Vietnam IP News
New amendments to Vietnam’s IP law.
Vietnam’s National Assembly has recently passed amendments to the Law on Intellectual Property law. To take effect next January 1, the changes includes new copyright, rights to plant varieties and industrial property laws.
One of the new amendments is with regards to the usage of published works by organizations and individuals. If the material concerned is sponsored or accompanied by adverts., users will not be required to seek prior permission, but will have to pay royalties, the amount to be agreed by the parties, or failing which, to be determined by the courts. Also new is the period for copyright protection, which has been extended from 50 to 75 years, in line with other countries. With regards to copyrighted works that are not published within 25 years after fixation, the term of protection will be 100 years from date of fixation.
Patent applications will be examined within 18 months and industrial designs 7 months. New trademarks will be inspected within 9 months. There are also new provisions on rights to plant varieties. Also new are registration processes, with amended rights for the protection certificate holders, and new ruling on the transfers of rights. On a practical side, infringement cases can be brought and arbitrated by a special court.
25 July 2009.
It’s difficult to identify which is genuine and which is a fake!
It has come to the point that counterfeiters are having a field time in this country of eighty over million, with fake branded products selling in almost every corner. The more popular the brand is, the more fakes will be found, and no wonder, even for the authorities given the task of confiscating these items, it is really hard to differentiate which are the genuine ones. Often enough, the manufacturers have to be called in to determine which of the confiscated product the fake is. And this really hampers enforcement of intellectual property rights, at the expense of international branded manufacturers.
Compounding the problem of enforcement of intellectual property rights, and especially to trademarks is the easy availability of trademark registrations that looks similar in character. In most cases, adding an additional character will just pass it of as something different, at least in the eyes of the Copyright Office of Vietnam. Then again, enforcement is also given to Sub-departments, who will most likely have a different interpretation of copyright laws, which itself is ambiguous to most non lawyers.
Just what are the popular things being counterfeited? Fast consuming items like over the counter pain killers, fashionable items like sports wares, shoes, eye glasses and leather goods. With an increase in tourist arrivals, selling fakes is turning into a lucrative item. These items are easily found at popular outlets where tourists are likely to visit. Buying counterfeits also don’t seem to matter for the locals as the lower price makes it very affordable on the type of quality being offered. Even fake cigarettes are good enough at times, just so that the urge can be satisfied!
August 9, 2009.
EU giving grants to ASEAN
The EU has always deemed ASEAN as an area that lacks intellectual property protection. It is true that if you were to walk around the streets of their capital cities, you could easily find imitation goods like bags, dvd’s and computer software along shopping arcades. For sure, there are enforcements by the authorities, but these are only sporadic. Counterfeiters who are caught can easily wriggle their way out of court proceedings by corrupt means, and they continue with their activities immediately like nothing had happened! The problem is not endemic to the region as it happens in other area as well. In a move to countering this great loss, the EU has started negotiating with ASEAN some years back, like on the framework of a FTA (free trade agreement). Unfortunately, there is no real progress in this matter and instead, the EU is pursuing negotiations with individual countries.
Even as progress on EU/ASEAN Free Trade Agreement is elusive, the EU has agreed to provide ASEAN with a $US 6.7 million grant so that these countries can work out practical strategies to enforce intellectual property rights to an acceptable level. It must be noted that some of the member states have only emerged from poverty status recently. To them, intellectual property rights is something that is new, or at least to the man in the street. The EU hopes that the funds can be channeled towards educating the public about IP rights and therefore contributes towards a lesser amount of piracy and counterfeiting. The EU has previously provided more than $US 9 million grant for similar causes.
October 23, 2009.
Civil Aviation stops Jetstar Pacific flying off with infringing trademark
Now, low cost budget airlines are sprouting up everywhere, including the emerging economy of Vietnam. However, it does not mean that you can just use any trademark and fly off with passengers. In a recent announcement, the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) reprimanded Jetstar Pacific Airlines (JPA) for using a similar trade name of Australian budget carrier Jetstar. And it has advised JPA to use another name instead. However, JPA said that as it had legally registered the trademark in Vietnam, it has all the legality to operate. It is however not clear as to whether Jetstar of Australia has registered its trade name in Vietnam or not, but if it has not done so, then obviously JPA will have a stronger ground for retaining its trademark. It could be right at the IP issue, but wrong in civil aviation law!
There are other similar cases operating in the region, like for example, AirAsia and AirAsia Thailand. But these two airlines are associated companies and do have an agreement to use certain agreed terms. Jetstar Pacific and Jetstar of Australia are not associated and using similar trade name is tantamount to riding on other’s goodwill, and will confuse their clients. To complicate the matter further, Jetstar Australia does have an agreement for the Vietnam-Australia low cost route and have been operating for a few years, whislt JPA is a low cost carrier for Vietnam intra routes, and has only started operating recently. And the CAAV thinks it is against civil aviation laws to ride on somebody's tradename, and has communicated its objection to the Government for consideration. How the issue will pan out will definitely make an interesting issue!
October 24, 2009.
In the latest development, the MOT (Vietnamese Ministry of Transport) has instructed Jetstar Pacific to build up a new logo which meets the requirements of Commercial Law, Competition Law, Aviation Law and Intellectual Property Law. Looks like Jetstar Pacific is in a quandary?
November 04,2009
New man for Jetstar Pacific
In the latest development for the Vietnamese budget carrier Jetstar Pacific, the former chief Luong Hoai Nam has been replaced by Le Song Lai. This is to help resolve the trademark issue that has caused Jetstar Pacific to be in a limbo as its trademark infringes that of Jetstar of Australia. Hopefully, Le will be able to resolve the impasse. Mr. Lai is also the Deputy General Director of the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC), 70% owner of Jetstar Pacific, and has been since August 2006.
November 18, 2009.
Please change your logo
The Vietnamese government has ordered budget airline Jetstar Pacific to change its orange-star logo and repaint all of its six aircraft with new logos. Presently, it has logos similar to Jetstar Airways Pty, an Australian budget airline. Jetstar Airway Pty, owned by Qantas has a 23 percent stake in Jetstar Pacific. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) told Jetstar Pacific it must remove the current logo from its planes in order to renew its business license, which expires on September 15. It is understood that certain sections of the Vietnamese government is not happy about Jetstar Pacific’s competition with state owned Vietnam Airlines.
July 6, 2010