Procedure for Patent Protection Registration
1. Legal Basis:
- Intellectual Property Law 2005;
- Amended Intellectual Property Law 2009;
- Circular 263/2016/TT-BTC;
- Circular 01/2007/TT-BKHCN;
- Circular 05/2013/TT-BKHCN;
- Circular 16/2016/TT-BKHCN.
According to Clause 2, Article 1 of the Amended Intellectual Property Law 2009, an invention is a technical solution in the form of a product or process intended to solve a specific problem through the application of natural laws.
2. Registration Conditions:
- An invention shall be protected by the grant of a Patent for Invention if it meets the following conditions:
+ Novelty;
+ Inventiveness;
+ Industrial applicability.
- An invention shall be protected by the grant of a Utility Solution Patent if it is not general knowledge and meets the following conditions:
+ Novelty;
+ Industrial applicability.
3. Entities Entitled to Register:
- The author who created the invention through their effort and expense;
- Organizations or individuals who funded the author in the form of job assignment or subcontracting, except when otherwise agreed by the parties and such agreement is not contrary to the regulations on inventions created using physical-technical facilities, and expenses from the state budget.
- In cases where multiple organizations or individuals jointly create or invest to create the invention, all these organizations or individuals shall have the right to register, and this registration right shall only be exercised if all parties agree.
4. Application Dossier: (Article 100 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005; Clause 7, Article 1 of Circular 16/2016/TT-BKHCN).
- Application form (02 copies);
- Description of the invention (02 copies, including drawings, if any);
- Summary of the invention (02 copies);
- Documents proving the right to registration if the applicant enjoys the registration right from another person;
- Documents proving the basis for enjoying priority rights, if claiming priority rights (certified copies of the first application(s) by the receiving office, except for PCT applications).
- Copies of fee and charge payment receipts (in cases where fees and charges are paid via postal services or directly into the account of the National Office of Intellectual Property);
- Power of attorney (if filing through authorization).
5. Filing Location: National Office of Intellectual Property (Hanoi) or Its Representative Offices in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.
6. Submission Methods: Directly or via postal service.
7. Processing Time (Clause 15, Article 1 of the Amended Intellectual Property Law 2009, Circular 05/2013/TT-BKHCN):
- Formality examination: 01 month from the filing date;
- Publication of applications: within the 19th month from the priority date or filing date of the application, if there is no priority date, or within 02 months from the date of acceptance of a valid application, whichever is later;
- Substantive examination: not exceeding 18 months from the publication date if the substantive examination request is filed before the publication date or from the date of receipt of the substantive examination request if such request is filed after the publication date;
- Granting of the protection certificate: 15 days from the date of full and timely payment of all fees and charges;
- Publication of the decision to grant the protection certificate in the Industrial Property Gazette: 60 days from the date of the decision.
8. Fees and Charges: (According to the schedule of fees and charges for industrial property established by Circular 263/2016/TT-BTC):
- Application fee: 150,000 VND.
- Fee for granting the protection certificate: 120,000 VND for each independent protection claim; for an invention application with more than one independent protection claim, an additional 100,000 VND is charged per claim.
- Examination fees for invention registration applications:
+ Formality examination fee: 20% x 900,000 VND.
+ Substantive examination fee: 20% x 900,000 VND.
- For a description exceeding 6 pages, an additional 40,000 VND per page from the 7th page onward.
- International classification fee for inventions: 100,000 VND per subclass.
- Examination fee for priority claim: 600,000 VND per application per claim.
- Information search fee for examination: 600,000 VND per independent protection claim.
- Information publication fee: 120,000 VND (from the second figure onward: + 60,000 VND per figure, from the 7th page of the description onward: +10,000 VND per page).
- Registration fee for information on industrial property: 120,000 VND.
With best regards!
