Industrial design registration in Vietnam

Industrial design is the outward appearance of a product embodied in three-dimensional configuration, lines, and colors or a combination of such elements. An industrial design shall be protected when it is novel, creative and susceptible to industrial application. According to the Law on Intellectual Property 2005, some objects shall not be protected as an industrial design; for example, an outward appearance which is necessary due to the functions of a product, outward appearance which is of civil or industrial construction works or shape of a product which is invisible during the use of the product.

Rights of industrial design are established based on a decision of the National Office of Intellectual Property to grant a protection title. Industrial design owner who wishes to establish industrial design rights shall have to submit a dossier for the requirement of protection title at the National Office of Intellectual Property or grant authority to an organization that acts as an intellectual property representative like Viet An Law Firm to perform relevant duties.

Conditions of industrial design protection:

• Industrial design must be novel worldwide and in comparison with itself. Therefore, if clients publicly disclose industrial design in the market then register it later, there may be able to be refused due to its lack of novelty;
• Its susceptibility to industrial application: Industrial design shall be used for mass manufacture.

Industrial design assessment before registration:

To evaluate the ability of successful industrial design registration in countries as well as to save time and money for clients, Viet An Law Firm kindly suggests clients assess the ability of registration before submitting industrial design protection dossier.

Advantages:

Evaluating about 80% of successful industrial design registration before submitting dossier, Viet An Law Firm could help clients estimate the ability of successful registration. In the event of low success, Viet An Law Firm would consult clients about rising the ability. If the assessment result is optimistic, submitting a registration dossier would be performed actively and safely.

Industrial design registration dossier includes:

• Industrial design registration declaration form as published by the National Office of Intellectual Property (03 sets). Please contact Viet An Law Firm to get the form;
• Power of attorney (Viet An Law Firm’s form);
• Images or drawing of industrial design which show every side of it;
• Description of industrial design (03 sets);
• Documents show the trademark ownership, in case the industrial design contains a trademark (01 sets). Detailed: documents show legal rights to submit dossier (in case the applicant is powered by another (Heredity certificate, Certificate or Agreement of submitting rights transfer, Contract of duties or Labor contract) (01 sets);
• In case clients require priority privilege according to an international agreement, please provide us your copies of the first application form or documents of the exhibition (01 sets);

These documents above need to be submitted at the same time as the declaration form. However, some following documents could be submitted later:

• Power of attorney could be submitted within 01 months from the submitting day. However, when submitting a dossier, a copy of power of attorney must be attached;
• Some documents could be submitted within 30 months from the submitting day: Vietnamese version of the description of industrial design (if the dossier includes English/French/Russian version), submitting fees verification, and publishing fees.

Duration of industrial design registration procedures:

Formal examination duration: 01 months from the submitting day.

The National Office of Intellectual Property shall consider if the dossier is qualified of conditions such as formality, images, owner, rights to submit a dossier, grouping…

If the dossier is qualified, the National Office of Intellectual Property shall issue an acceptance of a valid dossier and publish it.

If the dossier is unqualified, the National Office of Intellectual Property shall issue an refusal and require dossier adjustment. Applicants shall adjust as required and submit the adjustment to the National Office of Intellectual Property.

Duration of industrial design registration publication: 02 months from the day on which the acceptance of a valid dossier is issued.

Contents of publication of industrial design registration include any information relevant to the valid dossier, images, and industrial design grouping.

Substantive examination duration: 09 months from the dossier publication day.

The National Office of Intellectual Property shall consider the conditions of industrial design registration then evaluate the ability to grant a protection title for the applicant. If the dossier is qualified, the National Office of Intellectual Property shall inform the intended grant of protection title for the industrial design.

If the dossier is unqualified, the National Office of Intellectual Property shall issue a refusal to grant a protection title for the industrial design. In this case, the owner shall consider and send a letter or complaints of the National Office of Intellectual Property’s decision, as well as prove evidence and grounds for granting protection title for the industrial design.

Granting protection title duration: 02 – 03 months from the day on which granting fees are submitted.

After receiving the granting protection title decision, the owner or the representative of the owner shall submit the granting fees and receive the protection title.

Duration of industrial design protection: the industrial design shall be protected for 05 years from the day on which the dossier is submitted and shall be renewed for 02 consecutive times. That means an industrial design shall be protected for 15 years (if it is consecutively renewed after expiration). After that, the industrial property shall be not exclusive anymore and other entities could use it without the owner’s permission).

Industrial design registration consulting services at Viet An Law Firm:

• Research information about industrial design usage and registration in Vietnam and other countries;
• Consult, evaluate industrial design usage and registration ability in Vietnam and other countries;
• Complete the industrial design registration dossier for clients (translate documents, write industrial design description, prepare images, declaration forms…) and represent for clients when submitting dossier, renew the protection title of industrial design in Vietnam and other countries;
• Research and evaluate the ability of infringements of protected industrial designs;
• Perform protected industrial design rights for clients: investigate, supervise, negotiate/mediate, file a lawsuit or require state-authorized bodies to deal with infringements in Vietnam and other countries;
• Negotiate, draft, examine and register the industrial design right assignment contract or industrial design right transfer contract in Vietnam and other countries.

Clients who have concerns about industrial design registration in Vietnam and relevant problems, please feel free to contact Viet An Law Firm to get legal advice and to be supported in performing procedures!