Vietnam: Evidence is required when requesting handling of intellectual property violations

Specifically, according to Clause 4 Article 1 of Decree No. 119/2010/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, a requester for handling of an infringement shall file a petition for handling of infringement together with the following documents and evidence to prove the request:

- Evidence proving that the requester is the right holder, if the requester is the right holder or an assignee, heir or successor of the intellectual property rights;

- Evidence proving the actual occurrence of the act of infringement; proving the suspicion of infringing imports or exports, for petitions for suspension of customs clearance for imports or exports suspected of infringement;

- Other documents and evidence to prove the request.

The following evidence is considered valid:

- For inventions, industrial designs, lay-out designs, marks, geographical indications, plant varieties, copyright, rights of performers, rights of producers of phonograms or video recordings or rights of broadcasting organizations already registered, evidence to prove the right holder status may be any of the following documents:

+ A copy of the invention, utility solution or industrial design patent; the layout design, mark or geographical indication registration certificate; the plant variety protection title; the copyright or related right registration certificate; enclosed with the original for comparison, unless the copy has been duly authenticated;

+ An excerpt from the national register of industrial property; an excerpt from the national register of copyright and related rights; an excerpt from the national register of rights to protected plant varieties, issued by a competent agency that has registered those subject matters.

- For an internationally registered mark, the evidence to prove the right holder status is a copy of the certificate of protection in Vietnam of such internationally registered mark issued by the state management agency in charge of industrial property, enclosed with the original for comparison, unless the copy has been duly authenticated.

View more details at: Decree No. 119/2010/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government takes effect from February 20, 2011.

Nguyen Phu

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