Each new industrial design is the result of creativity and a very valuable asset, but sometimes the owner skips the registration step to establish ownership. This will lead industrial design is copied by other organizations and individuals, causing damage to the owner. With the desire to support businesses and individuals wishing to carry out the procedures for industrial design registration in Vietnam, Ngoc Phu Law Firm would like to instruct registration of industrial designs as follows:
Industrial design registration means an organization or individual being the owner of an industrial design submits an application for registration of industrial design at a competent state agency to be granted an industrial design patent.
- An industrial design patent is the basis for affirming the owner's rights to the industrial design before other organizations and individuals, making it easier for the owner to prove ownership in the event of a dispute. If enterprises put their products on the market without registering for protection, they are easy to be copied and imitated by competitors in the market. If those imitators register industrial design first, enterprises will face many difficulties in proving their ownership of the industrial design and reclaiming their rights.
- The owner of an industrial design patent has the exclusive right to use the industrial design during the term of protection, has the right to prohibit others from using it, and to request the authorities to handle any infringements. Thereby, businesses can offset the costs of investment and receive profits from exploiting the industrial design and can reinvest in creative activities.
- If the owner of an industrial design patent does not self-use the industrial design for production and business purposes, he/she may transfer the right to use or transfer ownership right to an other organization or individuals to bring revenue to the owner. In addition, the owner of an industrial design patent can also use the industrial design to contribute investment capital with other organizations and individuals.
- Industrial designs add value to the products of the business. It makes the product attractive to customers. Therefore, the protection of industrial designs is of decisive value in the business strategy of any manufacturer or enterprise. Industrial design helps businesses increase their prestige, greatly contribute to the goal of building the image of the business, associate the business with a particular design of the product.
- Search sources: There are many sources to search, in Vietnam, we can use the electronic databases of the Intellectual Property Office or other countries' intellectual property agencies, Google Images, Bing Images, books, magazines, …
- Search method: According to Locarno classification, design name, applicant's name, etc. When you have access to the search website, you create a search query for industrial designs, the search fields include:
+ Design name;
+ Locarno classification;
+ Applicant's name;
+ Application number, …
Depending on the needs and necessity, we choose the corresponding lookup fields. The search results include the data corresponding to the selected fields, including the Total number of results found and a detailed description of each search result.
Industrial design registration dossiers shall be submitted directly or by post at:
- Head office of The Intellectual Property Office: 384-386 Nguyen Trai Street, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi City.
- Representative office of The Intellectual Property Office in Ho Chi Minh City: 7th Floor, Ha Phan Building, 17-19 Ton That Tung Street, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
- Representative office of The Intellectual Property Office in Da Nang City: 3rd Floor, 135 Minh Mang Street, Khue My Ward, Ngu Hanh Son District, Da Nang city.
The registration of industrial design is carried out according to the following steps:
- Step 1: Search the registrability of an industrial design.
- Step 2: Draft dossiers of industrial design registration.
- Step 3: Submit application for registration of industrial design.
- Step 4: The Intellectual Property Office appraises the application for registration.
- Step 5: The Intellectual Property Office grants an industrial design patent.
An industrial design registration dossier includes the following documents:
- 02 Registration forms;
- 01 Industrial design description;
- 04 Lists of photos or drawings of industrial design;
- Power of attorney (if applying through an industrial property representative);
- Documents proving the right to register (if the applicant receives that right from someone else);
- Documents proving priority right (if there is a claim for priority right);
- Proof of payment of fees (if sending registration documents by post).
The costs of industrial design registration include: State fees and fees for legal services. In which, state fees include:
- Application fee;
- Application publication fee;
- Search fee for appraisal;
- Appraisal fee;
- Fee for granting of protection title;
- Fee for information publication of granted protection titles;
- Fee for registration of information of granted protection titles.
The state fees to be paid will depend on the number of options of each product registered for protection.
An industrial design dispute occurs when there is an act of infringing upon the rights of the industrial design owner, specifically as follows:
- Using a protected industrial design or an industrial design that is not significantly different from that design during the validity period of the Industrial Design Patent without permission of the owner.
- Using the industrial design without paying compensation under the provision of provisional rights to industrial designs.
Organizations and individuals that commit acts of infringing upon the industrial designs of others, depending on the value of the infringing goods, may be fined up to VND 250 million, be suspended from trading in infringing goods kinds from 01 month to 03 months.
In addition, violators may also be subject to other remedial measures, including: Forcible removal of infringing elements and destruction of infringing elements; forcible destruction of material evidences of violation if the infringing elements can not be eliminated; forced to bring out of Vietnam's territory transit goods infringing industrial property rights; forced to return illegal profits obtained from committing violations.
Ngoc Phu Law Firm, with a team of dedicated and experienced lawyers, specializes in providing registration and handling services for industrial design infringements. Ngoc Phu Law Firm's services in this area include:
- Advise procedures and dossiers of industrial design registration;
- Search the registrability of an industrial design;
- Draft dossiers of industrial design registration;
- Represent the applicant in responding to complaints of 3rd party and documents of The Intellectual Property Office in the process of industrial design registration;
- Advise on handling acts of industrial design infringement.
CÔNG TY LUẬT TNHH NGỌC PHÚ
Customer service: 19009343
Hotline: 0913 41 99 96
Email: legal@nplaw.vn
