Nowadays, the more demand for garments, the more development of custom-made. Custom-made services can be provided by small business individuals, famous designers, and fashion companies. In each case, business owners can register for trademark protection for their custom-made services. After registration, the rights of the trademark owners will be protected by law from infringements. This also helps to contribute to the promotion of business products.
The trademark protection process can be generalized as follows:
Prepare a dossier:
- A trademark sample with dimensions bigger than 3 x 3 cm and smaller than 8 x 8 cm;
- A list of services/goods intended to register;
- A trademark registration declaration (if customers authorize Viet An Law to submit the dossier, this declaration will be signed by the representative of Viet An Law);
- A power of attorney Viet An Law to apply;
- Receipts of fee payments.
Notices: Services/goods, which are stated in the application, shall be classified according to the Nice Classification. Custom-made services are classified in class 40.
Apply and monitor the result of the application:
The owner can directly submit or through the representative of Viet An Law to apply at the Intellectual Property office. It takes about 13 – 18 months from the date of submitting to have resulted, specifically:
– Form appraisal stage (01- 02 months): the Intellectual Property office considers valid of the application and issue a notice to accept the application or refuse to accept the application (if the applicant does not amend the application);
– Publish the application on the gazette: the trademark registration application will be published within 02 months from the date application is accepted as a valid application and the applicant shall pay the publishment fee.
– Content appraisal stage (09 – 12 months): the purpose of this stage is to evaluate the protection possibility of stated objects in the application. During the content appraisal stage, the Intellectual Property Office may request the applicant to explain the content of the application and provide information relating to the nature of stated objects in the application.
– Grant and publish the trademark registration certificate (01 – months).
Extension of a protection title:
According to the Law on Intellectual Property office, a protection title is valid from the date of granting to the end of 10 years from the submitting date, it can be extended for 10 consecutive years.
If customers want to extend the validity, customers shall submit a request for renewable application at the Intellectual Property Office within 06 months before the certificate expires. Unless customers can submit in a limited time, customers can submit later but not later than 06 months from the date the protection title expires. An important condition for the extension is that the owner must pay the renewal fee.
Any information relating to trademark registration in Vietnam for services/goods, please contact Viet An Law to have more detailed advice.
