Phở Thìn is a very familiar brand for Hanoi noodle enthusiast, with two famous dishes: Pho Thin Bo Ho (Sword Lake Beef Noodle) and Pho Thin Lo Duc (Lo Duc Street’s Beef Noodle). But not many people know these are two different “Pho Thin” brands, with two different owners and completely unrelated to each other.
Regarding the history of origin and development, the two Phở Thìn brands have their own stories. The process of registering for the exclusive protection of the trademark PHỞ THÌN (hereinafter referred to as Pho Thin) is also an interesting competition between these two brands.
Pho Thin by the Lake
The first “Pho Thin” brand was born in 1955, opened by owner Bùi Trí Thìn at 61 Đinh Tiên Hoàng Street – in the area around Hoàn Kiếm Lake, so it is also known as Pho Thin Bo Ho. With the long-standing awareness of trademark protection, Mr. Bui Tri Thin’s family has registered for protection of the trademark Pho Thin for restaurant services (group 43) at the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) of Vietnam since 2003.
The trademark “Pho Thin” approved and patented by the NOIP
After the expiration of the above time limit, Mr. Bui Tri Thin’s family continued to register for an extension of protection for this trademark, and with the provisions allowing the trademark to be able to renew its validity an unlimited number of times, this trademark continues to be protected to this. day.
Lò Đúc’ Streets Phở Thìn (Pho Thin Lo Duc)
Born after 24 years – at the end of 1979 is the second Pho Thin brand built by owner Nguyễn Trọng Thìn at 13 Lò Đúc.
With a very distinct identity and flavor compared to previous phở bò, through the process of building and developing the brand, Pho Thin Lo Duc has expanded a number of business establishments in the country and around the world, most notably in Japan and Australia.
Pho Thin Lo Duc restaurant in Tokyo, Japan
However, the exclusive registration of their trademark protection faced many difficulties because they came behind in the competition for trademark protection, despite the fact that the owner of the trademark Pho Thin Lo Duc protected the trademark sample, Pho Thin in a wide range of product and service, up to 7 groups and 67 products.
Some information on trademark samples that the owner of Pho Thin Lo Duc has filed for registration at the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam – according to the Industrial Property Digital Library page.
The fact of the matter is, after the trademark of Pho Thin was granted to the family of Mr. Bùi Trí Thìn (Pho Thin Bo Ho), up to now, there has not been any sample of the brand containing the sign “Pho Thin” is granted, including registration for a group of products and services other than restaurant services and the phở dish.
Lessons learned for businesses
First , speed .
Trademark registration in Vietnam, and most countries around the world for that reason, follows the principle that: whoever registers first gets the right first. As a result, don’t wait until your business brand is developed to consider trademark protection, because it is possible that at that time there were other parties who registered first.
In the matter of Intellectual Property, speed is the key to success
Second , protection
For businesses that have built and developed long-standing brands, which have been legally protected for business brands, they still need to continue to protect their brands, monitor and prevent acts of using them. unauthorized, blatant, mass by third parties – which can make the mark lose its distinctiveness, becoming the common name of the goods or services bearing the mark.
An example of a business that is very excited, even a little excessive in this regard, can be mentioned as Apple.
Several brands that was sued by Apple on trademark similarities over the years.
Third , be careful
The use of a sign identical or similar to another party’s protected trademark for identical or similar products or services is considered an infringement of the rights to the mark and also an act of unfair competition under the IP law of Vietnam.
This article is edited on the article from the article Saigon Online Economy with the purpose to simplify legal knowledge, not for commercial purposes. You can read the original post here
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