Division of trademark applications in Vietnam

Viet An Law – Vietnam intellectual property firm provides client the IP services in Vietnam for the trademark registration and renewals. One of the service for trademark registration, you client can request for the division of trademark applications. In order to apply for this procedure, clients should do the steps by steps as following:

Before the IPVN issues decisions on rejection of an application, decisions on refusal to grant a protection title or decisions on the grant of a protection title, an applicant may divide, on his/her own initiative or upon the request of the IPVN, his/her application. A divisional application must bear a new serial number and is entitled to the filing date or date(s) of priority (if any).

A request for application division includes:

(i) 02 Declaration for registration which are typed according to form No. 04-NH Appendix A of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN, in the declaration forms of divisional application, the serial numbers of parent applications (original application) and date of filing of the parent application must be specified;

(ii) 05 identical mark specimens;

(iii) Documents request in writing, proposal for divide trademark application;

(iv) Power of attorney (in case the request is filed through a representative);

(v) For each divisional application, the applicant shall pay all fees and charges for procedures:

* In case the elements in the trademark are divided into divisional applications and parent application has not yet had the result of substantive examination of applications, the applicant shall pay all fees and charges for procedures carried out independently from the parent application for each divisional application.

Parent applications shall be amended and the divisional content should be published by IPVN. A request for application amendments includes:

(i) 02 declarations requesting application amendments which are typed according to form No. 01-SĐĐ Appendix B of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN;

(ii) Documents certifying the change of the application;

The time limit for processing a divisional application:

Divisional applications are subject to formality examination and shall be further processed according to the procedures not yet completed for their parent applications.

Methods of filing application

The applicant may choose paper filing or online filing through the IPVN’s online public service portal, specifically as follows:

(i) Paper filing

The applicant may submit a request for application division directly or via postal service to one of the IPVN’s application receiving places, specifically as follows:

– Head Office of IPVN, address: 386 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi city.

– Representative Office of IPVN in Ho Chi Minh City, address: 7th Floor, Ha Phan Building, 17/19 Ton That Tung, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh city.

– Representative Office of IPVN in Da Nang City, address: 3rd floor, 135 Minh Mang, Khue My ward, Ngu Hanh Son district, Da Nang city.

In case of filing a request for application division by post, the application charges/ fees must be transferred by postal service, then a copy of the Money Transfer Receipt must be attached to application and send to one of the above-mentioned IPVN’s office to prove the amount paid.

(Note: If the fee or charge is transferred to one of the above-mentioned IPVN’s application-receiving places, the applicant must send the dossier to the corresponding application-receiving point

(ii) Online filing

– Conditions for online filing: Applicants need to have a digital certificate, a digital signature and a resisted account which is approved by the IPVN on the Online Application Receiving System.

– Online filing:

+ The applicant need to complete the steps of filing a request for application division on the IPVN’s Online Application Receiving System. After that, a confirmation of online submission will be sent to the applicant.

+ The confirmation of online submission must be presented to one of the IPVN’s office and the applicant needs to attached documents (if any) and pay fees/ charges as prescribed within 01 month from the date of online submission.

+ If all documents and fees/ charges mentioned above are fully submitted as prescribed, an IPVN’s officer will issue the application number in the Online Application Receipt System.

If one of the documents and fees/ charges is not fully submitted, the application will be denied.

In the event that the applicant fails to complete the prescribed application procedure, the online application procedure will be canceled and the Online Application Cancellation Notice will be sent to the applicant via the Online Application Receiving System.

Application form:

APPLICATION FORM – DECLARATION FOR AMENDMENT/ TRANSFER OF TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS (ISSUED UNDER THE CIRCULAR NO. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN OF FEBRUARY 14, 2007 BY THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)

Enterprises and individuals with demands to register a trademark, trademark renewals in Vietnam, please contact Viet An Law Firm for advice, detailed guidance on filing, how to classify trademarks, procedures related to Applications of Trademark Registration or problems arising during the process of Trademark Registration