Vietnam’s guidelines on disclosure of valid applications for registration of industrial property

Vietnam’s guidelines on disclosure of valid applications for registration of industrial property 

According to the Circular, the guidelines on disclosure of valid applications for registration of industrial property are as follows: 

(1) Information concerning the application approved as valid shall be disclosed by the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam on the Industrial Property Official Gazette according to Article 110 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005. The applicant shall pay the disclosure fees as per regulation. 

(2) The disclosure of an application for registration of an invention, industrial design, mark, or geographical indication shall be carried out as follows: 

- Regarding an application for registration of an invention: 

+ The application shall be disclosed in the 19th month from the priority date or the submission date if the application does not have a priority date;

+ If the application requests early disclosure, it shall be disclosed within 2 months from the date the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam receives such a request or from the date of valid application acceptance, whichever is later.  

- Regarding an application for registration of an industrial design: 

+ The application shall be disclosed within 2 months from the date of valid application acceptance if the applicant does not request late disclosure or the application is accepted as valid after the time limit for requesting late disclosure; 

+ If the applicant requests late disclosure and the application is accepted as valid before the time limit for requesting late disclosure, the application shall be disclosed in the month following the end month of the time limit for requesting late disclosure. 

- Regarding an application for registration of a mark or geographical indication, it shall be disclosed within 2 months from the date of valid application acceptance. 

(3) Disclosed contents on the Industrial Property Official Gazette shall include information concerning valid applications regarding their format prescribed in decisions on valid application acceptance (including decision number and date) and the following information: 

- Regarding an application for registration of an invention: name and nationality of the inventor; information concerning the valid application (application conversion or spit, the number of the initial application of the split/conversion application, etc.); summary of the invention; drawings enclosed with the summary (if any); date of request for content appraisal (if any); date of request for early disclosure (if any); international classification of the invention; other information (if any).

- Regarding an application for registration of an industrial design: name and nationality of the author; information concerning the valid application (application splitting, the number of the initial application of the split application, etc.); set of photos or drawings of the industrial design; the number of schemes for grant of protection; international classification of the industrial design; other information (if any).

- Regarding an application for registration of a mark: mark samples and list of goods and services bearing the mark; information concerning the valid application (application conversion or split, the number of the initial application of the split application, etc.); international classification of goods and services; other information (if any); use regulations (regarding a collective or certification mark).

- Regarding an application for registration of a geographical indication: summary of the specific characteristics of products with the geographical indication and names of such products; other information (if any).

See more details in Circular No. 23/2023/TT-BKHCN, effective as of November 30, 2023. 

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