Trademark registration for advertising services in Vietnam

Advertising service is a service commonly used today with many different forms, especially used by individuals and organizations doing business. Therefore, many advertising service companies are established, creating fierce competition in the market. In order to have a competitive and stable source of customers, advertising companies shall create a prestigious and impressive trademark for their advertising services. Not only that, advertising companies shall also protect certain trademark to avoid being counterfeited or counterfeited by registering for a trademark protection at the Intellectual Property.

In this article, Viet An Law will guide customers who are interested in about the process. We are also gives some notices about the implementation of trademark registration procedures for advertising services at the Intellectual Property.

Prepared procedures before submitting

            Customers send Viet An Law a form of trademark and a list of advertising services to be registered, Viet An Law will give advices and free preliminary search for customers in the range from 01 – 02 working days from the date of receipt of the trademark sample.

            After searching, Viet An Law will notify customers of the result, in case the trademark sample is valid and capable of registration, Viet An Law will be on customer’s behalf to carry out the trademark registration procedures in government agency.

            Viet An Law assissts customers in classifying advertising services intended to be branded according to the Nice Classification. This is a required procedure to understand about the scope of protection of the intended trademark, if customers do not classify or misclassify, the Intellectual Property will do (there is a fee). Accordingly, advertising services are classified in group 35 Advertising.

Procedures for a trademark registration

Step 1: Submit a trademark registration application

            Individuals and organizations wishing to register a trademark may apply for a trademark registration themselves at competent state agencies or may authorize them through representative of Viet An Law. At the same time, when submitting a registration application, customers shall pay a trademark registration fee and take the receipt of the trademark registration fee to submit with the application.

            Attached to a trademark registration application, customers need to provide all of the following documents:

• A list of advertising services intended to be registered trademark;
• A trademark registration declaration;
• A power of attorney to Viet An Law to submit the application;
• 01 trademark sample ( not smaller than 3 x 3 cm, not bigger than 8 x 8 cm);
• A receipt of trademark registration fee.

Step 2: Receive and process a trademark registration application

            A trademark registration application shall be received by the state management agency in charge of industrial property rights if sufficient information and documents are available according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 108 of Law on Intellectual Property 2005.

            After receiving a trademark registration, state management agency shall process that trademark registration application through the following stages:

Stage 1: Examine the form of the trademark registration application

            The trademark registration application shall be formally examined to evaluate the validity of the application, including necessary documents: subgroup; classify the object stated in the application; the right to submit… Formal examination period is 01 – 02 months from the date of submitting.

Stage 2: Publish the trademark registration application

            The trademark registration application which is legally accepted by the state management agency in charge of industrial property shall be published in the Intellectual Property office’s gazette for a period 02 – 03 months from the date the application is accepted as a valid application.

Stage 3: Content examination

            The valid trademark registration application will be announced at the same time as the substantive examination. The time limit for substantive examination is 06 months from the date of publication.

Step 3: Grant and publish the trademark protection

            A trademark registration application is not one of the cases of refusal to grant protection titles specified in Clause 1,2 and Point b Clause 3 Article 117 of the Law on Intellectual Property. When the customer pays the fee, the State administrative body of industrial property rights shall decide to grant the title of protection and record in the National register of industrial property.

            Time to grant the protection title is 01 – 02 months from the date of paying the title fee.

Notices: Before applying for a trademark registration, to be more secure about the intended trademark, customers can choose the search service on Viet An Law include:

• Preliminary trademark search: Viet An Law will conduct a premilinary search for the trademark you provide within 01 – 02 working days from the date of receipt of the intended trademark for registration.
• Search at the Intellectual Property office: Viet An law will through representative to search the trademark at the Intellectual Property office. This search step will determine the highest protection capacity of the intended trademark (there is a fee).

The term of protection for a trademark is 10 years from the submitting date. Customers pay the maintenance fee each year. Customers can renew the trademark protection before the expiration date if they want to continue using the trademark or can also terminate the trademark protection if they do not want to continue using the trademark.

Viet An Law & Intellecutal proprty agent provides services related to exclusive trademark registration & trademark renewals, customers wishing to contact Viet An Law directly to use the best legal services.