has a ground to doubt that the industrial 
design stated in the application contains those objects.  33.4. Requirements for written declarations 
 
An applicant shall submit two copies of a written declaration made according to a set form (not 
printed herein). Apart from sections that need to be filled in, the written declaration must state the 
criteria for classification of the industrial design sought to be protected in accordance with the 
International Industrial Design Classification (under the Locarno Agreement). If the applicant fails to IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 46  
 
  classify or inaccurately classifies the industrial desi gn, the NOIP shall carry out the classification for 
which the applicant shall pay a charge as prescribed.  33.5. Requirements for industrial design descriptions   
An applicant shall submit one copy of the industr ial design description that contains the following 
contents:  a/ Name of the industrial design, which is the name  of the product imbued with the industrial design, 
expressed in common words and phrases, not of the advertising nature, does not contain symbols, 
annotations and trade indications; 
 b/ Field in which the industrial design is used, which is a specific field in which the product imbued 
with the industrial design is used, clearly  stating the use purpose of the product; 
 
c/ The most similar industrial design: To clearly st ate an industrial design which is least different from 
the industrial design of the same product stated in the application and widely known before the filing 
date or the date of priority (if the application cont ains a claim for priority),  indicating the information 
source publicly disclosing the most similar industrial design;  d/ List of photos or drawings, which enumerates photos, three-dimensional drawings, shadows, cross-
sections, etc., of the industrial design one after a nother according to the ordinal numbers of those 
photos or drawings;  e/ The section of description of the industrial design must satisfy the following provisions:  
(i) It fully discloses the nature of the industrial design sought to be prot ected, adequately showing 
design features presenting the nature of the industr ial design as well as new design features that are 
distinguishable from the most similar industrial d esign defined at Point 33.5.c above and consistent 
with those shown in the set of photos or drawings;  (ii) Design features of the industrial design sought to  be protected must be presented one after another 
in the following order: Configuration and line feat ures, correlation between configuration and/or line 
features, color features (if any);  (iii) For a product that have different usages (for example: a product with cover or foldable), its 
industrial design must be described in different states; 
 
(iv) If an industrial design consists of many variations, distinctive ch aracteristics of the basic variation 
(the first variation stated in the application) in co mparison with those of remaining variations must be 
clearly indicated;  (v) If an industrial design is the design of a set of products, the design of each product in the set must 
be described. 
 f/ Coverage of protection (or claim for protecti on) of the industrial design must fully enumerate 
prerequisite and sufficient design features to identify the nature of the industrial design sought to be protected and the scope of industrial property righ ts to the industrial design, shown on photos or 
drawings stated in the application, and including new and distinctive design features as compared with 
known similar industrial designs.   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 47 
 
 
  33.6. Requirements for sets of photos or drawings of industrial designs 
 An applicant shall submit five sets of photos or five  sets of drawings of an industrial design, sets of 
photos or drawings must fully present design features  of the industrial design sought to be protected, 
based on which any person with average knowledge in the art can identify that industrial design, and 
follow the following guidance: 
 a/ Photos or drawings must be clear and well de fined; drawings must be presented with unbroken 
lines; the background of a photo or drawing must be monochrome and contrast with the industrial 
design; a photo or drawing must show only the pro duct imbued with the industrial design sought to be 
protected (not accompanied with another product). 
 b/ Photos or drawings must show the industrial design on the same scale. The size of the industrial 
design shown in photos or drawings must neither be smaller than 90 mm x 120 mm nor larger 
than 190 mm x 277 mm. 
 
c/ Photos and drawings must show the industrial design viewed in the same direction and in the 
following order: three-dimensional picture of the i ndustrial design, front, rear, right-side- left-side, 
top-down and down-top shadows of the industrial design; shown shadows must be frontispieces. 
 d/ For an industrial design with symmetrical shadow s, its photos or drawings are not required to show 
more symmetrical shadows, provided that such is cl early stated in the list of photos and drawings in 
the description.  e/ For the industrial design of an expandable produ ct (for instance: box, package), shadows of the 
industrial design may be replaced with photos or dr awings of the industrial design in an expanded 
state. 
 f/ Depending on the complexity of an industrial d esign, more photos or three-dimensional drawings 
from other angles, cross-sections or magnified  pictures of parts, pictures of knocked down 
components of the product, etc., may be required to clearly show new and distinctive design features 
of the industrial design sought to be protected. 
 
g/ For a product that have different usages (for exampl e: a product with cover or foldable), there must 
be photos or drawings of its industrial design in different states.  h/ For the industrial design of a part of a complete  product, there must be more photos or drawings 
illustrating the position for fitting or use of such part on the complete product. 
 i/ For each variation of the industrial design, there must be a set of photos or drawings fully presenting it according to the provisions of this Point.  j/ For a set of products, there must be three-dimens ional pictures of the whole set and a set of photos 
or drawings of each product in the set according to the provisions of this Point.  
 33.7. Design features of industrial designs  a/ Design features of an industrial design are elemen ts presented in the form of lines, configurations, 
colors, position or size correlation, which constitute, in combination with other features (signs), a 
gathering necessary and sufficient for the formation of that industrial design.  b/ The following elements are not regarded as design features of an industrial design:  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
Page 48  
 
  (i) Configurations and lines dictated by the techni cal functions of the product (for example: the flat 
shape of data-recording disks is dictated by th e relative motion between disks and reading heads); 
 (ii) Elements whose presence in the combination of signs gives no aesthetic impression (impression of the shape of the product remains unchanged with or without those elements; for example: if a change 
in a familiar configuration or line is not impressive  enough to be noticed, the changed configuration or 
line will therefore be taken as old one);  (iii) Materials used for manufacture of the product;  
(iv) Signs affixed or stuck on the product merely for the purpose of informing or guiding the origin, 
features, composition, utility and usage of the product, for example: words in a goods label; 
 (v) Size of the product, except for change of size of patterns of a fabric sample or similar materials. 
 
c/ Substantial and insubstantial design features  
 Substantial design features are design features that are easily noticeable/memorable, necessary and sufficient to identify an in dustrial design and distinguish it from another one used for the same type of 
product.  
Any design features that fail to satisfy the abov e condition are referred to as insubstantial design 
features.  34. Formality examination and publication of industrial design registration applications 
 
Procedures for formality examination and publicati on of industrial design registration applications 
shall comply with the general procedures specifi ed at Points 13 and 14 of this Circular. 
 35. Substantive examination of industr ial design registration applications 
 35.1. Assessment of similarity of industrial designs: 
 
a/ Two industrial designs are considered identical wh en they are used for the same type of product and 
have the same gathering of substan tial and insubstantial design features; 
 b/ Two industrial designs are considered similar wh en they are used for the same type of product and 
have several identical substantial design features; 
 c/ Two industrial designs are considered most simi lar when the number of their identical substantial 
design features is larger than that of all other similar industrial designs.  35.2. Order for carrying out procedures for substan tive examination of industrial design registration 
applications 
 The substantive examination of industrial design re gistration applications (applications) shall be 
conducted according to the general or der specified at Point 15 of this  Circular and specific provisions 
of this Point. 
 
35.3. Assessment of compatibility of objects stated in  applications with the type of industrial design 
protection title   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  An object stated in an application shall be consider ed incompatible with the type of industrial design 
protection title when:  a/ The object is not the appearance of a product;  
b/ The object stated in the application is: 
 (i) A product’s appearance dictated by its technical characteristics;  (ii) A civil or industrial construction work’s appearance; 
 
(iii) Interior design (invisible part) of a product in use (exploitation of a product’s utility by ordinary 
methods and by any consumer, excluding its  maintenance, preservation or repair). 
 35.4. Information search 
 
a/ Purpose of information search  The purpose of information search is to find in th e mandatory minimum information source industrial 
designs identical or similar to the indus trial design stated in the application. 
 
b/ The mandatory minimum information source used in  the substantive examination of an application 
consists of the following documents:  (i) Industrial design registration applications al ready received by the NOIP and having dates of 
publications earlier than the filing date or date of pr iority of the examined application (if it enjoys 
priority); 
 (ii) Industrial design registration a pplications and industrial design protection titles published by other 
organizations or countries within 25 years before the filing date or date of priority of the examined 
application (if it enjoys priority), which are ar chived in the NOIP’s database on existing industrial 
designs; 
 
(iii) Other information related to industrial designs collected and archived by the NOIP; 
 (iv) Industrial design registration applications r eceived by the NOIP and having filing dates or dates 
of priority (if they enjoy priority) earlier than the filing date or date of priority of the examined 
application (used to inspect the ob servance of the first-to-file rule specified at Point 35.9 of this 
Circular).  c/ When necessary and possible, the search may be expanded beyond the mandatory minimum information source.  
35.5. Search reports 
 Search results shall be presented in a search report that clearly states the searched field, search scope, 
search results within that scope (statistics on and cl ear indication of control industrial designs found, 
information sources and date of publication of info rmation) and the full name of the report maker 
(search person). 
 At this point, a control industrial design means an  industrial design identical or similar to the 
industrial design stated in the application and compared with the latter upon assessment of novelty 
and creativity. IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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35.6. Assessment of susceptibility of industrial a pplication of industrial designs according to 
Article 67 of the Intellectual Property Law  a/ The industrial design stated in the applicati on shall be considered susceptible of industrial 
application if any person with  average knowledge in the art can, based on information on the 
industrial design supplied in the application, use th at industrial design as a model to manufacture by 
an industrial or manual method a product with an appearance identical to that industrial design.  The concept “any person with average knowledge in th e art” is understood according to the relevant 
provisions of Point 23.6.a of this Circular. 
 b/ In the following cases, the object stated in the application shall be considered insusceptible of 
industrial application:  
(i) It is the shape of a product with an unfixed stat e of existence (products in gaseous or liquid form); 
 (ii) A product whose shape identical to the object st ated in the application can only be created with 
special skills or it is impossible to repeatedly manufacture a product whose shape identical to the 
object stated in the application;  
(iii) Cases where there exist other justifiable reasons. 
 35.7. Assessment of novelty of industrial designs according to the provisions of Article 65 of the Intellectual Property Law  
a/ Method of assessment of novelty of industrial designs 
 To assess the novelty of an industrial design stated in an application, it is necessary to compare the 
gathering of substantial design features of that indu strial design with that of an identical/the most 
similar industrial design used as a control indus trial design found through the information search. 
 
b/ Conclusion on novelty of industrial designs 
 The industrial design stated in an app lication shall be considered novel if: 
 (i) No control industrial design is found in the mandatory minimum information source; or 
 
(ii) Though a control industrial design is found in th e mandatory minimum information source but the 
industrial design stated in the application has at l east one substantial design f eature not found in (not 
belonging to) the gathering of substantial design features of the control industrial design; or  (iii) The control industrial design is the very  industrial design stated in the application 
published/disclosed in the cases speci fied in Clauses 3 and 4, Article 65 of the Intellectual Property 
Law.  35.8. Assessment of creativity of industrial designs according to the provisions of Article 66 of the Intellectual Property Law 
  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  a/ Method of assessment of creativity of industrial designs 
 To assess the creativity of an industrial design stated  in an application, it is necessary to compare the 
gathering of substantial design features of that indust rial design with that of each identical or similar 
control industrial design found through the information search. 
 
b/ Conclusion on creativity of industrial designs  In the following cases, the industrial design stated in an application shall be considered non-creative: 
 
(i) It is a simple combination of known design features (publicly disclosed design features are put 
together or assembled in such a simple way as replacement, interchange of positions, increase or decrease of quantity);  (ii) It is a reproduction/imitation of part of or th e whole inherent natural shape of a tree, fruit or 
animal, shapes of geometric figures (round, ellipse, triangle, square, rectangular, regular polygons and 
prisms, cross-sections of which are fore going figures), which are widely known. 
 (iii) It is a simple reproduction of the shape of a product or work well know n or publicly known in 
Vietnam or worldwide;  
(iv) It is an imitation of an industrial design in a nother field, if such an imitation is widely known in 
reality (for example: toys imitating cars, motorcycles, etc.). If not falling into the above cases, an industrial design is considered creative. 
 35.9. Inspection of the first-to-file rule according to the provisions of Article 90 of the Intellectual 
Property Law 
 a/ To inspect the first-to-file rule, it is necessar y to search information from the mandatory source 
defined at Point 35.4.b (iv) of this Circular.  b/ The industrial design stated in the application sha ll be considered satisfying the first-to-file rule if 
no identical or substantially indistinguishable indus trial design is found in applications that have 
satisfied the conditions for grant of industria l design patents found through information search. 
 c/ The industrial design of a component of a product st ated in the application shall also be considered 
satisfying the first-to-file rule if no identical or substantially indistinguishable industrial design of a 
component of a product and/or a product is found in a pplications that have satisfied the conditions for 
grant of industrial design patents found through information search.  d/ When different applications for registration of id entical or substantially indistinguishable industrial 
designs satisfy the conditions for gr ant of industrial design patents and have the same date of priority 
or the earliest filing date, the industrial design stated in the application is still considered satisfying the 
first-to-file rule defined in Clause 2, Article 90 of the Intellectual Property Law if all applicants reach 
an agreement on designation of the applicant in onl y one application among those applications to be 
granted an industrial design patent.  35.10. Notification of substantive examination results 
 
The notification of results of substantive examina tion of industrial design registration applications 
shall comply with the general provisions of Point 15.7.a of this Circular.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  36. Grant, registration and publica tion of industrial design patents 
Procedures for issuance of decisions on grant, regi stration and publication of decisions on grant of 
industrial design patents shall comply with the ge neral procedures specified in Points 18 and 19 of 
this Circular.  
Section 5. PROCEDURES FOR REGISTRATION OF MARKS 
 37. Requirements for mark registration applications  37.1. Mark registration applications must satisfy  the general requirements on application documents 
specified at Points 7 and 10.1 of this Circul ar and the specific requirements at this Point. 
 37.2. Applications must ensure uniformity defined in Clauses 1 and 4, Article 101 of the Intellectual 
Property Law. Each application may request registra tion of a mark used for one or more than one 
goods or services. 
 
37.3. If doubting about the truthfulness of information supplied in an application, the NOIP may request the applicant to submit within one month the following documents in order to certify such 
information:  a/ Documents evidencing the status of the applicant: 
 
(i) Business registration certificate, contract or another document certifying the applicant’s goods production or service provision activities according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 87 of the Intellectual Property Law;  
(ii) Agreement on or written certification that a manufacturer does not use the mark and does not 
oppose the mark registration by a person conducti ng commercial activities for the manufacturer’s 
product according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 87 of the Intellectual Property Law;  (iii) Establishment decision or license, or organi zation charter certifying the function and competence 
to manage a collective mark or a mark of certifica tion of the quality or geographical origin of goods 
or services according to the provisions of Clauses 3 and 4, Article 87 of the Intellectual Property Law; 
 (iv) Agreement, business registration certificate or documents related to the mark registration by co-
proprietors according to the provisions of Clause 5, Article 87 of the Intellectual Property Law; 
 
(v) Documents certifying that the applicant enjoys the right of mark registration from another person 
according to the provisions of Clause 6, Ar ticle 87 of the Intellectual Property Law; 
 (vi) Written agreement or consent of the mark propr ietor certifying the right of mark registration in 
the name of a representative or agent according to  the provisions of Clause 7, Article 87 of the 
Intellectual Property Law and Article 6septies of th e Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial 
Property Rights. 
 b/ Documents evidencing the status of the applica tion owner’s representative: the applicant’s original 
power of attorney; documents certifying that the application owner’s representative is the 
representative at law of the organization registerin g the mark or his/her mandated person; papers 
certifying that the applicant’s mandated person satisfies the requirements for acting as the application 
owner’s representative according to the pr ovisions of Point 3 of this Circular. 
 c/ Documents evidencing the right to use/regist er a mark containing special symbols, for: 
  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  (i) Names, emblems, flags or armorial bearin gs of domestic or international agencies and 
organizations or certification, control or warranty hallmarks of international organizations as defined 
in Clauses 2 and 4, Article 73 of the Intellectual Property Law;  (ii) Names of characters or figures in publicly known works under copyright protection or trade 
names, trade indications, origin indications, prizes, me dals or particular signs of a type of product, 
which may cause confusion, as defined in Clause 5,  Article 73 of the Intellectual Property Law; 
 (iii) Signs covered by the protection of industrial  property rights of other persons as defined at 
Point m, Clause 2, Article 74 of the Intellectual Property Law; 
 
d/ Documents evidencing the right of priority;  e/ Information necessary for verification or affirmation of contents specified in the regulation on use of a collective mark or a certification mark or in other documents of the application. 
 
37.4. Requirements for written declarations  An applicant shall submit two written declarations, made  according to a set form (not printed herein), 
with the following attentions:  
a/ The section of mark description in the applicati on must clearly indicate the type of mark sought to 
be registered (common mark, collective mark, association mark, certification mark);  b/ If the mark sought to be registered is an asso ciation mark, the applicant shall clearly indicate 
associated elements being marks or goods or services according to the following provisions: 
 
(i) If associated elements are marks (similar to anothe r mark of the very applicant used for the same 
goods or service or used for similar goods or services), the applicant shall clearly indicate a mark considered substantial among those association marks (if any). If one or several of those marks have 
been registered or stated in the previously filed applications, the applicant shall clearly indicate the 
serial numbers of the protection titles and the previously filed applications. 
 
(ii) If associated elements are goods or services (a mark used for similar or interrelated goods or 
services), the applicant shall clearly indicate a goods or service considered substantial among those 
goods or services (if any). If one of those goods or services has been previously registered or stated in a previously filed application, the applicant shall clearly indicate the serial numbers of the protection 
title and previously filed application. 
 (iii) If the applicant fails to clearly indicate a subs tantial mark or a substantial goods or service, then 
all marks and all goods or services related to the mark stated in his/her application shall be considered 
independent from one another. The assessment of dis tinctiveness of the mark st ated in the application 
may not exceptionally apply to association marks defi ned at Point e, Clause 2, Article 74 of the 
Intellectual Property Law, but must comply with general provisions on assessment of distinctiveness 
of Point 39 of this Circular.  c/ For a certification mark, the applicant shall clearly indicate in the written declaration the 
certification purpose, content and method (certify wh at: certification of quality, origin, geographical 
origin or combination thereof; certification cont ent: specific conditions on the entity, goods or 
services; how to certify: order and procedures for grant of certification licenses, method of inspection and maintenance of the certification purpose and content).  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  d/ The declaration must contain the mark specimen and a written description of the mark according to 
the following provisions:  (i) If the mark consists of many elements, those elements and their combinations must be clearly indicated. If the mark contains configuration elements, contents and significance of those elements 
must be clearly defined; 
 (ii) If the protection is claimed for a colored mark, such a claim must be clearly stated and colors on 
the mark must be named;  
(iii) If the mark contains letters, words or expr essions in languages other than Vietnamese, their 
pronunciations (transliterated into Vietnamese) must be clearly annotated and their meanings (if any) 
must be translated into Vietnamese;  (iv) If the mark contains numerals other than Arabic and Roman numerals, those numerals must be 
transliterated into Arabic numerals. 
 e/ The section “List of goods and services bearing the mark” in the written declaration must be divided into groups in accordance with the Intern ational Classification of Goods and Services under 
the Nice Agreement published by the NOIP in the Industrial Property Official Gazette.  
37.5. Requirements for mark specimens 
 In addition to the mark specimen attached to the wr itten declaration, the application must be enclosed 
with 9 identical mark specimens that satisfy the following requirements:  
a/ 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;  b/ For a mark being a three-dimensional figure, th e mark specimen must be accompanied with a photo 
or drawing showing the three-dimensional dis position and may be accompanied with a descriptive 
specimen in the projection form; 
 c/ For a mark involving a claim for protection of colors, the mark specimen must be presented with 
the very colors sought to be protected. If the protect ion of colors is not claimed, the mark specimen 
must be in black and white. 
 
37.6. Requirements for regulations on use of  collective marks and certification marks 
 A regulation on use of a collective mark and a regul ation on use of a certification mark must have 
relevant contents specified in Clauses 4 and 5, Ar ticle 105 of the Intellectual Property Law and clarify 
the following matters: 
 
a/ Brief information on the mark, the mark pr oprietor and goods and services bearing the mark; 
 b/ Conditions for the mark registrant to license the mark and conditions for termination of the right to use the mark; 
 
c/ Obligations of the mark user (assuring the pa rticular quality and characteristics of a goods or 
service bearing the mark, submitting to the control of the mark registrant, paying the mark management charge, etc.);   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
 Page 55 
 
 
  d/ Rights of the mark registrant (controlling co mpliance with the regulation on use of the mark, 
collecting the mark management charge, suspending th e mark use right of a person who fails to satisfy 
the conditions specified in the mark use regulation, etc.); 
 e/ Mechanism of licensing, control and inspection of  use of the mark and assurance of the quality and 
reputation of goods and services bearing the mark); 
 f/ Dispute settlement mechanism.  37.7. Requirements on documents certifying the permission for registration and use of marks 
certifying geographical origins 
 a/ For a mark certifying a geographical origin, in  addition to the mark use regulation and necessary 
documents evidencing the right of mark registration, the application must also be enclosed with the 
local administration’s permission for the applicant to register a certification mark containing signs 
indicating a geographical origin (geographical name, symbol or map of the area or locality) for goods 
and services bearing the mark.  b/ If the area or locality bearing the geographical origin indication cannot be identified based on the 
administrative boundaries and the local administration ’s permission mentioned at Point 37.7 above, 
the NOIP shall request the applicant to supply a geographical map clearly indicating the area or 
locality bearing the geographical origin indicati on of goods and services with the concerned local 
administration’s certification.  38. Formality examination and publicati on of mark registration applications 
 
Procedures for formality examination and publication of mark registration applications shall comply 
with the general procedures specified at  Points 13 and 14 of this Circular. 
 39. Substantive examination of mark registration applications  39.1. The NOIP shall conduct the substantive examin ation of valid applications according to the 
general order specified at Point 15 of this Circular and specific provisions of this Point. 
 39.2. Assessment of conformity of objects stated in  mark registration applications with requests for 
grant of certificates of registered marks  
a/ According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 72 of the Intellectual Property Law, signs eligible 
for being registered as marks must be visible ones in the form of letters, numerals, words, pictures, 
images, including three-dimensional images or thei r combinations, presented in one or several given 
colors.  b/ The following types of sign shall not be protected as marks: 
 
(i) Signs that are merely colors and neither co mbined with character signs or figure signs nor 
presented in the form of character signs or figure signs;  (ii) Signs pertaining to objects not protectable as marks according to the provisions of Article 73 of 
the Intellectual Property Law; 
 (iii) Signs that are contrary to the public  order or prejudicial to national security. 
 IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  39.3. Assessment of distinctiveness of signs in the form of letters or numerals (hereinafter referred to 
as character signs) according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 74 of the Intellectual Property 
Law.  Except for the exceptions specified at Point 39.5 of this Circular, the following character signs shall 
be considered indistinctive: 
 a/ Characters of languages that are imperceptible  and unmemorable to the common knowledge of 
Vietnamese consumers (unreadable, incomprehensible  and unmemorable), such as characters not of 
Latin origin: Arabic, Slavonic, Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Thai characters, etc.; except 
when characters of these languages combine with ot her components to formulate a distinctive whole 
or are presented in a graphic form or other special forms;  b/ A Latin-origin character that consists of only one letter or consists of numerals only, or consists of 
two letters which cannot be pronounced as a word, ev en if it is accompanie d with numerals, except 
when it is presented in a graphic form or other special forms; 
 c/ A combination of too many letters or words th at is imperceptible and unmemorable, such as a 
sequence of too many characters not arranged accordi ng to a given order or rule, or a text or a 
paragraph;                       
d/ A Latin-origin character that is a meaningful word, the meaning of which has been so frequently 
and widely used in a relevant field in Vietnam that it loses its distinctiveness;  e/ A word or phrase that is used in Vietnam as th e common name of the very related goods or service; 
 
f/ A word or phrase that describes the very goods  or service bearing the mark, such as a sign 
indicating time, location, geographical origin (excep t when the registered mark is a mark certifying 
the geographical origin of a goods or a collectiv e mark), method of manufacture, type, quantity, 
quality and characteristics (except wh en the registered mark is a mark certifying the quality of a goods 
or service), composition, utility and value of a goods or service;  
g/ A word or phrase that is liable to describe the le gal status or business lines of the mark proprietor; 
 h/ A character sign that is identical or similar to any of objects covered by the protection of industrial 
property rights of other pers ons according to the provisions of Points  e, f, g, h, i, j and k, Clause 2, 
Article 74 of the Intellectual Property Law; 
 
i/ Character signs that cause misunderstanding or conf usion or mislead consumers as to the origin, 
utility, quality, value or other characteristics such as ingredients, process of manufacture, materials or 
superiority of a goods or service according to the prov isions of Clause 5, Article 73 of the Intellectual 
Property Law;  
j/ Character signs that are identical or confusingl y similar to real names, alias or pseudonyms of 
leaders, national heroes or personalities of Vietnam or foreign countries; identical or confusingly similar to names of characters or figures in other persons’ widely known works under copyright 
protection, unless it is so permitted by the owners of those works.  
39.4. Assessment of distinctiveness of signs in the fo rm of pictures or images (hereinafter referred to 
as figure signs) according to the provisions of Clau se 2, Article 74 of the Intellectual Property Law 
 Except for the exceptions specified at  Point 39.5 of this Circular, a figure sign shall be considered 
indistinctive if:  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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a/ It is a common figure or geometric figure, such as round, ellipse, triangle, quadrangle, etc., or a 
simple drawing; a picture or image used merely as a background or ornamental pattern of a product or 
a product package;  
b/ It is a picture or image that is too tangled or complicated for consumers to easily perceive and 
memorize its details, i.e. a sign that consists of too many combined or overlapped images or lines;  c/ It is a widely used picture, image, emblem or symbol;  
d/ It is a picture or image liable to describe th e very goods or service bearing the mark; location and 
method of manufacture, geographical origin, type, qu antity, quality, properties, composition, utility, 
value or other characteristics of the goods or service bearing the mark;  e/ It is identical to or not substantially distin guishable from protected industrial designs of other 
persons; 
 f/ It is identical or confusingly similar to im ages of leaders, national heroes or personalities of 
Vietnam or foreign countries; identical or confusingly similar to images of characters or figures in other persons’ widely known works under copyri ght protection, unless it is so permitted by the 
owners of those works. 
 
39.5. The following exceptions sh all apply upon assessment of distin ctiveness of character signs or 
figure signs:  a/ A sign that falls into the cases speci fied at Points 39.3.a, b, c, f and g and Points 39.4.a, b, c, d and e 
of this Circular has been used as a mark and widely known to consumers and that mark therefore 
become distinguishable from relevant goods and services.  b/ To be subject to the application of this excepti on, the applicant shall furn ish evidence of the wide 
use of that mark (the time of beginning of the use,  present scope and level of use, etc., in which, the 
mark shall be considered “in u se” when the use is made in lawf ul production, business, commercial, 
advertising or marketing activities) and eviden ce of the mark’s distinctiveness from the mark 
proprietor’s relevant goods and services. In this case, th at mark shall be recognized distinctive if it is 
presented in the form in which it has been unint erruptedly and widely used in the reality. 
 39.6. Assessment of distinctiveness of signs being co mbinations of character signs and figure signs 
(hereinafter referred to a combined signs) 
 A combined sign shall be considered distinctive wh en a character sign combines with a figure sign in 
a distinctive whole, specifically as follows:  a/ The character sign and the figure sign are all di stinctive and combined into a distinctive whole; 
 
b/ The strong component of the mark (the element that has a strong effect on the senses of consumers, 
attracts their attention to and gives an impression of the mark) is a distinctive character sign or figure 
sign, while other components are indistinctive or insignificantly distinctive.  
c/ If the combined sign consists of indistinctive or  insignificantly distinctive character signs and figure 
signs, but a unique combination of those signs gives a particular impression, that combined whole is still considered distinctive;  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  d/ The combined sign consists of indistinctive or  insignificantly distinctive character and figure 
components but that combined whole has become distinctive through the use according to the 
provisions of Point 39.5 of this Circular.  39.7. Minimum information source 
 
a/ To assess the ability of a sign st ated in an application to cause confusion, the NOIP shall conduct 
the search in the following minimum information source:  (i) Mark registration applications filed with the NOIP with filing dates or dates of priority earlier than 
the filing date or date of priority of the applica tion currently under examination and mark registration 
international applications designating Vietnam notifie d by the WIPO to the NOIP with filing dates or 
dates of priority earlier than the filing date or da te of priority of the application currently under 
examination for identical or similar goods and services;  
(ii) Marks already registered or recognized for protection still effective in Vietnam (including well-
known marks), for identical, similar or relevant goods and services;  (iii) Registered marks that have ceased to be va lid for more than five years, except for those 
invalidated for non-use defined at Point d, Clause 1, Article 95 of the Intellectual Property Law, for identical or similar goods and services; 
 
(iv) Geographical indications currently protected in Vietnam;  (v) Indications to the geographical origin of go ods and services; geographical names, quality or 
control hallmarks; national flags a nd emblems of nations; flags, names and emblems of Vietnamese 
and international agencies and organizations; name s and images of leaders, national heroes, names 
and images of personalities of Vietnam and foreign countries, etc., collected and stored by the NOIP.  b/ When necessary, the search may be conducted in  reference information sources other than the 
minimum information source defined at Point 39. 7.a above, such as industrial design registration 
applications, trade names, etc. 
 
39.8. Assessment of confusing similarity of si gns sought to be registered to other marks 
 a/ To assess whether or not a sign sought to be regist ered and stated in an application is identical or 
confusingly similar to another mark (hereinafter referred to as control mark), it is necessary to 
compare the disposition, content and pronunciation (for character signs), si gnificance and form of 
expression of the sign (for character signs and figure signs), and concurrently compare the goods and services bearing the sign with those bearing the control mark defined at this Point. 
 b/ Signs identical to control marks: A sign shall be considered identical to a control mark if it 
resembles the control mark in terms of disposition,  content, significance and form of expression. 
 
c/ A sign considered confusingly similar to a control mark if:  (i) It is similar to the control mark in terms of disposition or/and content or /and pronunciation or/and 
significance or/and form of expression in such a way that makes consumers misjudge these two 
objects as one or an object as a variation of the other or these two objects of the same origin; 
 (ii) It is merely a transliteration or translation of  the control mark, in case the control mark is a well-
known mark.   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  39.9. Assessment of similarity of goods and services 
 a/ Two goods or two services shall be considered id entical (of the same type) if these two goods or 
services have the following characteristics:  
(i) They have the same nature (composition, in gredients) and the same function and utility; or 
 (ii) They have similar natures and the same function and utility.  b/ Two goods or two services shall be considered similar if these two goods or services have the 
following characteristics: 
 (i) They are similar in nature; or  (ii) They are similar in function or utility; and 
 
(iii) They are marketed in the sa me commercial channel (they are di stributed by the same mode, or 
sold together or compete with each other in the same type of shop); 
 c/ A goods and a service shall be considered similar if they fall into one or several of the following 
cases: 
 
(i) They have a correlation in nature (a goods or service or a material or component of a goods or 
service forms constitutes part of the other); or  (ii) They have a correlation in function (to acco mplish the function of a goods or service, it is 
necessary to use the other, or they  are usually used together); or 
 (iii) They have a close correlation in method of rea lization (a goods or service is the result of the use 
or exploitation of the other); or  39.10. Inspection of the first-to-file rule 
Before issuing decisions on the grant of certificates  of registered marks, the NOIP shall inspect the 
observance of the first-to-file rule defined in  Article 90 of the Intellectual Property Law. 
 39.11. Conclusion on the ability of signs to be confused with control marks 
 
A sign shall be considered identical or confusingly similar to a control mark used for identical or 
similar or relevant goods in the following cases:  (i) It is identical to the control mark and goods and services bearing it are identical or similar  to goods and services bearing the control mark;  
(ii) It is identical to the control mark and goo ds and services bearing it are identical to goods and 
services bearing the control mark of the same mark proprietor;  (iii) It is confusingly similar to the control mark  and goods and services bearing it are identical or 
similar to goods and services bearing the control ma rk, except when the similarity of goods and 
services and the similarity of signs are unable to cause confusion when similar signs are used; 
 (iv) It is identical or similar to the control mark being a well-known mark and goods and services 
bearing it are neither identical nor similar to go ods and services bearing the mark, but its use as a 
mark may make consumers believe that there exis ts a relationship between goods and services bearing IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  it and the proprietor of the well-known mark and make it possible to reduce the distinctiveness or 
damage the reputation of the well-known mark.  39.12. Assessment of the ability of signs to cause other confusions 
 
The assessment of the ability of signs to cause other confusions shall comply with the provisions of 
Article 73 and Clause 2, Article 74 of the Inte llectual Property Law and the following specific 
provisions.  a/ A sign shall be considered havi ng caused confusion of origin of  goods or services in the following 
cases: 
 (i) It is identical or similar to the name or embl em of a nation or territory (national flag, national 
emblem, name of the nation or a locality) or confusin gly similar to the name or emblem of a nation or 
territory, causing a mislead that goods or services bearing the mark originate from that nation or 
territory; 
 (ii) It is identical or similar to a protected geographical indication, in case its use may mislead consumers as to the geographical origin of goods; it is identical to a geographical indication or 
contains a geographical indication or is translated or inscribed from a geographical indication protected for a wine or spirit, in case the sign sought to be registered as a mark for a wine or spirit 
does not originate in the geographical area subject to that geographical indication; 
 (iii) It is a word identical or similar to the trade name of another person, which has been lawfully used 
for the same type of goods or service, and able to make consumers believe that goods or services 
bearing it are manufactured or provided by the person having above trade name; it is an image 
identical or similar to the commercial logo of anot her person, which has been lawfully used for the 
same type of goods or service, and able to make consumers believe that goods  or services bearing it 
are manufactured or provided by the pe rson having the above commercial logo; 
 (iv) It is identical or similar to real names, alia s, pseudonyms or images of leaders, national heroes or 
personalities of Vietnam or foreign countries; it is id entical or similar to names or images of typical 
human characters or figures in widely known works, in case its use can make consumers believe that 
goods or services bearing it are manufactured or provided by owners of those works;  (v) It is identical to or not substantially dis tinguishable from industrial designs of other persons 
protected on the basis of industrial design registration a pplications with filing dates or dates of priority 
earlier than the filing date or date of prio rity of the mark registration application. 
 b/ In the following cases, a sign shall be considered ab le to cause confusion or mislead to the nature 
and value of goods and services:  (i) The sign is a word, picture, image or symbol that gives a misleading impression of properties or 
utilities of a goods or service, i.e., a sign identical or similar to a mark or another sign used so widely 
that it has been regarded as bei ng associated with a function or utility of a given type of goods or 
service and thereby making consumers believe that go ods and services bearing the sign also have such 
function or utility;  
(ii) The sign is a word or image that gives a misl eading impression of composition or ingredients of a 
goods or service, i.e., a description of another goods  or service relevant to the goods or service 
bearing the sign gives a misleading impression that the goods or service bearing the sign is composed of or has the same nature as the described goods or service.   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  40. Grant, registration and publication of certificates of registered marks 
 Procedures for grant, registration and publication of certificates of registered marks shall comply with 
the general procedures specified at Points 18 and 19 of this Circular. 
 
41. Processing of mark international registration applications originating in Vietnam and mark 
international registration app lications designating Vietnam 
 41.1. Procedures for mark international regist ration applications originating in Vietnam 
 
This Circular’s provisions on procedures for processi ng mark registration applications also apply to 
the processing of mark international re gistration applications at the NOIP. 
 41.2. Right of international registration of marks is based on basic mark registrations in Vietnam 
 
a/ Persons who are granted certificates of registered marks in Vietnam enjoy the right of international 
registration of those marks under the Madrid Agreement;  b/ Persons who have filed mark registration applications in Viet nam and persons who are granted 
certificates of registered marks in Vietnam enjoy the right of international registration of those marks 
under the Madrid Agreement. 
 
41.3. Mark international registration applications originating in Vietnam 
 a/ A mark international registration application th at designates a nation being a contracting party to 
the Madrid Agreement in which the protection is s ought to be registered and does not designate any 
nation being a contracting party to the Madrid Protocol must be in French. 
 b/ A mark international registration application that  designates at least one nation being a contracting 
party to the Madrid Protocol, and designates also a nation being a contracting party to the Madrid 
Agreement must be in English or French.  
c/ An applicant shall submit a written declaration re questing international registration of a mark made 
according to a set form (not printed herein) and a mark international registration application made 
according to a form supplied free of charge by the NOIP. The applicant shall clearly indicate in the 
written declaration countries being contracting pa rties to the Madrid Agreement (which may 
concurrently be contracting parties to the Madrid  Protocol) as well as those contracting to only the 
Madrid Protocol in which he/she seeks the protec tion of a mark. A mark international registration 
application must be made by accurately and full y filling information in sections reserved for the 
applicant and accompanied with mark specimens tr ue to those already registered in Vietnam. 
 d/ An applicant should preliminarily calculate th e total amount of fees and charges according to the 
fee tariff printed in the application form or may request the NOIP to notify the exact amount of fees 
and charges to be paid to the International Bureau. He/she shall pay those fees and charges directly to 
the International Bureau and additionally pay relevant fees and charges set by the NOIP. 
 e/ An applicant shall guarantee that information (especially his/her name and address, goods, services 
and classification thereof) supplied in a mark inte rnational registration application, including the 
language and translations thereof, are accurate and c onsistent with information stated in the relevant 
basic mark registration certificate or basic mark regi stration application. He/she shall pay amounts of 
fees due for the modification or supplementation of  the mark international registration application 
containing inaccurate or inconsistent informa tion under notices of the International Bureau. 
 IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  f/ All mails and transactions related to a mark international registration application shall be 
communicated and conducted through the NOIP. The NOIP shall promptly notify requests of 
applicants to the International Bureau  and vice versa under relevant treaties. 
 41.4. The agency receiving mark international registration application originating in Vietnam 
 
a/ Mark international registration applications sha ll be filed with the International Bureau through the 
NOIP. The NOIP shall transfer mark international regi stration applications to the International Bureau 
within 30 days after receiving comple te and valid application documents. 
 
b/ The date the NOIP receives a mark international registration application shall be considered the 
date of filing a mark international registration a pplication in case the International Bureau receives 
that application within two months from the date in dicated in the NOIP’s seal of application receipt. If 
the application is not completed by the applicant befo re it is sent to the International Bureau within 
the above time limit, the date of receipt of the application by the International Bureau shall be 
considered the date of filing the mark international registration application. 
 41.5. Supplementation, modification and transfer of mark international registration applications, mark 
international registrations or iginating in Vietnam    
 a/ After an application is filed with the Interna tional Bureau, all transactions between the applicant 
and the International Bureau related to the modifi cation of the name and ad dress, narrowing of the list 
of goods and services stated in the mark internatio nal registration application, mark international 
registration and extension of validity of mark inte rnational registration shall be established in writing 
according to a set form (not printed herein) and e ffected through the NOIP. The applicant shall pay 
prescribed fees and charges for those transactions. 
 
b/ A mark proprietor shall request, through the NOIP (o r directly request the International Bureau for 
international registrations of marks in nations accedi ng only to the Madrid Prot ocol), the International 
Bureau to record the transfer of the proprietorship under according to the international registration of 
mark and relevant treaties and pay prescribed fees and charges.  
41.6. Processing of mark international re gistration applications designating Vietnam 
 a/ After receiving a notice of the International Bur eau on a mark international registration application 
designating Vietnam, the NOIP shall conduct the subs tantive examination of the application according 
to the procedures applicable to mark registration a pplication filed directly with the NOIP. Within 12 
months after the International Bureau issues the notice, the NOIP shall make a conclusion on 
protectability of the mark.  b/ For a mark protectable under Vietnamese law, the NOIP shall issue a decision on protection of 
internationally registered mark, publish it in the Indu strial Property Official Gazette, and record it in 
the national register of marks within one month from the date of its issuance . The protection coverage 
(volume) shall be certified according to the cont ent of the request of the mark international 
registration application recorded by the Worl d Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and 
certified by the NOIP.  c/ For a mark unprotectable or partially refused, th e NOIP shall, before the expiration of the above 12-
month time limit, notify in writing the International Bureau of the refusal for subsequent notification 
to the applicant, clearly stating the reas on for the refusal and the refused contents. 
 d/ Within three months after the NOIP sends a notice on its refusal, the applicant may lodge a complaint about the NOIP’s refusal. Procedures for lodging and settling complaints shall be carried  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  out as for mark registration applications filed direc tly with the NOIP. Results of complaint settlement 
shall be notified by the NOIP to the In ternational Bureau and the applicant. 
 e/ As from the date a recognized mark international registration becomes valid in Vietnam, the NOIP shall, upon the request of the mark proprietor, grant a certificate of protection in Vietnam of 
internationally registered mark, if th e requester pays the prescribed fee. 
 41.7. Extension of validity of mark interna tional registrations originating in Vietnam 
 Within six months before the date of expiratio n of the valid duration of a mark international 
registration (20 years from the filing date of a mark  international registration application for nations 
being contracting parties to the Madrid Agreement,  including those concurrently contracting to the 
Madrid Protocol; 10 years from the filing date of a mark international registration application for 
nations contracting only to the Madrid Protocol), the applicant shall pay the fee for extension of 
validity of mark intern ational registrations according to no tices of the International Bureau. 
 
41.8. Mark registration applications  converted due to invalidation of mark international registrations 
 a/ If a mark international registration in Vietnam of a mark proprietor who is a national of a nation 
contracting only to the Madrid Pr otocol is invalidated under Article 9quinquies  of the Madrid 
Protocol, such person may file a converted mark regi stration application made according to a set form 
(not printed herein) to the NOIP for registration of pr otection of the very mark for part of or the whole 
goods or services on the list of goods and services r ecorded in the invalidated mark international 
registration.  b/ A converted mark registration application shall be accepted if it satisfies the following conditions: 
 
(i) It is filed within three months from the date of invalidation of the relevant mark international 
registration;  (ii) Goods or services stated in the converted mark registration application are on the list of goods and 
services stated in an ordinary mark international registration; 
 
(iii) It satisfies all formality and substantive re quirements according to Vietnamese law and the 
applicant pays fully the prescribed fees and charges.  c/ A converted mark registration appli cation is allowed to bear the filing date or the date of priority of 
the relevant mark international registration application (if the mark international registration 
application enjoys the right of priority under treaties).  d/ The NOIP shall process applications for registra tion of converted marks as for ordinary marks. 
 42. Recognition of well-known marks 
 
42.1. Well-known marks are protected by Vietname se law in accordance with the provisions of 
Article 75 of the Intellectual Property Law and Article 6 bis of the Paris Convention for the Protection 
of Industrial Property.  
42.2. Rights to well known marks are protected and belong to proprietors of those marks without any 
registration procedures. Mark proprietors may use do cuments specified at Point 42.3 of this Circular 
to evidence their ownership of marks and prove th at their marks satisfy the conditions for being 
considered well-known.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  42.3. Documents evidencing the ownership and re putation of a mark include information on the 
scope, scale, level and continuity of the use of the mark, including an explanation of origin, history 
and time of continuous use of the mark; number of na tions in which the mark has been registered or 
recognized as a well-known mark; list of goods and se rvices bearing the mark; the territorial area in 
which the mark is circulated, turnover from products  sold or services provided; quantity of goods and 
services bearing the mark manufactured or sold; pr operty value of the mark, price of assignment or 
licensing of the mark and value of investment capita l contributed in the form of the mark; investment 
in and expenses for advertising and marketing of the mark, including those for participation in 
national and international exhibitions ; infringements, disputes and decisions or rulings of the court or 
competent agencies; surveyed number of consumer s knowing the mark through sale, purchase, use, 
advertisement and marketing; ra ting and evaluation of reputation of the mark by national or 
international organizations or the mass media; pr izes and medals awarded on the mark; results of 
examinations held by intellectual property examination organizations. 
 42.4. If a well-known mark is recognized accordi ng to civil procedures or under a recognition 
decision of the NOIP, that well-known mark shall be recorded in the list of well-known marks kept at 
the NOIP.  Section 6. PROCEDURES FOR REGISTRATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS  43. Requirements for geographical i ndication registration applications 
 
43.1. Geographical indication registration applications  must satisfy the general requirements specified 
at Points 7 and 10.1 of this Circular and specific requirements of this Point.  43.2. Applications must ensure uniformity as required specified in Clause 1, Article 101 of the 
Intellectual Property Law. Each application may re gister only one geographical indication used for 
one product.  43.3. Application documents: Written application, made according to a set form (not printed herein); 
description of the nature/quality/reputation of th e product; map of geographical area subject to the 
geographical indication (all made in two copies)  and 10 specimens showing the presentation of the 
geographical indication to be used, of a size of between 20 mm x 20 mm and 80 mm x 80 mm (if the 
geographical indication does not consist of words).  43.4. Requirements for the description of th e nature/quality/reputation of the product 
 
a/ A description of the nature/quality/reputation of the product must have the following principal 
information:  (i) Enumeration of the given nature/quality of the product bearing the geographical indication dictated by geographical conditions - by means of sense, qualitative and quantitative indicators to physical, 
chemical and biological properties, which can be tested by technical devices or experts using a 
specified testing method; and/or 
 (ii) Reputation of the product bearing the geographi cal indication dictated by geographical conditions 
- determined through the widespread knowledge of interested consumers about that product, which 
can be tested; and 
 
(iii) Geographical conditions liable to the nature /quality and reputation of  the product bearing the 
geographical indication, including unique meteor ological, hydrological, geological, topographic and 
ecological elements and other natural conditions; uni que elements being skills of producers, including 
also a traditional production process of the locality (which might cover one, several or all production  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  stages, from production of materials, processing of materials to making of products, and even the 
stage of product packing if this stage has an effe ct on the nature/quality and reputation of the product) 
if that process is liable to create and maintain the nature/quality and reputation of the product bearing 
the geographical indication, which contain informati on that is clear and detailed enough to be tested 
(if the above information contains secrets or tec hnical know-how not yet disclosed or widely known 
beyond the locality, the applicant may refuse to s upply detailed information on those secrets or know-
how without being assured of confidentiality of  those information upon his/her request); and 
 (iv) Correlation between particular nature/qua lity and reputation of the product bearing the 
geographical indication defined at Points 43.4.a (i ) and (ii) and geographical  conditions defined at 
Point 43.4.a (iii) above. 
 b/ The description of the nature/quality/reputa tion of the product must be accompanied with 
documents proving that information on the nature/ quality/reputation are grounded and true (results of 
examination, research, survey, etc.). 
 
43.5. Requirements for maps of geographical areas subject to geographical indications 
 A map of a geographical area subject to a geographi cal indication must be adequately informative, 
based on which the geographical area where exist a ll natural conditions liable to the particular 
nature/quality and reputation of th e product can be accurately identified. The map may be submitted 
together with documents describing the geographi cal area subject to the geographical indication. 
 44. Formality examination and publication of ge ographical indication registration applications 
 Procedures for formality examination and publi cation of geographical indication registration 
applications shall comply with the general procedur es specified at Points 13 and 14 of this Circular. 
 45. Substantive examination of geographi cal indication registration applications 
 45.1. Order of carrying out procedures for substantive examination  
The substantive examination of geographical indica tion registration applica tions shall be conducted 
according to the general order specified at Point 15 of this Circular and specific provisions of this 
Point.  45.2. Assessment of compatibility of objects stated in  applications with certificates of registered 
geographical indications 
 An object stated in a geographical indication registra tion application shall be considered incompatible 
with the type of geographical indication protection title if it is not a visible sign used to indicate a product originating in a specific area, locality, territory or nation according to the provisions of Clause 22, Article 4 of the Intellectual Property Law. 
 
45.3. Assessment of geog raphical indications based on protection conditions 
 a/ An object stated in an application shall be accepted for registration and recorded in the national 
register of geographical indications if it fully sa tisfies the conditions specified in Article 79 of the 
Intellectual Property Law and does not fall into the cases specified in Article 80 of the Intellectual 
Property Law. More specifically, all the following conditions must be satisfied:  (i) There exists a geographical area subject to the geographical indication stated in the application; 
 IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  (ii) The product originates in the above geographical area; 
 (iii) The product has a given nature/quality and/or reputation dictated by geographical conditions of 
the above geographical area according to the provisio ns of Article 82 of the Intellectual Property Law; 
 
b/ In the following cases, a geographical indication stated in an application is not registered: 
 (i) It has become a common name of goods in Vietnam;  (ii) It belongs to a foreign country and it is not pr otected or ceases to be protected or has fallen into 
disuse in that country; 
 (iii) It is identical or similar to a protected mark in Vietnam and its use can mi slead as to the origin of 
a product;   
(iv) It misleads consumers as to the true geographical origin of the product bearing it. 
 c/ Method of assessment of geographical i ndications based on the protection conditions 
 The assessment of a geographical indication ba sed on the protection conditions specified at 
Points 45.3.a and b above shal l be conducted based on informati on supplied by the applicant and 
information acquired from the following mandatory minimum information source: 
 (i) Marks currently protected in Vietnam for products  identical or similar to the product bearing the 
geographical indication, with the dates on which the protection starts earlier than the filing date of the 
geographical indication registration application, including marks protected under treaties to which 
Vietnam is a contracting party; 
 (ii) Marks recognized by the NOIP as well known marks.  If a mark identical or similar to the geographical i ndication is found, the NOIP shall notify such to the 
mark proprietor for the latter to give opinions on th e registration of the geographical indication within 
one month from the date of signing of the notice, clearly stating the mark proprietor’s right of 
opposition to the registration of the geographical in dication on the condition of sufficient grounds to 
prove that the geographical indication falls into the case specified in Clause 3, Article 80 of the 
Intellectual Property Law. Opinions of the mark proprietor shall be considered according to the 
provisions of Point 6 of this Circular on c onsideration of opinions of a third party. 
 
A geographical indication that misleads consumers as  to the true geographical origin of the product 
bearing that geographical indication when it is consid ered identical or indistinguishably similar to a 
sign known to Vietnamese consumers as an indicati on of geographical origin of a goods or service. 
 45.4. Notification of results of substantive examination 
 
Results of substantive examination of geographica l indication registration applications shall be 
notified according to the general provision s of Point 15.7 of this Circular. 
 46. Grant, registration and publication of certif icates of registered geographical indications 
 
Procedures for issuance of decisions on grant, registration and publication of certificates of registered geographical indications shall comply with the genera l provisions of Points 18 and 19 of this Circular. 
  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  Chapter II 
PROCEDURES FOR REGISTRATION OF CONTRACTS ON ASSIGNMENT OF INDUSTRIAL 
PROPERTY RIGHTS AND PROCEDURES FOR MAKING DECISIONS ON COMPULSORY 
LICENSING OF PATENTS 
 
Section 1. PROCEDURES FOR REGISTRAT ION OF CONTRACTS ON ASSIGNMENT OF 
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS  47. Dossiers for registration of contract s on assignment of industrial property rights 
 
47.1. A dossier for registration of a contract on transfer of industrial property rights comprises the 
following documents:  a/ Two copies of the written declaration for regist ration of the contract on transfer of industrial 
property rights, made according to a set form (not printed herein); 
 
b/ Two originals or two valid copies of the contract; if the contract is made in a language other than 
Vietnamese, it must be enclosed with its Vietnamese translation; if the contract consists of many pages, each page must be appended with the pa rties’ signatures for certification or every two 
adjoining pages must be appended with a seal on their inner edges;  
c/ Original protection title; 
 d/ Written consent of co-owners to the transfer of  industrial property rights, if those industrial 
property rights are under common ownership;  
e/ Power of attorney (if the dossi er is filed through a representative); 
 f/ Fee and charge receipts.  47.2. A dossier for registration of a contract on licensing of an industrial property object (industrial property licensing contract) comprises the following documents: 
 
a/ Two copies of the written declaration on the industrial property licensing contract, made according 
to a set form (not printed herein);  b/ Two originals or two valid copies; if the contr act is made in a language other than Vietnamese, it 
must be enclosed with its Vietnamese translation; if the contract consists of many pages, each page 
must be appended with the parties’ signatures for ce rtification or every two adjoining pages must be 
appended with a seal on their inner edges;  c/ Written consent of co-owners to the licensing of  the industrial property object, if the relevant 
industrial property rights are under common ownership; 
 
d/ Power of attorney (if the dossier is filed through a representative);  e/ Fee and charge receipts.  
48. Procedures for processing of registration dossiers 
 48.1. If a dossier for registration of a contract on tr ansfer of industrial property rights contains no error 
defined at Point 48.3 of this Circular, the NOIP shall carry out the following activities:  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  a/ To issue a decision on the grant of a certificat e of registration of the contract on transfer of 
industrial property rights/licensing of an industrial property object;  b/ (For a contract on transfer of industrial propert y rights): To record in the protection title the new 
owner; in case of partial transfer of the list of goods and services bearing the protected mark, to grant 
a new certificate of registered mark to the tran sferee and confine the list of goods/services in the 
original protection title for the transferred part; or (for a contract on licensing of an industrial property 
object): To grant a certificate of registration of the contract on licensing of an industrial property 
object to the dossier-filing person; to append the re gistration seal on two originals or copies of the 
contract, of which one shall be handed to the dossier-filing person and the other kept by it. 
 
c/ To record the assignment of industrial propert y rights in the national register of assignment of 
industrial property rights;  d/ To publish the decision on grant of a certificate of registration of the contract on assignment of 
industrial property rights in the Industrial Property Official Gazette within two months from the date 
of signing the decision.  48.2. If a dossier for registration of a contract on assignment of industrial property rights contains 
errors defined at Point 48.3 of this Circular, the NOIP shall carry out the following procedures: 
 
a/ To issue a notice on its intended refusal of registra tion of the contract, clearly stating errors of the 
dossier and setting a time limit of one month from the date of signing of the notice for the dossier-filing person to correct the errors and make an oppos ition to the intended refusal of registration of the 
contract;  
b/ To issue a notice on its refusal of registration of  the contract if the dossier-filing person fails to 
correct or unsatisfactorily corrects the errors, makes no opposition or an unreasonable opposition to 
the intended refusal of registration of the contract within the set time limit.  48.3. A dossier for registration of a contract on assignment of industrial property rights shall be 
considered erroneous if it falls  into one of the following cases: 
 
a/ The written declaration is invalid;  b/ One of the documents on the list of required documents is absent;  
c/ The power of attorney is invalid; 
 d/ The contract copies are not duly certified;  e/ The name and address of the assignor stated in th e contract are not consistent with the relevant 
information in the protection title or the contract based on which the assigned rights arise, or in the 
power of attorney or written declaration; the name  and address of the assignee stated in the contract 
are not consistent with those stated in th e power of attorney or written declaration; 
 f/ The contract does not contain all signatures (and seals, if any) of the assignor and the assignee;  
 
g/ The transferor is not the protection title holder; 
 h/ The term of protection of the concerned industria l property object has expired or there is a dispute 
over that object;   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  i/ The assignment contract lacks required contents sp ecified in Article 140 or Clause 1, Article 144 of 
the Intellectual Property Law;  j/ The contract contains a content incompliant w ith the provisions on conditions for restriction of 
transfer of industrial property rights specified in Article 139 of the Intellectual Property Law or 
contains clauses on unreasonable restriction of rights of the industrial property object licensee 
specified in Clause 2, Article 144 of the Intellectual Property Law;  k/ There is a ground to confirm that the transfer of industrial property rights infringes upon industrial 
property rights of a third party. 
 
48.4. The time limit for processing a dossier for regist ration of a contract on assignment of industrial 
property rights is two months (not including the tim e for the dossier-filing person to correct errors). 
 49. Recording of modification of contents, extens ion and ahead-of-time termination of validity of 
contracts on licensing of industrial property objects 
 49.1. The modification of contents, extension and ah ead-of-time termination of validity of registered 
contracts on licensing of industrial property objects sh all all be recorded by the NOIP according to the 
provisions of this Point.  
49.2. A dossier requesting recording of modificati on of contents, extension or termination of a 
contract  a/ A dossier requesting recording of modification of  contents, extension or ahead-of-time termination 
of validity of a contract on licensing of an industr ial property object must be made in writing and 
comprise the following documents: 
 (i) Two copies of the written declaration requesting recording of modification of contents, extension 
or termination of validity of the contract on licensi ng of an industrial property object, made according 
to a set form (not printed herein);  
(ii) The original certificate of registration of the contract on licensing of an industrial property object 
(in case of registration of modification of contents  or extension of valid ity of the contract); 
 (iii) Documents evidencing the modification of th e names and addresses of the contracting parties; 
 
(iv) Agreements or documents on recording of specifi c contract clauses that need to be modified or 
supplemented, including the extension or ahead-of- time termination of validity of the contract; 
 (v) Power of attorney (if the request  is filed through a representative); 
 (vi) Fee receipt. 
 
b/ A dossier requesting extension of a contract must  be filed at least one m onth before the expiration 
of the contract term stated in the certificate of re gistration of the contract on licensing of an industrial 
property object.  
49.3. Within one month after receiving a dossier re questing recording of modification of contents, 
extension or termination of validity of a contract, the NOIP shall examine the dossier according to the 
following provisions:  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  a/ If the dossier is valid, the NOIP shall issue a decision on recording of modification of contents, 
extension or termination of validity of the contract  on licensing of an industrial property object; record 
the modified contents, extension of validity of the contract on licensing of an industrial property 
object in a certificate of registration of the contr act on licensing of an industrial property object; 
record the modified contents, extension or terminat ion of validity of the contract on licensing of an 
industrial property object in the national register of assignment of industrial property rights; publish 
the decision on recording of modification of conten ts, extension or termination of validity of the 
contract on licensing of an industrial property object in the Industrial Property Official Gazette within 
two months from the date of signing of the decision;  
b/ If the dossier contains errors, the NOIP shall is sue a notice on its intended refusal to record the 
modification of contents, extensi on or termination of validity of the contract on licensing of an 
industrial property object, clearly stating the dossi er’s errors and setting a time limit of one month 
from the date of issuance of the notice on its inte nded refusal for the dossier-filing person to correct 
the errors or make an opposition to the intended refu sal of registration of the contract; issue a notice 
on its refusal to record the modification of conten ts, extension or termination of validity of the 
contract on licensing of an industrial property obj ect if the dossier-filing person fails to correct or 
unsatisfactorily corrects the dossier’s errors, makes no opposition or an unreasonable opposition within the set time limit.  Section 2. PROCEDURES FOR MAKING DECISIONS ON COMPULSORY LICENSING OF 
PATENTS 
 50. Dossiers for requesting issuance of decisions on compulsory licensing of patents  50.1. Organizations or individuals that are capable, obliged or have a need to use patents defined at 
Points a, b and c or are targeted by anti-compet itive practices specified at Point d, Clause 1, 
Article 145 of the Intellectual Property Law may re quest competent persons defined in Clause 1, 
Article 147 of the Intellectual Property Law to issu e decisions on compulsory licensing of patents to 
them according to the specific provisions of this Section.  50.2. A dossier for requesting issuance of a d ecision on compulsory licensing of a patent must 
comprise the following documents: 
 a/ Two copies of the written declaration for requ esting compulsory licensing of a patent, made 
according to a set form (not printed herein);  
b/ Documents proving that the re quest for issuance of a decision on compulsory licensing of a patent 
is reasonably grounded according to law, specifically:  (i) If the request for issuance of a decision on com pulsory patent licensing is based on the provisions 
of Point a, Clause 1, Article 145 of the Intellectua l Property Law, the dossier must contain documents 
proving that at the time of filing the application, th ere exists a practical demand for use of the patent 
for the public, non-commercial, defense, security, disease prevention and treatment or people’s 
nutrition purpose or to meet other urgent needs of th e society, but the patent holder fails to use the 
patent and the non-use of the patent will a ffect the achievement of the above purposes; 
 (ii) If the request for issuance of a decision on com pulsory patent licensing is based on the provisions 
of Point b, Clause 1, Article 145 of the Intellectua l Property Law, the dossier must contain documents 
proving that the patent holder fails to perform the obligation to use the patent specified in Clause 1, Article 136 and Clause 5, Article 142 of the Intellectua l Property Law and by the time of filing of the 
dossier the time limit of four years from the date of filing the invention registration application and 
the time limit of three years from the date of grant of the patent have expired;  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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(iii) If the request for issuance of a decision on compulsory patent licensing is based on the provisions of Point c, Clause 1, Article 145 of the Intellectua l Property Law, the dossier must contain documents 
proving that a person that needs to use the patent fails to reach agreement with the patent holder on 
signing a contract of patent licensing though he/she made every effort within a reasonable period to 
negotiate with the patent holder with a reasonable pr ice and commercial terms, and clearly stating the 
demand for patent use, period of negotiation, spec ific price and commercial terms offered by the 
person that needs to use the patent;  (iv) If the request for issuance of a decision on co mpulsory patent licensing is based on the provisions 
of Point c, Clause 1, Article 145 of the Intellectua l Property Law, the dossier must contain documents 
proving that the patent holder has committed acts regarded as prohibited anti-competitive practices 
defined by the competition law;  (v) For a request for issuance of a decision on com pulsory patent licensing in the domain of semi-
conductor technology, the dossier must contain documents  proving that the use of the patent is for the 
public or non-commercial purpose only or produce doc uments proving that the patent holder has 
committed acts regarded as prohibited anti-compe titive practices defined by the competition law; 
 c/ Power of attorney (if the dossi er is filed through a representative); 
 
d/ Fee receipt. 
 51. Procedures for processing dossiers for requesti ng issuance of decisions on compulsory patent 
licensing  
51.1. Dossiers shall be filed according to the following provisions: 
 a/ Dossiers falling into the cases sp ecified at Point b, c and d, Clause 1, Article 145 of the Intellectual 
Property Law shall be filed with the NOIP;  b/ Dossiers falling into the cases specified at Point a, Clause 1, Article 145 of the Intellectual Property 
Law shall be filed with the ministries or ministeria l-level agencies in charge of patent management. 
 51.2. Examination of dossiers  For dossiers falling into the cases specified at Po int 51.1.b of this Circular, the ministries and 
ministerial-level agencies shall designate an ag ency to receive and examine those dossiers. 
Within two months after receiving a dossier, the NOIP or the dossier examination agency of the 
ministries or ministerial-level agencies (hereinaft er referred to as the dossier examination agency) 
shall consider it according to the following provisions:  a/ If the dossier is valid: Within 15 days after r eceiving the dossier, the dossier examination agency 
shall issue a notice on request for patent licensing under a compulsory decision to the patent holder 
and request the latter to give written opinions w ithin one month from the date of notice issuance; 
request concerned parties to overcome divergent opinions to negotiate again on the signing of a 
contract on patent licensing, when necessary; if no agreement is reached by the parties and when 
considering the patent holder’s refusal to sign the contract on patent licensing unreasonable, report on 
the dossier consideration results and propose the Mi nister of Science and Technology and heads of 
ministerial-level agencies to issue a d ecision on compulsory patent licensing. 
 If the request falls into the cases sp ecified at Point a, Clause 1, Article 145 of the Intellectual Property 
Law and the use of the patent is for public or non-commercial purposes, the ministries or ministerial-IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  level agencies may issue a decision on compulsory  patent licensing without having to request the 
patent holder to make opinions and the concerned parties to negotiate. 
 b/ If a request for issuance of a decision on patent licensing is not reasonably grounded according to the provisions of Article 145 of the Intellectual Pr operty Law, the dossier examination agency shall 
report on the dossier consideration results to a nd propose the Minister of Science and Technology, 
ministers or heads of ministerial-level agencies to  issue a notice on intended refusal, clearly stating 
the reason for refusal and setting a time limit of one month from the date of notice issuance for the 
dossier-filing person to make opinions on the intended refusal.  
The time limit for the dossier-filing person to correct  the dossier’s errors or make an opposition shall 
not be counted in the time limit for dossier consideration.  c/ For a dossier falling into the cases specified at Point a, Clause 1, Article 145 of the Intellectual 
Property Law, the dossier examination agency of th e ministries or ministerial-level agencies shall 
copy and send copies of the dossier (through the NOIP) to the Ministry of Science and Technology for 
comments before submitting it to the ministers or heads of ministerial-level agencies for decision 
according to the provisions of Points a and b above . Within 15 days after receiving the dossier, the 
NOIP shall consider and report it to the Minister of  Science and Technology for him/her to request in 
writing the ministers or heads of ministerial-level agencies to issue a decision on compulsory patent licensing or a notice on refusal. 
 
51.3. Within 15 days after receiving a report of  the NOIP on dossier consideration results, the 
Minister of Science and Technology shall consid er and issue a decision on compulsory patent 
licensing, or send to the dossier-filing person a notice on its refusal of compulsory patent licensing, clearly stating the reason for refusal. 
 
Within 15 days after receiving a written request of the Minister of Science and Technology, the 
ministers or heads of ministerial-level agencies shall consider and issue a decision on compulsory 
patent licensing, or send to the dossier-filing pers on a notice on its refusal of compulsory patent 
licensing, clearly stating the reason for refusal.  
If disagreeing with the request of the Minister of Science and Technology, the ministers or heads of 
ministerial-level agencies shall notify the disagre ement in writing, clearly stating the reason for 
disagreement.  51.4. Decisions on compulsory patent licensing shall be sent by the ministers or heads of ministerial-
level agencies to patent licensees, patent holders and the NOIP. 
 The NOIP shall record those decisions in the national register on assignment of industrial property rights within one month and publish them in the Industrial Property Official Gazette within two 
months from the dates of their signing.  
52. Requests for termination of patent licensing under compulsory decisions 
 52.1. The termination of patent licensing under compul sory decisions shall be decided by ministers or 
heads of ministerial-level agencies who have issued decisions on compulsory licensing.  
52.2. A request for termination of patent licen sing under a compulsory decision must comprise the 
following documents:  a/ Written request for termination of pate nt licensing under a compulsory decision; 
  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  b/ Documents proving that the grounds for patent  licensing under a compulsory decision no longer 
exist and are unlikely to revive, and at the same ti me the termination of patent licensing will cause no 
damage to the patent licensee;  c/ Power of attorney (if the requ est is filed through a representative); 
 
d/ Fee receipts.  52.3. Procedures for receiving and handling requ ests for termination of patent licensing under 
compulsory decisions and issuing termination d ecisions shall be carried out like procedures for 
receiving and processing dossiers for requesting patent licensing under compulsory decisions 
specified at Point 51 of this Circular.  
Chapter III 
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY REPRESENTATION 
 
Section 1. GRANT AND WITHDRAWAL OF  INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY REPRESENTATION 
SERVICE PRACTICE CERTIFICATES  53. Grant of practice certificates  
53.1. Conditions for grant of practice certificates 
 Only persons who fully satisfy the conditions specifi ed in Clause 2, Article 155 of the Intellectual 
Property Law may be granted industrial property representation service practice certificates. To be granted certificates, those persons shall file dossi ers of application with the NOIP according to the 
provisions of this Point. 
 53.2. Dossiers of application for practice certificates  a/ A dossier of application for an industrial property representation service practice certificate must comprise the following documents: 
 
(i) Two copies of the written declaration for requ esting grant of an industrial property representation 
service practice certificate (practice certificate), made  according to a set form (not printed herein); 
 (ii) A copy of the notice on the pass of an examin ation of professional qualifications for industrial 
property representation organized by the NOIP; 
 (iii) Two 3 cm x 4 cm photos;  (iv) Fee receipt.   
53.3. Processing of dossiers of application for practice certificates 
 For a valid dossier, the NOIP shall, within one month after receiving the dossier, base itself on the 
dossier consideration, issue a decision on grant of a practice certificate and grant a practice certificate to the dossier-filing person; record the grant of a practice certificate in the national register of 
industrial property representation; publish the grant of a practice certificate in the Industrial Property 
Official Gazette within two months from the date of  decision signing; or notify errors in the dossier 
and set a time limit of one month for the dossier-fili ng person to correct the errors; or issue a notice on 
its refusal to grant a practice certificate, clearl y stating the reason for refusal, if the dossier-filing 
person fails to correct or unsatisfactorily co rrects the errors or the dossier is invalid. IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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54. Withdrawal of practice certificates  If an industrial property representative commits a violation and is imposed with the sanction of 
withdrawal of practice certificate, the NOIP shall, based on a decision on withdrawal of industrial 
property representation service practice certificate, issued by a state agency competent to handle 
administrative violations, issue a decision on withdrawal  of practice certificate; delete the name of the 
industrial property representative from the list of industrial property representatives of the industrial 
property representation service orga nization; publish the withdrawal of practice certificate in the 
Industrial Property Official Gazette within two months from the date of decision signing. 
 
55. Renewal of practice certificates  The NOIP shall carry out procedures for renewal of  industrial property representation service practice 
certificates upon written requests made according a set form by industrial property representatives in 
case their practice certificates are lost or irreparably damaged (torn, stained or faded). 
 Procedures for renewal of practice certificates shall be carried out like procedures for grant of practice certificates specified at Point 53.3 of this Circular.  Section 2. RECORDING, MODIFICATION AND DELETION OF NAMES OF INDUSTRIAL 
PROPERTY REPRESENTATION SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS 
 56. Recording of industr ial property representation service organizations 
 56.1. To be officially licensed to exercise the ri ght to represent applicants before the NOIP, an 
industrial property representation service organization sh all carry out procedures for being recorded in 
the national register of industrial propert y representation specified at this Point. 
 56.2. A dossier of request for recording of an i ndustrial property representation service organization in 
the national register of industrial property representation must comprise the following documents:  
a/ Two copies of the written declaration for requesting recording of an industrial property 
representation service organization, made according to a set form (not printed herein);  b/ List of the organization’s members possessing industrial property representation service practice certificates enclosed with copies of their employment decisions/labor contracts; 
 
c/ Copies of the organization’s business registration certificate/operation registration certificate;  d/ The organization’s industrial propert y representation service charge tariff; 
 e/ The organization head’s written mandate of re presentation for one of the members on the list 
specified at Point 56.2.b above (when necessary); 
 f/ Fee receipt.  56.3. Within one month after receiving a dossier of  request for recording of an industrial property 
representation service organization, the NOIP shall c onsider it according to procedures similar to the 
procedures for grant of industrial property representation service practice certificates specified at Point 53.3 of this Circular.   IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  57. Recording of modification of informa tion on industrial property representation service 
organizations  57.1. An industrial property representation service organization may request the NOIP to record changes related to its name and address, and th e names and addresses of the members on its list of 
industrial property representatives. 
 57.2. A dossier of request for recording of modification of information on an industrial property representation service organization must comprise the following documents:  
a/ Two copies of the written declaration for requ esting recording of modification of information on 
industrial property representation service organization, made according to a set form (not printed herein);  b/ Copies of the modified business registration certificate/operation registration certificate of the 
industrial property representation service organizati on (in case of change of the organization’s name 
or address);  c/ Decision on employment or decision on termination of the labor contract of an industrial property 
representative being a member of the organization (in case of change of a member on the organization’s list of industrial property representatives); 
 
d/ Fee receipt.  57.3. Procedures for processing dossiers of request  for modification of information on industrial 
property representation service orga nizations shall be carried out like the procedures specified at 
Point 53.3. of this Circular. 
 58. Deletion of names of industrial pr operty representation service organizations 
In the cases specified in Clause 2, Article 156 of th e Intellectual Property Law, the NOIP shall issue 
decisions on deletion of names of industrial prope rty representation service organizations; record the 
deletion of names of industrial property representati on service organizations from the national register 
of industrial property representation; notify the dele tion of names of industrial property representation 
service organizations to competent agencies that have granted business registration certificates or operation registration certificates to those organizat ions; and publish the deletion of names in the 
Industrial Property Official Gazette within two months from the dates of decision signing.  
Section 3. EXAMINATION OF PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FOR INDUSTRIAL 
PROPERTY REPRESENTATION   59. Examination of professional qualifications for industrial property representation   The examination of professional qualifications fo r industrial property representation (hereinafter 
referred to as the examination) according to the pr ovisions of Article 28 of  the Decree on industrial 
property shall be conducted according to the following specific provisions.  59.1. The Council for examination of professional qualif ications for industrial property representation: 
The Council for examination of professional qualif ications for industrial property representation 
(hereinafter referred to as the Examination Council) shall be set up by the NOIP director to prepare 
examination questions and mark examination papers under the Regulation on examination of 
professional qualifications for inte llectual property representation promulgated by the NOIP director 
(hereinafter referred to as the examination regulation).  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  The Examination Council is composed of the ch airman being the NOIP director, vice chairman, 
secretary and other members appointed by the chairman from the list of experts qualified for joining the Examination Council. The list of experts qualif ied for joining the Examination Council include 
experts who are knowledgeable of the law on estab lishment of industrial property rights and its 
practical enforcement from the NOIP and socio- professional organizations engaged in industrial 
property representation approved by the Minister of Science and Technology at the proposal of those 
agencies and organizations.  Decisions of the Council shall be adopted by votes of  the Council’s members, of which two thirds are 
votes for. 
 
Remunerations for the Council’s members shall be paid  with the collected charge for examination of 
professional qualifications for industrial property representation under the Ex amination Regulation. 
 59.2. Registration for participation in examination: 
 
a/ Only persons fully satisfying the conditions specifi ed at Points a through e, Clause 2, Article 155 of 
the Intellectual Property Law are allowed to register  for participation in examination according to the 
provisions of this Point.  b/ A dossier for registration for participation in examination filed with the NOIP must comprise the 
following documents: 
 (i) Two copies of the written declaration for registration for participation in examination, made according to a set form (not printed herein);  
(ii) Copy of the university diploma; 
 (iii) Documents proving that the dossier-filing person has been trained in industrial property law or is 
experienced in this operation: Copies of certificat es of graduation from training courses on industrial 
property law recognized by the Ministry of Science and Technology or certificate of the training establishment where the dossier-filing person has made his/her graduation or post-graduate 
dissertation on industrial property; written certificat ion of a competent agency that the dossier-filing 
person has been personally engaged in the examinati on of industrial property registration applications 
at a national or international industrial property office for five or more consecutive years or in industrial property law-related ac tivities defined at Point d, Clause 1, Article 155 of the Intellectual 
Property Law (including inspection, examination, pr ocuracy, adjudication, legal affairs, consultancy 
on industrial property law; or scientific research  (with title of industrial property researcher) or 
lecturing of industrial property);  (iv) Two 3 cm x 4 cm photos;  (v) Receipt of the examination fee. 
 
59.3. For a valid dossier, the NOIP shall notify the dossier-filing person of his/her qualification for participation in the examination, and concurrently notify in detail the examination date, time, venue 
and schedule.  
59.4. Examination contents and questions: 
 a/ Examination contents include:  (i) Vietnam’s industrial property law and treati es to which Vietnam is a contracting party;  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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(ii) Professional operation of compilation, filing and pursuit of industrial property registration 
applications;  (iii) Professional operation of industrial pr operty information search and exploitation; 
 
(iv) Other contents, when necessary.  b/ Examination questions accompanied with answers and a score frame shall be prepared by the Examination Council, approved by the Examination Council’s chairman and kept secret until the 
examination starts. 
 59.5. Organization of examination  a/ An examination shall be organized (irregularly) whenever there are five or more persons properly 
register for examination. 
 b/ Examination papers shall be marked by the Examination Council according to the approved 
answers and score frame.  c/ Examination results shall be notified by the NOI P to examinees. Examinees may request the NOIP 
to review examination papers and the Examinat ion Council shall review examination papers 
according to the regulations of the NOIP director. Examination results shall be valid for two years for the grant of industrial property representation 
service practice certificates. 
 
Chapter IV 
ASSURANCE OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY INFORMATION 
 60. Building and management of a na tional database on in dustrial property 
 60.1. The NOIP shall build and manage a national data base on industrial property in order to meet in a 
timely, adequate and accurate ma nner all needs for industrial property information in service of 
research, application and development activ ities and other socio-economic activities. 
 60.2. The national database on industr ial property consists of disclosed information specified below, 
which are collected in a selective and syst ematic manner to suit the search purpose: 
 
a/ Industrial property registration applications;  b/ Granted protection titles and industrial property rights recognized for protection in Vietnam;  c/ Invention patents granted by countries/regions  with the most advanced science and technology; 
 
d/ Some other types of industrial property pr otection title, depending on information use purposes. 
 61. Access to and exploitation of industrial pr operty information in the national database 
 
61.1. All organizations and indi viduals may access and exploit inform ation in the national database on 
industrial property after subscribing as information users with the NOIP.  61.2. Persons who wish to access and exploit industr ial property information (information users) shall 
themselves search for information in the national database. IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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  Information users may request the NOIP to search fo r information in the national database and shall 
pay the prescribed search charge.  62. Service of industrial property information search   
62.1. When requesting the NOIP to search for indust rial property information, an information user 
shall make a search request slip (according to a set fo rm, not printed herein), clearly stating the search 
purpose and scope (field, type of data carrier, search time, country or region subject to the search, etc.).  
62.2. Within one month after receiving a search re quest slip, the NOIP shall reply to the information 
user.  For a valid search request (with a valid search request slip defined at Point 62.1 of this Circular and a 
receipt of the search charge), the NOIP shall repl y by sending a search report to the information user, 
clearly stating the results of information search made at the request of the information user. 
For an invalid search request (with  an invalid search request slip , unclear search purpose and scope, 
no payment of the search charge), the NOIP shall notif y its refusal to fulfill the search request, clearly 
stating the reasons for refusal.  62.3. A search report contains only in formation found and indications to  origins of such information. 
If no information is found in sources requested to be  searched, the search report must also state that. 
A search report must not contain comments or assessments of found information.  62.4. A search report must clearly state the full name of the person conducting the search and responsible for the search results. 
 
63. Assurance of industrial pr operty information in localities 
 63.1. Depending on their respective conditions and cap ability, state administration agencies in charge 
of industrial property (Science and Technology Servi ces) in provinces or centrally run cities may set 
up and manage industrial property databases in orde r to assure industrial property information for 
research, application, development, production a nd business activities and protect industrial property 
rights in their respective localities.  63.2. State administration agencies in charge of i ndustrial property in the provinces or centrally run 
cities shall and may conduct activities to assure in dustrial property information according to this 
Circular.       
 64. Issuance of copies of documents  64.1. All concerned organizations and individuals ma y request the NOIP to issue copies of documents 
distributed or archived by the NOIP, including certifi cation of true copies of original or archived 
documents. Particularly for docum ents related to unpublished app lications, only applicants may 
request issuance of copies. Persons requesting i ssuance of copies shall pay the prescribed charge. 
 64.2. A request for issuance of copies of documents comprises:  
a/ Written request for issuance of copies of documents, made in two copies; 
 b/ Original documents distributed by the NOIP (i f those documents are not archived at the NOIP); 
 c/ Receipt of the charge.  IP/N/1/VNM/I/4 
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64.3. Within three working days after receiving a re quest for issuance of copies, the NOIP shall issue 
copies or issue a notice on its refusal, clearly stating the reason for refusal. 
 
Chapter V 
IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS 
 65. Regulation on carrying out of industrial property procedures  The NOIP shall promulgate a regulation on carry ing out of industrial property procedures in 
compliance with the provisions of the Decr ee on industrial property and this Circular. 
 66. Transitional provisions  66.1. An invention registration application referred to  in this Circular means both an invention patent 
application and a utility solution patent appli cation referred to in previous regulations. 
 66.2. For an internationally registered mark alread y recognized for protection in Vietnam according to 
previous stipulations, the issue of the WIPO’s Official Gazette or the NOIP’s Industrial Property Official Gazette in which that internationally regi stered mark is published is valid as an evidence of 
rights to that mark. 
 
66.3. Pending the promulgation of new charge and fee rates, the charge and fee rates mentioned in this 
Circular comply with the Ministry of Finance’s Circular No. 132/2004/TT-BTC of December 30, 2004, guiding the collection, remitta nce, management and use of industrial property 
charges and fees. 
 
66.4. Existing document forms will c ontinue to be used until the NOIP complete technical conditions 
and officially announce the document forms spec ified in this Circular for application. 
 67. Implementation effect  
67.1. This Circular replaces the following Circulars: 
 a/ The Ministry of Science, Technology a nd Environment’s Circular No. 3055/TT-SHCN of 
December 31, 1996, guiding the implementation of the provisions on procedures for establishment of industrial property rights and some other proce dures under the Government’s Decree No. 63/CP of 
October 24, 1996, detailing industrial property; 
 b/ The Ministry of Science and Technology’s Circular No. 29/2003/TT-BKHCN of November 5, 
2003, guiding the implementation of the procedures fo r establishment of industrial property rights to 
industrial designs;  
c/ The Ministry of Science and Technology’s Circular No. 30/2003/TT-BKHCN of November 5, 
2003, guiding the implementation of the procedures fo r establishment of industrial property rights to 
inventions/utility solutions.  67.2. This Circular takes effect 15 days after its publication in “CONG BAO.” 
 
Minister of Science and Technology HOANG VAN PHONG 
 
__________