On December 26 and 29, 2023 in Hanoi, the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IP Vietnam) organised two Conferences to review the work in 2023 and deploy upcoming targets in 2024. The statistical report from IP Vietnam reveals a notable number of applications the IP Vietnam had received in the year of 2023, specifically 156.413 applications in all categories, representing an 11% increase from 2022. The IP Vietnam has managed to process 125.778 applications (which were 13.1% higher than in 2022) and granted 36.977 registration certificates. Significantly, the IP Vietnam has presided over the development and submission for promulgation of Decree No. 65/2023/ND-CP detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the IP Law 2022, and Circular No. 23/2023/TT-BKHCN stipulating measures to implement Decree No. 65/2023/ND-CP. These 02 most-updated legal documents have promptly contributed to effective guidance on procedures within industrial property rights implementation.

Nevertheless, the IP Vietnam continued to face challenges and restrictions in processing the applications. These include: a growing backlog of applications, the shortfalls of physical resources and technology infrastructure, and most important, the regulations in application examination are outdated which cause severe backlog at the IP Vietnam.

Considering many IP legal documents were issued in 2023, especially the Decree No. 65/2023/ND-CP and Circular No. 23/2023/TT-BKHCN regulating on industrial property rights implementation, it is essential that the IP Vietnam shall deploy strategies to effectively implement the IP Law 2022 and resolve the backlog, speed up the process of examining applications and requests. Since the IP Vietnam’s Examination Regulations are not caught up with the new legal documents, it is required that IP Vietnam shall issue new Examination Regulations in examining industrial property rights registration applications as soon as possible.

In addition, intellectual property integration and cooperation on a global scale have been aggressively pursued. The IP Vietnam has been actively engaged in negotiations within the framework of new generation Free Trade Agreements (FTA), actively implemented international treaties that Vietnam has ratified or acceded to, particularly the CPTPP Agreement, EVFTA, UKVFTA, etc. Furthermore, the IP Vietnam has maintained and advanced international cooperation with international organisations, e.g. WTO, ASEAN, APEC, and WIPO. Lastly, bilateral cooperations have also been enhanced, in particular, with WIPO, Laos, Japan, China, the United States of America, and so on.

In the upcoming year of 2024, the IP Vietnam aims to continue in proactively negotiating activities to ensure effective IP implementation in signed Agreements; promoting international cooperation activities; improving the capacity of the IP system; and strengthening support for organisations and businesses in protecting IP rights abroad.

Yen Pham

Trademark Head & Senior IP Attorney

[email protected]

+84 28 73 009 678