VIETNAM Law and Practice Contributed by: Thang Nguyen, Minh Nguyen and Nguyet Le, ACSV Legal
distinguish goods or services. Trade name rights arise from consistent, public use without regis - tration, while domain names follow a first-come, first-served rule. Trade marks are valid for ten years and renew - able indefinitely. Registration takes up to 15 months and can be done locally or via the Madrid Protocol. Maintenance costs are relatively low. 7.3 Industrial Design Industrial design means the outward appear - ance of a product embodied in three-dimension - al configuration, lines, colours or a combination of such elements. Under Vietnamese law, indus - trial property rights to an industrial design shall be established based on a decision of the com - petent state body. This authority grants a pro - tection title in accordance with the registration procedures stipulated in the Law on Intellectual Property of Vietnam or the recognition of inter - national registration pursuant to an international treaty to which Vietnam is a member. Generally, an industrial design is eligible for pro - tection when it satisfies the following conditions: • it is novel; • it is of a creative nature; and • it is susceptible to industrial application. However, the following items are ineligible for protection as industrial designs: • outward appearance of a product which is necessarily due to the technical features of the product; • outward appearance of civil or industrial con - struction work; and • shape of a product which is invisible during the use of the product.
Generally, the following organisations and individuals have the right to register industrial designs: • authors who have created industrial designs through their own labour and at their own expense; and • organisations or individuals who have sup - plied funds and material facilities to authors in the form of job assignment or hiring, unless otherwise agreed by the parties involved. Industrial design applications in Vietnam must follow a prescribed form and be submitted to the Intellectual Property Office (IP Office) with required documents and images. The process includes a formality check (one month) and substantive examination (seven months from gazette publication), but in practice, the full pro - cess typically takes 1–1.5 years. Under the “first to file” rule, only the earliest valid application will be granted protection if multiple similar filings exist. Ties with the same filing date require applicant agreement; otherwise, all are refused. A granted design patent records ownership, authorship, and scope, and is valid for five years from filing, renewable twice for five years each. 7.4 Copyright Registration of Copyright Copyright in Vietnam is administered by the National Copyright Office and covers works including computer programs, which are not patentable. Vietnam follows the Berne Conven - tion, with protection lasting 75 years from pub - lication for certain works, and life of the author plus 50 years for others.
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