Non-alcoholic Beverages Trademarks Registration in Vietnam

In the development of the food industry, the beverage production and trading industry are developing constantly. Beverages include non-alcoholic beverages and alcoholic beverages. We can see that the non-alcoholic beverage market is popular than the alcoholic beverage because this market is suitable for any age customers and not in one of the conditional industries such as the alcohol business. Therefore, more and more investors are choosing non-alcoholic beverages to do business. To increase their competitiveness, business entities can choose a trademark registration solution and can refer to the following process:

The owner can directly submit or through the representative of Viet An Law. A dossier includes:

• A trademark registration declaration;
• A trademark sample with dimensions bigger than 3 x 3 cm and smaller than 8 x 8 cm: To ensure the possibility of registration, the owner should search for a trademark or use the search of Viet An Law. Viet An Law shall conduct a preliminary search and search at the Intellectual Property Office to evaluate the strongest possibility of registration;
• A list of goods/services: According to the Nice Classification, non-alcoholic beverages are under class 32 (including de-alcoholic beverages). However, some non-alcoholic beverages such as medical beverages, dairy beverages, coffee, cocoa, or chocolate beverages are not included in class 32;
• Receipts of fee payments: Fee depends on the number of goods/services intended to register;
• A power of attorney Viet An Law if customers authorize Viet An Law to submit through the representative.

Form appraisal:

         Form appraisal is to check the form provisions then the competent state agency shall conclude whether the application is valid or not. It is also the basis for further considering or denying the application.

Publish the valid application:

         The valid application will be published on the gazette. The applicant shall pay the publication fee.

Content appraisal:

The purposes of this step are to evaluate the possibility of protection according to the protection conditions and to determine the scope of corresponding protection. During this step, the Intellectual Property Office may request the applicant to explain the content, provide information relating to the nature of stated objects.

Grant the protection title and publish:     

The application is not one of the refusal cases and the applicant pays the fee, the competent state agency in charge of industry property grants the protection title and record on the National Register for Industrial Property.

         After being granted the protection title, the owner may use the trademark by:

• Affixing protected trademark on goods, goods packages, means of business, means of services, documents of transactions in business activities;
• Circulating, offering for sale, advertising for the sale, stockpiling for sale;
• Importing goods, services protected by the trademark.

The protection title is valid from the date of issue to the end of 10 years from the submitting date. It can be renewed for successive 10 years.

For any information relating to products’ trademark registration in Vietnam, please contact Viet An Law to have the best detailed and specific advice.