Office Services Trademarks Registration in Vietnam

Office activites account for a large proportion in the current labor force. Therefore, office service – an auxiliary profession is growing constantly. Office services activities are very diversie, so it is very necessary to create a reputation with customers. Business entities can register for trademark protection with the following procedures:

Preparing a trademark registration dossier:

• A trademark sample with dimensions bigger than 3 x 3 cm and smaller than 8 x 8 cm;
• A list of goods/services intended to register (according to the Nice Classification, these goods/services are classified in class 07);
• A trademark registration declaration (if customers authorize Viet An Law to submit, this declaration will be signed by the representative of Viet An Law);
• A power of attorney to submit the application;
• Receipts of fee payments.

Submit the application and monitor the process:

• Form appraisal: Form appraisal is to exam the compliance with the provisions on the form of an application, from which issue a conclusion whether the application is valid or not. Time limit for form appraisal is about 01 – 02 months from the date of submitting.
• Publish the application on the gazette: If the application is accepted as a valid application, the Intellectual Property office will publish the application on the gazette within 02 months from the date of accepting.
• Content appraisal: This step is to evaluate the strongest possibility of protection according to the protection conditions, determine the corresponding scope of protection. Time to appraise content is 09 – 12 months from the date of publishing.
• Grant the protection title: The Intellectual Property office will grant a protection title within 01 – 02 months when the applicant pays the fee.

The protection title is valid from the date of granting until the end of 10 years from the date of submitting the application. It can be renewed each 10 years and the owner shall pay the fee.

The owner of trademark registration certificate is obliged to continously use the registered trademark. If the owner does not use it directly, it can be used by others through assignment of the right to use the trademark or assignment of the ownership. In case the trademark has not been used continuously for 5 years or more, the ownership of the trademark shall be terminated according to law.

To ensure successful trademark registration, customers can refer to Viet An Law services including:

• Advices on legal services for intellectual property in general and trademark in particular;
• Conduct a search for trademark and give advices, assess the strongest possibility to register a trademark: Viet An Law will conduct a free preliminary within 01 day. If possibility to register is the strongest, customers should use Viet An’s in-depth lookup service to get a general assessment of the protection.
• Advices on the plan to modify the intended trademark to increase the possibility of successful registration;
• Draft the dossier and submit at the Intellectual Property office;
• Monitor the process at the Intellectual Property office;
• Represent for customers in the whole process and discuss with the Intellectual Property office about trademark registration;
• Discuss, provide information for customers in the process.