What is a patent?

A patent is a type of legal property right.

Just as owning real estate property gives you the right to exclude others from trespassing on your land, a patent also gives you the right to exclude others from "trespassing" on your invention. In the US, patents may be granted for a limited time for new and useful processes, machines, products, and compositions of matter.

Patent Law Firm in Vietnam 

Just as land has definite boundaries specified by a survey, a patent has definite boundaries specified in its claims. If someone else makes, uses, or sells what is within the scope of the claims of a patent, then they are "trespassing" on the patent rights ("infringing" is the legal term used). And just as a real estate owner can lease out their land to renters, a patent owner can license the patent to others.

Just as an owner of real estate property must pay property tax to the government, an owner of a patent also must pay the government a property tax (called a maintenance fee, renewal or annuity).

This is a rough analogy, that breaks down if you push it too far. For example, whereas real estate property boundaries are usually non-overlapping, the boundaries of patent rights can intersect and overlap. Another difference is that patent rights expire after a limited time, usually 20 years from the time the patent application is filed. And, whereas real estate property is tied to pre-existing real land, patents are intellectual property that are virtual in the sense that the rights are tied to making, using, or selling anything within the general scope defined by the claims.

There is a lot more to say about what kinds of things can and can not be patented, the criteria that must be met for an invention to be considered patentable, the process of preparing a patent application, filing it, and getting it granted, and so on. But the above hopefully gives basic idea of what a patent is.

ANT Lawyers - A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property rights in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

Source: Quora

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When should a startup file for a trademark?

You should register your mark when your product already gives profit. So, when the expenses are lower than income, you should start protecting your name from the competitors.

Trademark Law Firm in Vietnam

While there exist a possibility that somebody would register the same mark for the same product, it is highly unlikely. Because:

The chances that some other person in the same country decides to register the same brand name, having no knowledge about your business, is close to 0;

If somebody else, knowing about your brand, registers it wishing to sell you the mark or illegally disrupt your business, you can sue them in court (on the grounds of bad faith).

I have seen cases, when people just at the beginning of their business invested high money in the intellectual property matters, but unfortunately, the business later failed. I believe, at the beginning there are always better fields to invest money.

You already have some-kind of protection:

While you must have knowledge about existing intellectual property rights (not to be sued yourself), protecting your own trademark can go to the second plan. Furthermore, even if trademarks are not protected without registration, there are still some legal grounds that protects you. For example:

A person who has used legally the mark before someone else registered it (legally, of cause), cannot be prevented to continue using the mark for the same scope (same goods and same territory);

If your trademark is not a generic term but an inventive word or a specific graphical image, it will be protected by the copyright law. And the copyright law does not need any registration, it is gained automatically once an original work is created. If you are a pharma company, do it, before you tell the name loud:

But, the need to register or not a trademark also depends a lot on the field where your business operates. For example, drugs industry is especially sensitive for all IP matters (patents, trademarks…). So, in this field I advice to register a mark as soon as possible. Because in the pharmaceuticals industry, the competition is really tough and it is better to have all IP protection you can.

Additional advices:

-Check for prior trademarks;

-Do not use any mark that is similar to the well-known brands (so NO “Aple”; “Cola-coca”, etc.);

-Better use a distinctive word, phrase, logo - you have stronger IP protection.

ANT Lawyers - A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property rights in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

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Da Nang to Cooperate with Singapore in Foreign Direct Investment

On July 19th,2019, Da Nang City People’s Committee held a “Singapore-Danang Investment Connection Seminar”, which leaders of the city’s departments and sectors met many major companies from Singapore under the Singapore Business Federation and Singapore Business Development Agency’s arrangement with purpose of seeking investment opportunities in Da Nang taking advantage of the dynamic city which investors from Singapore could set up company and make direct investment.

Establish company in Danang

Singaporean businesses appreciated the model of building and developing the smart city of Da Nang and the achievements in socio-economic development of Da Nang in recent years, including digitizing government and protecting the environment in Da Nang.

Singapore is well-known as a country that has developed strongly in socio-economic achievements, has plans for environmental protection, pollution treatment, high-tech development and tourism. These are the business lines that Danang needs to develop for the purpose of building the city in the future.

Currently, many Singaporean businesses have chosen Vietnam as an investment destination and are willing to cooperate with Danang in many business lines such as banking finance, education, information technology, etc. The leaders of Da Nang always appreciate Singapore’s experience of building smart country, innovation and start-up businesses; at the same time, they emphasized that Singapore is a potential market that Da Nang city focuses on investment promotion in the coming time.

Singapore is the 4th country in total of FDI investors in Vietnam, the total investment capital in the first 6 months of 2019 from Singapore is 2.119 million USD and is the 3rd largest country in terms of FDI in Vietnam, with a total investment capital is 49,161 million USD. Investors invested in many business lines such as manufacturing technology, wholesale, retail, information technology,

Da Nang wishes to attract many Singaporean investors who will choose the city as the place to invest in the future. The leader of the city always strives to create the best conditions for Singaporean investors to invest in the city, in order to achieve socio-economic development in the future.

ANT Lawyers is a Law firm in Vietnam with international standards, recognized by Legal500, IFLR1000. We are an exclusive Vietnam member of Prea Legal, the global law firm network coverig more than 150 juridictions. The firm provides a range of legal services as following to multinational and domestic clients.

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The 66th Asian Business conference in Danang

On July 4th, 2019 the People’s Committee of Da Nang Oganized the 66th Asian Business Conference about business cooperation between Vietnam and Japan. Representatives of 60 Vietnamese enterprises and 130 enterprises from Japan attended showing intersts in economic cooperation.

Set-up company in Da Nang

The representatives of Japanese companies provided many useful information about business investment cooperation opportunities in the fields of information technology, high technology, health, education …After 45 years from the establishment of diplomatic relations, Japan has become one of the Vietnam’s leading partner in many areas, becoming the largest ODA provider, and the second largest FDI investor in Vietnam.

Japan is leading countries investing in Da Nang with more than 180 projects and the total investment capital is nearly 890 million USD, focusing on the fields of industrial production, high technology, services, real estate and travel. The Da Nang’s enterprises in supporting industries, IT, textiles, fisheries, education … are always willing to cooperate with Japanese partners to expand markets, access technology and new management system.

It is obvious that Japan is one of strategic partners, a key market with strong financial and public potential, including high-tech industry, information and communication technology and supporting industries as well as services and education sectors. The city government always strives to create favorable conditions for Japanese investors to establish and implement effective projects, as well as implement solutions to improve the city’s investment environment such as infrastructure construction, high-tech parks and centralized information technology zones, planning new industrial parks with attractive investment preferential policies, promoting administrative procedure reforms and focusing on human resource training qualified, skilled … to meet the demand of the investors.

The Conference creates opportunities for interaction and discussions between Vietnamese enterprises and Japanese enterprises, between Da Nang city and investors in area of manufacturing, construction, healthcare, tourism, education, science and technology.

ANT Lawyers is a Law firm in Vietnam with international standards, recognized by Legal500, IFLR1000. We are an exclusive Vietnam member of Prea Legal, the global law firm network coverig more than 150 juridictions. The firm provides a range of legal services as following to multinational and domestic clients.

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What is the copyright process?

For works first published after March 1, 1989, an author need not include a copyright notice to be protected under the law. Although a notice is not required, it’s super worth it for you to obtain one and list it on your website. When a work contains a valid copyright notice, an infringer cannot claim in court that s/he wasn’t aware the work was copyrighted. Thus, an author has a greater chance to win a copyright infringement case and spend much less litigating in the process if s/he has a copyright notice.

Copyright in Vietnam 

If a work is created on or after January 1, 1978 then it is protected for a term of the life of the author plus 70 years. However, if the work is a “work for hire” or is published under a pseudonym, the copyright lasts between 95 and 120 years, depending on the date the work is published.

Regarding your specific question, the U.S. Copyright Office has some helpful info on how to copyright Registering a Work (FAQ) & Copyright in General (FAQ). Be sure to check out Stanford’s Copyright & Fair Use website too.

ANT Lawyers - A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property rights in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

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How do I get my hospital name and logo trademarked?

For getting the logo and the name of your hospital trademarked you need to file an application for registration of trademark in the designated Registry for your area. But before filing any application for trademark registration, you need to check that the brand you are planning to register is already registered by someone else or is pending for registration.

Also you also need to mention the class in which the trademark has to be registered, the correct description of goods/services you are offering and the date from which you have been using the trademark. In case you plan to use the trademark in future, you need to file it on *proposed to be used* basis.

The above mentioned details are extremely crucial while filing an application for registration of a trademark and any oversight on these details may prove to be fatal in case there is any litigation in future.

Filing of a trademark application form is easy but the follow up is an extremely complicated task and it is always better to get your Trademark application through an IP attorneys specialising in trademark registration and brand protection.

ANT Lawyers - A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property rights in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

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Establishing Distribution Company in Danang

Da Nang is a city in the Central of Vietnam, with the advantage of being a trading place of many countries in the world. Danang has a large seaport in the top 10 large seaports of Vietnam, facilitating trading activities with many countries around the world.

Lawyers in Da Nang

At the present, Da Nang is promoting foreign investment into Da Nang, and many investors have chosen Da Nang to do business in the distribution business line. For this business line, Vietnam has committed to open up to attract 100% foreign investment. As committed, foreign-invested companies in the distribution sector will be allowed to provide commission agents, wholesalers and retailers of all products manufactured in Vietnam and legally imported products into Vietnam. Therefore, the investors can import or produce goods, then they distribute the goods in accordance with regulations.

In addition, with the increasing in the number of tourists coming to Da Nang in recent years, the demand for consumer products, fashion and other items for tourists has increased. This triggers demand that many companies to provide essential goods for tourists, and this is a great investment opportunity for investors both domestically and abroad. The investors could explore this opportunity to set up company in Da Nang and fill the market’s demand.

In addition, with many policies to support enterprises in administrative procedures, as well as management, investors can easily carry out procedures as well as manage and control their business better. Enterprises investing in Da Nang are now very satisfied with the way public services are handled in the city’s administrative procedures, therefore more and more investors are choosing Da Nang as a destination for investment when targeting in Vietnam.

ANT Lawyers is a Law firm in Vietnam with international standards, recognized by Legal500, IFLR1000. We are an exclusive Vietnam member of Prea Legal, the global law firm network coverig more than 150 juridictions. The firm provides a range of legal services as following to multinational and domestic clients.

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Can a trademark expire?

Once your trademark is 10 years old, it would expire. This is a primary caveat with trademark; it only lasts for about 10 years. Once the 10 years have come close and you haven’t applied for renewal or restoration, the expiration process begins.

Time limit of trademark protection extension

To that end, it is definitely important for you to either renew or restore it:

1. Trademark renewal: Application for the trademark renewal has to be applied 6 months before the expiration date has come near. Once this period is not taken heed to, the trademark shall expire and you are only left with the next measure.

2. Trademark restoration: trademark restoration takes place after the expiration date is over. How is this option? The answer is a pretty simple one! Once the trademark has been expired, the most definite and the logical way to make sure that you still have access to it are through trademark restoration. Once you apply for the restoration, you would go through the same strides as you went through when you applied for trademark registration for the first time. You would go through the initial application. This application might be objected against by the department, and you would have to file a reply for it. This restoration process also involves putting the trademark in the journal for about 4 months. Once the mark is restored, you would again receive a certificate from the department that implies the same.

To that end, it would be better if you go by the former part of renewal and don’t wait for the restoration process.

ANT Lawyers - A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property rights in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

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What is a Copyright?

Fundamentally, copyright is a law that gives you ownership over the things you create. Be it a painting, a photograph, a poem or a novel, if you created it, you own it and it’s the copyright law itself that assures that ownership. The ownership that copyright law grants comes with several rights that you, as the owner, have exclusively. Those rights include:

 Copyright in Vietnam 

-The right to reproduce the work

-To prepare derivative works

-To distribute copies

-To perform the work

-To display the work publicly

These are your rights and your rights alone. Unless you willingly give them up (EX: A Creative Commons License), no one can violate them legally. This means that, unless you say otherwise, no one can perform a piece written by you or make copies of it, even with attribution, unless you give the OK.

Inversely, if you’re looking for material to use or reuse, you should not do any of these things without either asking permission or confirming that the work is in the public domain, which means that the copyright has expired and all of the above rights have been forfeited. Simply put, if the work isn’t in the public domain and you don’t have permission to use a piece, you put yourself in risk of legal action, regardless of your intentions.

Because, beyond fair use and parody (issues for later essays), the holder of a copyrighted piece has near carte blanche to do what they want with their work. It’s no different than owning a car, a house or a pen. One can lend it out to a friend, sell it, modify it or even destroy it. In short, if you own the copyright to something, you have the same rights that you do with anything else and, in some instances, even more. After all, you did create it. It only makes sense that you would own the fruits of your labor. That’s what copyright law is all about.

ANT Lawyers -  A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property rights in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

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How do copyrights, trademarks and patents differ?

The US Constitution gives US Congress the power to issue intellectual property rights to “promote the progress of sciences and arts.” So, copyrights, trademarks and patents are a means to reach that end. Each has a distinct function and varying requirements, but the main idea is to protect overall innovation and the flow of ideas. Here’s a breakdown:

Copyrights: The purpose of a copyright is to protect an author’s expression of ideas. The key is that it is the actual expression that is protected here rather than the underlying idea. Copyrights are generally used for things like books or plays or any type of art really. The author has the exclusive right to copy and reproduce the work so a copyright will be infringed by any unauthorized copying of the work. A copyright will attach as soon as an author fixes a work in a tangible medium, meaning as soon it is written down, it can not be copied.

Trademarks: The purpose of trademark protection is to protect a company’s name or logo from infringement by competitors. Basically, a protected trademark will give a company the exclusive right to use a certain “mark” in the marketplace. The “mark” can be a name, logo, or phrase, etc. The idea is that your name and logo should stand for what your company stands for and if a competitor can come in and use your logo, then they will be able to free-ride off of the goodwill that you have built up in the marketplace. The protection of a trademark is sometimes limited by region or industry or in some cases it can be international, but in general will be limited by the scope of your use.

Patents: A patent is issued to protect an invention. The invention can be any new and useful product or process or an improvement on an existing product or process. The requirements for a patent are probably the most strict because it provides the inventor the most powerful rights, allowing the inventor to exclude use of the invention by others without payment. A patent will give the inventor a limited monopoly on the invention so you really have to prove that you deserve it before it will be granted by the US PTO.

ANT Lawyers -  A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property rights in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

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Danang Attract Investment in Tourism-related Service

Danang City always fulfills its goal of developing into a tourist city, so tourism support activities are always prioritized for development. With the above advantages, Danang is the destination of many domestic and foreign investors to develop hospitality real estate, tourist services and tourism-related services i.e. retail of food and beverage…

Set-up company in Da Nang

In 2018, Da Nang received over 7.6 million domestic and international visitors. Beside My Khe beach, Pham Van Dong beach, Ba Na Hills, Monkey mountain, … the city is also known as a place to host many major festivals. For many years, Da Nang has been chosen as the city where the international fireworks competition is held every year, attracting many visitors. In addition, traditional festivals such as Quan The Am festival, International Food Festival, Cau Ngu Festival, Festival Street, Bai Choi music… attract a large number of tourists to visit Danang.

Although there are many business locations for tourism-related service, Da Nang still lacks service businesses to serve the growing number of tourists to the city.

For foreign investors, tourism-related services such as accommodation services, food and beverage services are the business lines which Vietnamese committed to allowing foreign investors can make investments with 100% foreign capital in Vietnam. These industries do not require investors to spend significant capital, but still could bring high economic efficiency. Investors who take advantage of opportunities and investments today would enjoy high business performance in the future.

ANT Lawyers is a Law firm in Vietnam with international standards, recognized by Legal500, IFLR1000. We are an exclusive Vietnam member of Prea Legal, the global law firm network coverig more than 150  juridictions. The firm provides a range of legal services as following to multinational and domestic clients.

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Can you trademark your business without a lawyer?

You don’t need a lawyer to trademark your business, but you must become competent to do the following:

Trademark in Vietnam 

-Complete a due diligence search to make sure that you (and only you) have the right to use the trademark or service mark;

-Determine if you should file a registration for the mark as a federal mark before the USPTO or a state mark with your secretary of state;

-Determine the international class or classes that you should include in your application for registration;

-Describe the goods and services that you are providing according to the international class or classes; and

-Complete the paperwork or electronic filing for the application for registration with the appropriate agency.

If you are or can become competent to do each of these, then you don’t need a lawyer to trademark your business and/or the offerings provided by your business.

ANT Lawyers -  A Law firm in Vietnam is supported by a team of experienced patent, trademark, design attorneys with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property rights in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

We assist our clients in all steps of the prosecution phase of IP management. 

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Possible Anti-dumping Investigation on Biaxial Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) Film Products

According to Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam (Ministry of Industry and Trade), they received the dossier on the request of investigation of applying the use anti-dumping measures on BOPP made in China, Thailand and Malaysia from 2 companies are Hung Nghiep Formosa Co.,Ltd and Youl Chon Vina plastic Joint stock company.

On June 12th, 2019, the requesting party submitted information and request, and on June 26th, 2019, the investigation authority confirmed that the dossier is valid and acceptable.

During 45 days from the day confirmation of the full and valid of the dossier; investigation organization will evaluate the dossier then submit Minister of Ministry of Industry and Trade to check and decide to investigate or not.

In case there is a basis, evidence that the dumping behavior of the product mentioned above, the investigation authority will conduct an investigation to determine the dumping margin, the investigation period is determined to be 12 months, in special cases, the investigation authority may determine another investigation period but not less than 06 months. The period of investigation is at least 03 years and includes the entire investigation period to determine dumping behavior, so the investigation period for BOPP products during this period is 2016, 2017 and 2018.

After an investigation decision is made, the investigation authority will send the questionnaire to the related parties within 15 days. During 30 days from the date of receiving the questionnaire to the related parties. The related parties must answer fully to the questionnaire in writing and return it to the Investigation Department.

After obtaining the answers from the related parties, the Investigating Department will check, consider whether to apply anti-dumping measures on BOPP products.

ANT Lawyers, which is a law firm in Vietnam, specialize in anti-dumping and international trade.

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How to set-up branch ofifce in Vietnam?

Foreign entity is allowed to set-up branch office in Vietnam to conduct business activities according to the law.

The branch of a foreign business entity in Vietnam (referred as “The Branch”) means a subsidiary unit of the foreign business entity, established in accordance with the law of Vietnam in order to enter into contracts in Vietnam and conduct activities being the purchase and sale of goods and other commercial activities consistent with its license for establishment in accordance with the law of Vietnam and any international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

The Branch will need to apply and obtain the establishment license; and have a seal bearing the name of the Branch.

The Branch is permitted to conduct activities being the purchase and sale of goods and other commercial activities consistent with its license for establishment in accordance with the law of Vietnam and any international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

It should be noted that the liability of the Branch is the liability of the foreign entity.  The business activity of the Branch has to be consistent with the business activity of the foreign entity. The Branch has to has office address.

Therefore the investor should consider its investment strategy when setting up its Branch in Vietnam.

ANT Lawyers is a  Law firm in Vietnam with international standards, recognized by Legal500, IFLR1000. We are an exclusive Vietnam member of Prea Legal, the global law firm network coverig more than 150  juridictions. The firm provides a range of legal services as following to multinational and domestic clients.

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