1. Minimum documents
– 02 Declaration for registration which are typed according to form No. 04-NH Appendix A of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN [The trademark description: the sample of the mark must be described in order to clarify elements of the mark and the comprehensive meaning of the mark, if any; where the mark consists of words or phrases of hieroglyphic languages, such words or phrases must be transcribed; where the mark consists of words or phrases in foreign languages, such words or phrases must be translated into Vietnamese. If the mark contains numerals other than Arabic and Roman numerals, those numerals must be transliterated into Arabic numerals. The section “List of goods and services bearing the mark” in the written declaration must be divided into groups in accordance with the International Classification of Goods and Services under the latestversion of Nice Agreement published by the IPVN in the Industrial Property Official Gazette.].
– In addition to the mark specimen attached to the written declaration, the application must be enclosed with 05 identical mark specimens that satisfy the following requirements: a mark specimen must be clearly presented with the dimensions of each element of the mark ranging between 8 mm and 80 mm, and the entire mark must be presented within a mark model of 80 mm x 80 mm in size in the written declaration; For a mark involving colors, the mark specimen must be presented with the colors sought to be protected.
– Fee and charge receipts.
For an application for registration of a collective mark or certification mark, in addition to the documents specified above, the application must also contain the following documents:
– Regulations on use of collective marks and certification marks;
– Explanation of particular characteristics and quality of the product bearing the mark (if the to-be-registered mark is a collective mark used for a product with unique characteristics or a mark for certification of the quality of a product or a mark for certification of geographical origin);
– Map showing the indicated territory (if the to-be-registered mark is a mark for certification of the geographical origin of a product);
– Document of the People’s Committee of a province or city directly under the Central Government permitting the use of geographical names or signs indicating the geographical origin of local specialties to register a trademark (if the registered mark is a collective mark certification mark contains place names or signs indicating the geographical origin of local specialties).
2. Other documents (if any)
– Power of attorney (in case the request is filed through a representative);
– Documents certifying the permission to use special signs (if the trademark contains emblems, flags, armorial bearings, abbreviated names or full names of Vietnamese state agencies/ organizations or international organizations, etc.);
– Paper on assignment of the right to file an application (if any);
– Documents certifying the lawful right of registration (in case the applicant enjoys the right to file from another person);
– Documents evidencing the right of priority (if the patent application has a claim for priority right).
3.General requirements for industrial property (IP) registration applications
– Each application can request grant of one protection title which is of a type suitable to the trademark stated in the application;
– All documents of the application must be in Vietnamese. For documents that are allowed to made in another language according to the provisions of Points 7.3 and 7.4 of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN must be translated into Vietnamese;
– All documents of the application must be presented in the portrait format (particularly, drawings, figures, charts and tables may be presented landscape) on A4 paper sheets (210 mm x 297 mm), of which the top, bottom, left and right margins are all 20 mm, in Times New Roman font, text is not smaller than size 13, except for accompanied documents originally not intended to be included in the application;
– For documents that must be made according to pre-designed forms, those forms shall be used with all necessary information filled in appropriate sections;
– A document consisting of many pages must have page numbers in Arabic;
– All documents must be typewritten or printed with a non-fading ink, clear and clean, and free from erasures and modifications; if detecting any negligible spelling error in a document submitted to the Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam (IPVN), the applicant may correct such error but shall append his/her signature of certification (and a seal, if any) at the corrected words;
– Terms used in the application must be common ones (other than dialects, rare words, coined words). Symbols, units of measurement, electronic fonts and spelling rules used in the application must conform to Vietnam standards;
– The application may be accompanied with carriers of electronic data of part or the entire content of its documents.
4. Fees and charges for trademark registration
– Official charges for filing application: VND 150,000/ 01 application;
– Fee for publication of application: VND 120,000/ 01 application;
– Fee for the trademark search for the substantive examination process: VND 180,000/ 01group of goods or services;
– Fee for the trademark search from the 7th good or service onwards: VND 30,000/ 01 good or service;
– Fee for formality examination: VND 550,000/ 01 group of goods or services;
– Fee for formality examination from the 7th good or service onwards: VND 120,000/ 01 good or service.
5. Time limit for processing trademark registration applications
From the date on which the registration application is received by the IPVN, the registration application of a trademark shall be examined in the following order:
– A trademark registration application shall have its formality examination within 01 month from the filing date.
– Publication of trademark registration applications: A trademark registration application shall be published within 02 months after it is accepted as a valid application;
– An industrial property registration application shall be substantively examined within09 months from the date of application publication.
6. Methods of filing application
The applicant may choose paper filing or online filing through the IPVN’s online public service portal, specifically as follows:
a) Paper filing
The applicant may submit an application for a trademark directly or via postal service to one of the IPVN’s application receiving places, specifically as follows:
– Head Office of IPVN, address: 386 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi city.
– Representative Office of IPVN in Ho Chi Minh City, address: 7th Floor, Ha Phan Building, 17/19 Ton That Tung, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city.
– Representative Office of IPVN in Da Nang City, address: 3rd floor, 135 Minh Mang, Khue My ward, Ngu Hanh Son district, Da Nang city.
In case of filing an application for a trademark by post, the application charges/ fees must be transferred by postal service, and then a copy of the Money Transfer Receipt must be attached to application and send to one of the above-mentioned IPVN’s office to prove the amount paid.
(Note: If the fee or charge is transferred to one of the above-mentioned IPVN’s application-receiving places, the applicant must send the dossier to the corresponding application-receiving point).
b) Online filing
– Conditions for online filing: Applicants need to have a digital certificate, a digital signature and a registed account which is approved by the IPVN on the Online Application Receiving System.
– Online filing:
+ The applicant needs to complete the steps of filing a trademark application form on the IPVN’s Online Application Receiving System. After that, a confirmation of online submission will be sent to the applicant.
+ The confirmation of online submission must be presented to one of the IPVN’s office and the applicant needs to attached documents (if any) and pay fees/ charges as prescribed within 01 month from the date of online submission.
+ If all documents and fees/ charges mentioned above are fully submitted as prescribed, an IPVN’s officer will issue the application number in the Online Application Receipt System.
If one of the documents and fees/ charges is not fully submitted, the application will be denied.
In the event that the applicant fails to complete the prescribed application procedure, the online application procedure will be canceled and the Online Application Cancellation Notice will be sent to the applicant via the Online Application Receiving System.
Application form:
APPLICATION FORM – DECLARATION FOR REGISTRATION OF A TRADEMARK (ISSUED UNDER THE CIRCULAR NO. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN OF FEBRUARY 14, 2007 BY THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)
