Rice Products Trademarks Registration in Vietnam

 Vietnam is always in the top 5 countries with the highest rice export in the world. However, Vietnam’s rice quality is still not as good as Thailand and India. Therefore, to compete with rice products from other rice exporting countries, it is necessary to improve product quality. Moreover, creating a brand for the product is very important, a business strategy should be paid attention to increase export turnover. Therefore, customers can carry out trademark registration to create a reputation for their goods.

Procedures and orders for trademark registration can be summarize:

Goods/services classification:

          Goods/services shall be classified according to the Nice Classification. Rice are under class 30 with some products such as rice, rice cakes and rice flour.

          Classification is a basis for easier to search for trademark, it also helps to determine the scope of protection. Customers can search themselves or use the search services of Viet An Law.

Prepare a dossier including:

          A dossier includes:

• 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;
• 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 Viet An Law to submit;
• Receipts of fee payments.

After receiving, it takes 13 – 18 months for the competent state agency to consider the dossier and grant the protection title:

• Form appraisal (01 – 02 months);
• Publish on the gazette (02 months);
• Content appraisal (09 – 12 months);
• Grant and Publish the protection title (01 – 02 months).

Term of trademark protection:

According to the Law on Intellectual Property, the protection title is valid from the date of granting to the end of 10 years. It can be renewed many consecutive times, each 10 years. Therefore, once is protected, the trademark will be protected indefinitely if the owner meets the following conditions:

• Within 06 months before the protection title is invalid, the owner must submit the renewal application at the Intellectual Property office (can submit later but not later than 06 months from the date of invalidity);
• Pay the renewal fee.

For any information relating to register for goods/services trademark, please contact Viet An Law to have the best detailed and specific advices.