How to Register Industrial Design in Food Processing in Vietnam

In the fiercely competitive food market, industrial design registration is not only a legal procedure but also a strategic weapon to protect the uniqueness of the product. Packaging design, bottle shape, or even the shape of the product itself can be protected, helping businesses create competitive advantages and affirm their brand position. This is a smart move to fight against counterfeiting, protect creativity, and maximize business value. Through the article below, Viet An Law will delve into the analysis of how to register industrial design in Vietnam for food processing.

How to register industrial design in food processing in Vietnam

What is an industrial design in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 4.13 of the Law on Intellectual Property; Article 21 of Circular 23/2023/TT-BKHCN, an industrial design is the external appearance of a product or part to be assembled into a complex product, expressed by shape, line, color or a combination of these elements and visible during the process of exploiting the function of the product or complex product.

Products are understood as objects, tools, equipment, means manufactured by industrial or handicraft methods, with clear structure and function; parts to assemble into complex products are parts that can circulate independently, can be removed from complex products; complex products are products made up of many replaceable parts, can be removed and reassembled. Products and parts to assemble, make up complex products below are collectively referred to as products except for specific regulations.

Conditions for protection of industrial designs

An industrial design is protected if it fully meets the following conditions:

• Being novel: An industrial design is considered to be novel if it is significantly different from industrial designs that have been publicly disclosed in the form of use, written description or any other form in the country or abroad before the filing date or before the priority date if the industrial design application enjoys priority.
• Inventive: An industrial design is considered to be inventive if, based on industrial designs that have been publicly disclosed in the form of use, written description or any other form domestically or abroad before the filing date or before the priority date of the industrial design registration application in case the application enjoys priority rights, such industrial design cannot be easily created by a person with average knowledge in the relevant field.
• Industrially applicable: An industrial design is considered to be industrially applicable if it can be used as a model for mass production of products with the appearance of that industrial design by industrial or handicraft methods.
• In case there are many applications for registration of industrial designs that are identical or not significantly different from each other, a protection certificate will only be granted to the industrial design in the valid application with the earliest priority date or filing date among the applications that meet the conditions for being granted a protection certificate.
• In case there are many applications for industrial designs that are identical or not significantly different from each other, meet the conditions for granting a protection certificate and have the same priority date or earliest filing date, the protection certificate will only be granted to the subject of a single application among those applications according to the agreement of all applicants; if no agreement is reached, the corresponding subjects of those applications will be refused a protection certificate.

What is the food processing industry group in the National Classification of Industrial Design?

Food processing industry in group 1: food includes:

Food processing industry classification

01-01 Bakery products, biscuits, cakes, pasta, cereal products, chocolate, jam, ice cream

01-01 .11 Bread, pizza

.21 Cakes, biscuits, wafers, snacks, cakes, cream cakes

.31 Candy, lollipops, chocolate

.99 Other

01-02 Vegetables and fruits

(Vegetables, fruits, vegetable/potato products, other)

01-03 Cheese, butter, butter products, other butter products, milk

01-04 Meat (including pork products), fish

01-05 (Leave blank)

01-06 Animal food

(Chewing gum and biscuits, pet food, poultry food, other)

01-99 Other foodstuffs

Food processing industry in group 31: machinery and appliances for preparing food and drinks not included in other groups including:

Note: Not including hand-operated tools, utensils, equipment for serving and preparing food and drinks.

31-00 Machinery and appliances for preparing food and drinks, not included in other groups

31-00 .11 Coffee grinders, fruit grinders/juicers/juicers and parts of them

.19 Other machines for household use (meat mincers, cheese graters, macaroni, noodles, sweets, ice cream, bean roasters, fruit peelers, food mixers, ice cream makers, distillers and wine makers,…)

Industrial design registration procedure in Vietnam

Industrial design registration procedures

Registration dossier

Minimum documents

• Industrial design registration declaration, typed according to form No. 07 Appendix I of Decree 65/2023/ND-CP.
• 01 Industrial design description; [The industrial design description must meet the provisions in Appendix I of Decree No. 65/2023/ND-CP, the industrial design must include the following contents:
• Name of the industrial design;
• Field of use of the industrial design;
• Most similar industrial design;
• List of photos or drawings;
• Detailed description of the industrial design;
• Request for protection of industrial design].
• 04 sets of photos/drawings of the industrial design.
• Voucher for payment of fees and charges.

Other documents

• Power of attorney (if the industrial design application is submitted through an industrial property representative service organization);
• Documents proving the right to register (if received from another person). For example: Transfer of the right to file an application… (if any);
• Documents proving the right to priority (if the industrial design application has a request for priority).

Time limit for processing industrial design registration applications

• From the date of receipt by the National Office of Intellectual Property, industrial design registration applications are considered in the following order:
• Formal examination: 01 month
• Publishing the application: within 02 months from the date the industrial design registration application has a Decision to accept the valid application
• Substantive examination: no more than 07 months from the date of publication of the application.

Application form

Applicants can choose to submit a paper application or an online application via the National Office of Intellectual Property’s Online Public Service Portal.

Industrial design registration fees

• Application fee: 150.000 VND;
• Industrial design classification fee: 100.000 VND/01 classification;
• Application examination fee: 700.000 VND/01 object;
• Application publication fee: 120.000 VND;
• Publication fee from the 2nd image onwards: 60.000 VND/01 image;
• Information search fee for the appraisal process: 480.000 VND/01 subject;
• Assessment fee for requesting priority rights (if any): 600.000 VND/01 priority application.

Note: Industrial design applications must be internationally classified as industrial designs. In case the Applicant does not classify or classifies incorrectly, the National Office of Intellectual Property will classify and the Applicant must pay the classification fee according to regulations (100.000 VND/01 classification)

A registered industrial design for the food processing industry

Clients needing support for how to register industrial design in food processing in Vietnam, please contact Viet An Law for the fastest support.