Is patent registration in Vietnam exclusive in the world?

In the trend that intellectual property is valued, individuals and organizations that are patent owners have become more conscious in registering patents to protect their legitimate interests. However, at present, when more and more patent owners have registered their inventions in Vietnam, they have the desire to have exclusive rights to inventions in the world for the purpose of opening the business market, introducing technology to the world such as technology transfer, is patent registration in Vietnam exclusive in the world? And how can inventions registered in Vietnam be exclusive in the world? To answer this question, Viet An Law Firm will summarize the relevant provisions in the article below.

Legal basis

• Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property;
• PCT Patent Cooperation Treaty;
• Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects and Intellectual Property Rights TRIPS;
• Law on Intellectual Property 2005, amended and supplemented in 2009, 2019, 2022.

What are inventions and patents?

Invention

• Pursuant to Clause 12, Article 4 of the 2005 Intellectual Property Law, amended and supplemented in 2009, 2019, 2022, an invention is a technical solution in the form of a product or process to solve a defined problem by applying using the laws of nature.
• An invention is one of the subjects protected by intellectual property rights in Vietnam according to the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law and other relevant legal documents.

Patent of invention

According to current Vietnamese law, a patent is a type of title granted by the National Office of Intellectual Property to the inventor or the owner of an invention to protect an invention and its owner. exclusive rights to use their invention for a certain period of time. After filing an application for patent registration and being granted a patent by the National Office of Intellectual Property, the owner and inventor of the invention will be protected by law when there is an infringement.

The territoriality of a patent

Intellectual property rights to inventions arise only on the basis of patents issued by a competent authority (national or regional). In other words, the protection of industrial property rights in general and the protection of inventions in particular is territorial. Therefore, if you want to protect your invention in any country, you must register your invention in that country.

Thus, based on the provisions of current law, inventions registered only in Vietnam will not be protected worldwide.

Is patent registration in Vietnam exclusive in the world?

Conditions to be granted a patent in a foreign country

Most international and international legal documents stipulate the following 3 standards for the granting of patents, including:

• Novelty;
• Creative nature;
• Industrial applicability.

How to register for patent protection abroad?

Patent registration abroad can be conducted in a variety of ways, including:

According to the national channel

The owner files a patent application directly in the country he wants to protect in the required language and pays the prescribed fee. If you want to file in more than one country, you have to make many different applications.

By regional channel

If the applicant wants the number of countries for which the applicant wishes to file to be members of a regional patent system, the applicant may claim protection in the territories of all or some of the members, by filing an application at the relevant regional authority.

For example, some patent protection systems are established in certain regions such as the European Patent Office (EPO); African Intellectual Property Organization; Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO);…

According to international channel

With this form, the applicant submits an application under the PCT system. The PCT is an international patent law treaty, currently with more than 145 members. Vietnam joined the PCT Treaty on March 10, 1993. Under this Treaty, nationals of a Contracting State only need to make a single patent application – the so-called “international” file – and submit it to the patent office of the Contracting State. their home country or to WIPO as the receiving authority. This patent application will automatically be sent to all countries participating in the PCT. Within the framework of the PCT, WIPO has published “international application” and guidelines on the recognition of inventions. This is considered a simpler way than the above two ways to get a patent on a large scale.

Procedures for registration of patent protection under the PCT

Currently, the registration of inventions under the PCT is considered the simplest and most popular when the applicant can be protected in many countries that are members of the PCT.

Step 1: Submit an international application

Customers can file a registration application in Vietnam, which can claim protection in any member country of the PCT Treaty, including Vietnam (referred to as a PCT application originating in Vietnam). submitted in person or by post to the National Office of Intellectual Property or to the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The application file includes:

• The PCT application declaration of Vietnamese origin is made in English (03 copies);
• Description (02 copies, including drawings, if any);
• Claims for protection (02 copies);
• Relevant documents (if any);
• Fee payment voucher.

Step 2 : International search

• The client may conduct an international patent search at competent search offices (national or regional patent offices that meet the requirements set forth by the PCT and designated by the PCT General Assembly). .
• For international applications originating in Vietnam, the competent international search agencies are those of Austria, Australia, the Russian Federation, Sweden, Korea, Japan, and EPO.

Step 3 : Publish application

PCT applications originating in Vietnam are published in the Official Gazette of the PCT (PCT Gazette). The publication is conducted after 18 months from the priority date or maybe earlier at the request of the applicant.

Step 4 : International preliminary assessment

This procedure is carried out at the competent international preliminary review body under the PCT. The purpose of this procedure is to provide a preliminary and non-binding opinion on whether the invention to be protected in the application meets the claims. The appraisal agency prepares a preliminary appraisal report and sends it to the International Bureau.

Step 5 : Processing the application in the national stage

At the national stage, the international application is examined for form and substantive according to the procedures prescribed for ordinary patent applications in the host country.

If the applicant is only interested in the protection of his invention in a certain country, he will file an application for patent protection directly in that country. In order to file applications by this method quickly and conveniently, customers should use the services of Viet An Law Firm for the best support.

If you want to be consulted and learn more information about intellectual property law, please contact Viet An Law Firm for our best support!