Register industrial designs using the Hague application in Vietnam

Decree 65/2023/ND-CP is a newly issued Decree, aiming to detail and concretize the contents related to register industrial designs using the Hague application in Vietnam since Vietnam committed to to participate in the 1999 Geneva Agreement. To learn more about the issue mentioned above, Viet An Law Firm will publish the article below.

Legal basis

• The Hague Agreement on the International Registration of Industrial Designs;
• Law on Intellectual Property 2005, as amended and supplemented in 2009, 2019, 2022;
• Decree 65/2023/ND-CP details a number of articles and measures to implement the Intellectual Property Law on industrial property, protection of industrial property rights, and state management of intellectual property.

Register industrial designs using the Hague application in Vietnam

What is the Hague application?

Pursuant to the provisions of Clause 15, Article 3 of Decree 65/2023/ND-CP on detailed regulations on a number of articles and measures to implement the Intellectual Property Law on industrial property and protection of industrial property rights and state management of intellectual property, the Hague Application can be understood as an international registration application for an industrial design filed under the Hague Agreement.

The Hague Agreement, signed in 1925 and effective in 1928, is an international treaty established by the World Intellectual Property Organization WIPO. Up to now, the Hague Agreement has gone through many amendments and the three biggest amendments are the amendment in London (UK); the Document signed in The Hague (Sweden), and the Document signed in Geneva (Switzerland).

These amendments create certain advantages for the Hague Agreement, such as:

• The Hague system allows owners of industrial designs to register their industrial designs for protection by submitting a single application to a single authority, using only one language. This demonstrates the simplicity of registering for industrial design protection under the Hague system.
• In addition, an industrial design registration application under the Hague Agreement also allows the owner of the application to designate protection in multiple countries and can self-designate the country of origin. This feature demonstrates the flexibility in registering for industrial design protection under the Hague Agreement.

It is also because of these outstanding advantages that Vietnam joined and became a member of the Hague Agreement (1999) in 2019. This also means that Vietnam only has the rights and obligations with the Agreement under this Document and is not affected by the remaining documents.

The subject has the right to file a Hague application

According to the Hague Agreement, individuals and organizations have the right to apply for international industrial design protection under the Hague Agreement if those individuals and organizations meet one of the conditions set forth below. listed below:

• Be a citizen of a country participating in the Hague Agreement;
• Permanent residence in a country participating in the Hague Agreement;
• Have a place of residence or have a real and effective commercial or industrial headquarters in a country party to the Hague Agreement.

Therefore, as long as one of the above conditions is satisfied, any individual or organization can apply for industrial design registration under the Hague System.

Lahay classification

Based on the content of the Hague Application specified in Clause 1, Article 22 of Decree 65/2023/ND-CP detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Intellectual Property Law on industrial property and protection of property rights and state management of intellectual property. Accordingly, the Hague application includes the following types of applications:

• Hague application with Vietnam designation: is a type of Hague application that makes a claim to protect an industrial design in Vietnam, originating from any member of the Hague Agreement, including Vietnam;
• Hague application of Vietnamese origin: is a Hague application filed from Vietnam, in which the application requires protection of industrial designs in any member of the Hague Agreement, including Vietnam.

The difference between these two types of applications is the country requesting industrial design protection and the country requesting industrial design protection. Specifically:

• For applications designating Vietnam: the country requesting industrial design protection is a member of the Hague Agreement, and the country requesting industrial design protection is Vietnam;
• For applications originating in Vietnam: the country requesting industrial design protection is Vietnam, and the country requesting industrial design protection is other member countries of the Hague Agreement.

How to prepare a Lahay application

The Hague application is divided into a paper Hague application and an online Hague application. If the applicant wants to use a paper application, the applicant will have to access the website https://www.wipo.int/hague/en /forms and then return to form DM/1 to fill out the application information.

In case the applicant wants to apply online, the applicant will have to submit the application by directly declaring the relevant information on the interface of the online Lahay application system.

Whether filed on paper or online, the applicant’s Hague application must meet the specific requirements listed below:

• The prescribed form must be used; the applicant is not allowed to arbitrarily amend the declaration form;
• The Hague application submitted to the International Bureau must be in one of three languages: English, French, or Spanish.
• When filing a Hague application through the state management agency on industrial property rights, it must be in English;

Regarding application information, there must be:

• Full information about the applicant;
• Contact information of the applicant or representative of the applicant;
• Full product information;
• Information regarding the specified country. In particular, the applicant will not be able to specify any other country once the application has been submitted.

In addition to these requirements, in the provisions of Clause 2 and Clause 3, Article 22 of Decree 65/2023/ND-CP detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Intellectual Property Law on industrial property, protection of industrial property rights and state management of intellectual property, and also imposes a number of additional requirements on applicants when submitting an application for international industrial design registration using the Hague application as follows:

• In case the applicant submits an application to the International Bureau, the application must be made in the language and according to the form and content requirements as stated in the Hague Agreement listed above;
• In case the applicant files an application through the state management agency on industrial property rights, it must meet the specific requirements as follows:
• Application must be made in English;
• The number of each application submitted is 02 copies;
• Fully meets the requirements related to form and content issues according to the Hague Agreement mentioned above.

Some notes for applicants when using the Hague application form

The Hague application is an application form that focuses extremely on content and form, therefore, the applicant must be extremely careful about this issue. However, because of the focus on this issue, the number of requests related to the content and form of the Hague application is also quite large.

Therefore, when using the Hague application form to register for international industrial design protection, the applicant should seek the help and support of experienced, reputable, and competent experts on this issue as the team of lawyers and consultants of Viet An Law Firm to receive the most appropriate assistance.

If you have any questions related to the way to register industrial designs using the Hague application in Vietnam, please contact Viet An Law for our best support!