Insurance Services Trademarks Registration in Vietnam

Health and life are very precious and important for each person. Therefore, in addition to their self-protection and health care, nowadays, individuals can use the services of insurance companies to ensure their health as well as their lives. Since then, insurance services have been increasingly developed, more insurance companies have been established in the market to meet the needs of users. Therefore, competition among insurance companies is increasing. Moreover, service users are very interested in the prestige and brand name of insurance companies. To meet all the above requirements, insurance companies need to create an outstanding and impressive trademark for themselves and apply for their exclusive trademark registration at the competent state agency.

However, not all insurance companies are fully aware of the conditions, orders, and procedures to be able to register exclusive trademarks for their insurance services. Therefore, Viet An Law would like to advise customers in general and insurance companies in particular on the process of trademark registration for insurance services.

First, insurance services are underclass 36 according to the Nice Classification.

Orders and procedures for insurance services trademark registration are these following:

Step 1: Submit the application

         Individuals, organizations wishing to register trademarks may directly submit the application at the competent state agency or through the representative of Viet An Law to submit. When submitting, customers shall pay the registration fee and take the receipts to submit.

         Attach with the trademark registration application, customers need to provide these documents:

• A list of goods/services intended to register;
• A trademark registration declaration;
• A power of attorney Viet An Law to apply;
• 01 trademark sample with dimensions bigger than 3 x 3 cm and smaller than 8 x 8 cm;
• Receipts of fee payments.

Step 2: Receive and consider the trademark registration application

         The trademark registration application is received by the competent state agency if it meets the requirements and documents according to the provisions prescribed in Clause 1 Article 108 the Law on Intellectual Property.

         After receiving, the competent state agency will consider the application through these stages:

Stage 1: Form appraisal

         The trademark registration application shall be appraised form to evaluate the validity of application including necessary documents; classification; stated objects classification; right to submit… If the application is valid, the competent state agency in charge of industrial property will issue a notice to accept the application as a valid application and grant the protection title, record it on National Register for Industrial Property. If the application is one of the cases as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 109 the Law on Intellectual Property, the agency will issue a refusal notice (clearly state reason).

Stage 2: Publish the trademark registration application

         The valid application will be published on the gazette within 02 months from the date of acceptance.

Stage 3: Content appraisal 

         The valid application will be also appraised content. The purposes of this step are to evaluate the possibility of granting the protection title and are to determine the corresponding protection. The content appraisal takes 06 months from the date of publication. During this period, the competent state agency in charge of industrial property may request the applicant to explain the content, provide information relating to the nature of stated objects.

Step 3: Grant the protection title and publish

         The application is not one of the refusal cases as prescribed in Clause 1, Clause 2 and Point b Clause 3 Article 117 the Law on Intellectual Property and the applicant must pay the fee, the competent state agency in charge of industrial property will grant the protection title and record on National Register for Industrial Property.

         The time to grant the protection title is 01 – 02 months from the date of paying a fee.

Notices: Before submitting, to ensure the possibility of trademark registration, customers can use the search services of Viet An Law including:

• Preliminary search: Viet An Law will conduct a preliminary search for a trademark intended to register within 01 days from the date of receiving the trademark sample.
• Search at the Intellectual Property office: Viet An Law will through the representative of Viet An Law to search for the trademark. This step helps to evaluate the strongest possibility of protection.

After having the results, Viet An Law will notice to customers and consult customers to finish and submit the application as soon as possible. Viet An Law would like to provide customers the best services for trademark registration in Vietnam.