Documents attached to the requests for infringement handling in administrative sanctions in Vietnam from November 15, 2024

Documents attached to the requests for infringement handling in administrative sanctions in Vietnam from November 15, 2024 (Image from the Internet)

On September 30, 2024, the Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam issued Circular 06/2024/TT-BKHCN amending and supplementing several articles of Circular 11/2015/TT-BKHCN which provides detailed regulations and guidelines for the implementation of several articles of Decree 99/2013/ND-CP regarding the handling of administrative violations in the field of industrial property in Vietnam.

Documents attached to the requests for infringement handling in administrative sanctions in Vietnam from November 15, 2024

Article 23 of Circular 11/2015/TT-BKHCN (amended by Clause 13, Article 2 of Circular 06/2024/TT-BKHCN) specifies the requests for infringement handling in administrative sanctions in Vietnam as follows:

For documents proving the right to request handling of infringements:

- Copies of certificates, protection titles, licenses, and other documents are considered valid if the right holder presents the original for comparison, or a certified copy from a competent authority, or a copy with confirmation from the issuing authority. In cases where the protection title is issued in electronic form, the right holder submits a certified true copy according to legal regulations;

- Documents proving ownership of a trade name include materials and artifacts demonstrating prior use and legal use of the trade name in the business field and area meeting the protection conditions stipulated in Articles 76, 77, and 78 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005;

- Documents proving ownership of trade secrets include materials demonstrating legal possession by an organization or individual, and that secrecy measures have been implemented as considered a trade secret according to the provisions of Articles 84 and 85 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005;

- In the case of contracts for using industrial property objects, collective mark regulations, or licenses for geographical indications lacking contents limiting the right to request handling of infringements by the transferee of use rights, such persons are allowed to lodge requests for handling infringements as stipulated in Decree 99/2013/ND-CP, provided that the owner of the rights does not oppose the performance of such procedures in writing.

For documents and evidence attached to the request:

The statement of the right holder (concerning revenue, reputation, advertising, wide usage evidence, copies of certificates, protection titles in other countries) submitted to the competent authority handling the case is considered valid if accompanied by a commitment to bear legal responsibility for the content and information of the statement, along with a signature and seal (if available) of the right holder or its legal representative. If the statement consists of many pages, the right holder must initial on each page or affix a contiguous seal (if available).

This provision also applies correspondingly to documents provided by the party requested to handle infringements.

In effect, Clauses 2 and 3 of Article 23 of Circular 11/2015/TT-BKHCN regulate attached documents and proof documents as follows:

For documents and evidence attached to the request:

- Copies of certificates, protection titles, licenses, and other documents are considered valid if the right holder presents the original for comparison or a certified copy from a competent authority, or a copy with confirmation from the issuing authority. Receiving officers authenticate by signing on the compared copy of the original and do not require notarization or confirmation from the licensing authority or the authority issuing the certificates, protection titles, licenses;

- The statement of the right holder (concerning revenue, reputation, advertising, wide usage evidence, copies of certificates, protection titles in other countries) submitted to the infringement handling authority is considered valid if accompanied by a commitment to bear legal responsibility for the content and information of the statement, along with a signature and seal (if available) of the right holder or its legal representative. If the statement consists of many pages, the right holder must initial on each page or affix a contiguous seal (if available).

This provision also applies correspondingly to documents provided by the party requested to handle violations.

For documents proving the right to request handling of violations:

- Documents proving trade name ownership include materials and artifacts demonstrating prior use and legal use of the trade name in the business field and area meeting the protection conditions stipulated in Articles 76, 77, and 78 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005;

- Documents proving ownership of trade secrets include materials demonstrating legal possession by an organization or individual, and that secrecy measures have been implemented as considered a trade secret according to the provisions of Articles 84 and 85 of the Intellectual Property Law 2005;

- In the case of contracts for using industrial property objects, collective mark regulations, or licenses for geographical indications lacking contents limiting the right to request handling of violations by the transferee of use rights, such persons are allowed to lodge requests for handling violations as stipulated in Decree 99/2013/ND-CP, provided that the owner of the rights does not oppose the performance of such procedures in writing.

Apart from the documents and evidence proving the entitlement of the right holder as stipulated in Article 24 of Decree 105/2006/ND-CP, amended, the right holder may submit a copy of documents proving entitlement and present the original for verification.

More details can be found in Circular 06/2024/TT-BKHCN which comes into force in Vietnam from November 15, 2024.

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