Conditions for inventions to be eligible for protection in Vietnam

Viet An law firm was established in 2007 and has been recognized as an Intellectual Property Representative Organization of Vietnam at The Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam. After 15 years of operation, Viet An Law is proud to be one of the most prestigious law firms, providing the best services to clients in the field of legal consultancy, services of consultancy on intellectual property and Intellectual Property Representative service in Vietnam. Viet An Law Firm details the conditions for an invention to be protected in Vietnam in accordance with the law of Vietnam as follows:

Right to register inventions in Vietnam:

Vietnamese Intellectual Property Law stipulates that only the following organizations and individuals shall have the right to register inventions:

• Authors who have created inventions by their own labour and at their own expense
• Organizations or individuals who have supplied funds and material facilities to authors in the form of job assignment or hiring, unless otherwise agreed by the parties involved and provided that such agreements are not contrary to the provisions of The Government on the right to register inventions created by using material and technical facilities and funds from the State Budget.

The scope of protection of the invention in Vietnam:

A precondition for the protection of an invention in Vietnam is that it shall be an invention according to the proper description of Vietnamese law.

Under the Law on Intellectual Property (Article 12.4), Invention means a technical solution in the form of a product or process which is intended to solve a problem by application of natural laws.

Accordingly, the invention of foreign individuals or organizations must be:

• A technical solution in the form of a product or a process;
• Intended to solve a problem identified by the application of natural laws.

Besides the above precondition, the invention shall satisfy other conditions.

Conditions for inventions to be eligible for protection in Vietnam

An invention shall be eligible for protection in the form of the grant of an invention patent when it satisfies the following conditions:

• It is novel;
• It is of an inventive nature;
• It is susceptible of industrial application.

The novelty of inventions in Vietnam

• An invention shall be deemed novel if it has not yet been publicly disclosed by use or by means of a written description or any other form either inside or outside Vietnam before the filing date or the priority date, as applicable, of the invention registration application.
• An invention shall be deemed not yet publicly disclosed if it is known to only a limited number of persons who are obliged to keep it secret.
• An invention shall not be deemed to have lost its novelty if it is published in the following cases, provided that the invention registration application is filed within six (6) months from the date of publication:
• It is published by another person without permission from the person having the right to register it as defined in article 86 of the Law on Intellectual Property;
• It is published in the form of a scientific presentation by the person having the right to register it as defined in article 86 of the Law on Intellectual Property;
• It is displayed at a national exhibition of Vietnam or at an official or officially recognized international exhibition by the person having the right to register it as defined in article 86 of the Law on Intellectual Property.
• The above provisions shall also be applied to any invention disclosed in the industrial property application or industrial property protection announced by industrial property authority in case the announcement is inconsistent with provisions of laws or the application is submitted by a person ineligible for registration.

Inventive nature of inventions in Vietnam

• In Vietnam, Inventions are considered to be inventive based on technical solutions that have been publicly disclosed in the form of use or written description or in any other form at home and abroad prior to the submitting date or the privilege date of the patent application if those applications entitled to privileges; or the invention is an innovation and cannot be easily created by a person with average knowledge about the corresponding technical field.
• A technical solution which is an invention disclosed in accordance with Clause 3 and 4, Article 60 of the Law on Intellectual Property which must not be used as a basis for evaluation of the level of invention.

Inventions which are susceptible of industrial application in Viet Nam

An invention shall be deemed to be susceptible of industrial application if it is possible to realize mass manufacture or production of products or repeated application of the process which is the subject matter of the invention and to achieve stable results.

Note: In case the invention only satisfies two conditions: Novelty, susceptible of industrial application, it shall not be granted an invention patent and shall only be granted a utility solution patent.

Objects ineligible for protection as inventions in Vietnam

The following objects shall be ineligible for protection as inventions in Vietnam:

• Scientific discoveries or theories, mathematical methods;
• Schemes, plans, rules and methods for performing mental acts, training domestic animals, playing games and doing business; computer programs;
• Presentations of information;
• Solutions of aesthetic characteristics only;
• Plant varieties, animal breeds;
• Processes of plant or animal productions which are principal of a biological nature, other than microbiological processes;
• Human and animal disease prevention methods, diagnostic and treatment methods.

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