Seafood Trademarks Registration in Vietnam

Seafood is one of the important foods, providing high levels of nutrients for humans. In Vietnam, with a long coastline and terrain river, the fisheries sector has become a key economic sector. Many businesses participate in this market, farming, fishing, processing, and consuming aquatic products, so the competition is extremely great. Enterprises can register trademarks for their products to increase competitiveness and attract customers and partners.

Preparing documents and drafting dossier includes:

• A trademark sample with dimension bigger than 3 x 3 cm and smaller than 8 x 8 cm;
• A list of goods/services intended to register (Seafood are classified in class 31 according to the Nice Classification. However, this class includes only raw unprocessed products);
• A trademark registration declaration (if customers authorize Viet An Law to submit, this declaration will be signed by the representative of Viet An Law);
• A power of attorney;
• Receipts of fee payments.

Customers should search to assess the strongest possibility of trademark registration. However, 100% successful registration is not guaranteed until a decision is made to issue a protection title from the competent agencies.

Processing the trademark registration application:

It takes 13 – 18 months for the Intellectual Property Office to process an application including these stages: Form appraisal; Publish the trademark registration; Content appraisal; Grant the protection title.

Notices: During this process, the owner can proceed to amend and supplement the application. However, the amendment and supplementation of an application must not extend the scope of protection stated in the list of goods and services for the trademark registration application and must not replace or change the nature of the object stated in the application. If the amendment expands the scope of protection or changes the nature of the object, the applicant must submit a new application and all procedures are resumed.

Validity of protection title:

According to the provisions of the Law on Intellectual Property, a protection title is valid from the date of issue to the end of ten years from the date of submitting and can be renewed for ten consecutive years. If customers want to renew the validity period, the owner should note the grace period and pay the fee.

Note: If the trademark is not allowed to be used by the owner or the person is authorized by the owner for a period of five consecutive years before the date of request to terminate without suitable reason (except for the case using is started or restarted at least 3 months before the date of the request for termination or validity), the protection title shall be terminated.

For any information related to trademark registration services for products and services, please contact Viet An Law for the most specific and detailed advice.