Trademark is a sign used to distinguish goods and services of different organizations and individuals. When registering for protection and use of a trademark, businesses should pay attention to the following issues:
- About brand naming
First, an enterprise must name a mark that meets the following conditions:
- Must be a visible sign in the form of letters, words, drawings, images, including holograms, or a combination thereof, represented by one or more colors;
- Having the ability to distinguish the goods and services of the mark owner from those of other subjects.
For example: Coca-Cola and Pepsi carbonated drinks are famous, popular and have been granted protection certificates all over the world. Therefore, if any enterprise now registers a trademark as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, it will not be granted a protection certificate – because this trademark may cause confusion as that of Coca-Cola, Pepsi.
Second, if an enterprise names a brand with one or more words, it must ensure that those words are easy to read, write, pronounce, remember and suitable for advertising purposes in all media. media.
Third, an enterprise must not name a mark with signs that are identical or confusingly similar to:
- Pictures of national flags and emblems of countries; (For example, an enterprise must not have the same or confusingly similar brand name as the national flag of Vietnam, the United States, etc.)
- Symbols, flags, badges, abbreviations, full names of state agencies, political organizations, socio-political organizations, socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations, organizations socio-professional organizations of Vietnam and international organizations, without the permission of such agencies or organizations; (For example, the brand name must not coincide with the badge of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union …)
- Real names, nicknames, pseudonyms, images of leaders, national heroes and celebrities of Vietnam and abroad; (For example, the brand name must not coincide with national heroes such as: Nguyen Trai; Quang Trung, Vo Thi Sau…)
- Certification marks, inspection marks and warranty marks of international organizations that such organizations request may not be used, unless such marks are registered by such organizations as certification marks; (For example, the name of the brand name of the GOLD STAR high oil is similar to the VANG VANG STAR high oil. In this case, the two brand names make it easy for consumers to confuse the two products, so businesses need to avoid registering the names. as above. )
- In addition, enterprises must not name trademarks that show signs of misleading, confusing or deceiving consumers about the origin, features, uses, quality, value or other characteristics of goods and services.
- Trademark lookup:
Before filing a trademark registration application, enterprises need to conduct an accurate trademark search to avoid cases where the trademark is identical or confusingly similar to previously registered trademarks.
Enterprises can directly look up information about trademarks that have been owned or filed for registration from the following sources:
– For national trademark search: http://iplib.noip.gov.vn/WebUI/WSearch.php
– For international trademark search: http://www.wipo.int/branddb/en/
- Authorization/re-authorization:
– Authorization:
The application owner may himself or through a legal representative in Vietnam carry out the procedures for trademark registration at the National Office of Intellectual Property. Legal representation here can be:
For Vietnamese organizations and foreign organizations with production and business establishments in Vietnam:
- In case the application owner is an individual: the legal representative or authorized representative of the application owner, the industrial property representation service organization authorized by the application owner;
- In case the application owner is an organization: the legal representative of the application owner or a person belonging to the organization authorized by the legal representative of the application owner; industrial property representation service organization (as authorized by the application owner); the head of the representative office or the head of the branch in Vietnam (if the applicant is a foreign organization).
For foreign organizations that do not have production or business establishments in Vietnam: through an industrial property representation service organization (as authorized by the application owner).
– Re-authorization:
Re-authorization is the re-authorization of the recipient to a third party – the re-authorization party; The re-authorization gives rise to a secondary authorization relationship between the authorizing party and the re-authorization party, parallel to the authorization relationship between the application owner and the authorized party; A multi-level authorization relationship may exist if the reauthorization recipient continues to re-authorize another person.
The re-authorization can be done many times, provided that the authorized recipient and the re-authorization recipient must be the organization or individual authorized to represent above. Authorization for subjects that are not authorized to represent is considered invalid, even if the authorized person later re-authorizes the authorized organization or individual.
– Contents of power of attorney
- Authorization/re-authorization must be in writing (power of attorney) and have the following principal contents:
- Name (full name), full address of the authorizing party and the authorized party;
- Name (full name), full address of the party receiving the replacement authorization or the party receiving the re-authorization (if any);
- Scope of authorization, authorized workload;
- Term of authorization (a power of attorney without an expiration date only ceases to be effective when the authorizing party declares the termination of the authorization);
- Date of signing of power of attorney;
- Signature (specify full name, position and seal, if any) of the legal representative of the authorizing party (and of the party receiving the replacement authorization, the party receiving the re-authorization, if any).
– Time of making power of attorney:
Power of attorney made later than the filing date is still considered valid, regardless of the filing date, provided it must be additionally filed within 01 month from the filing date; for a complaint, the time limit mentioned above is 10 days.
- Extension:
Trademarks can be renewed many times by paying a specified fee, but after registering for trademark protection and having been granted a trademark certificate, enterprises must continuously use that mark. In case a mark is not used continuously for 5 years or more, the ownership of that mark shall be terminated.
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LAW OFFICES TRAN DUC HUNG AND ASSOCIATES
Address: 45A, Cuu Long, Ward 2, Tan Binh District, City. Ho Chi Minh
