The Amended and Supplemented Intellectual Property Law of Vietnam has been approved on June 16, 2022, and it will be effective from January 1, 2023. Main Contents of that are as follows:

·In Clause 13, Article 4 of the New Law, the definition of industrial design has been supplemented that a protected sign that is not only the external appearance of the product but also parts of the design for assembly into a complex product which can be seen while using such products.

·In the New Law, Article 103 emphasizes on the requirements of the application, which includes a set of photos and/or drawings featuring the industrial design, rather than what writing in the description by the applicant in the old regulations. 

·In Article 110 of the New Law, Clause 3 has been added which allow applicants to delay the publication of industrial design to match the general trend of the world on allowing the applicant not to disclose the design too early. Industrial design registration applications, trademark registration applications, geographical indication registration applications shall be published within two months from the date the application is accepted as a valid application. Industrial design applications may be published at a later date as requested by the applicant at the time of application but not later than seven months from the filing date of application.

·In addition to the above regulations, the new Law also has a number of amendments such as: determining the owner of industrial design objects, validity of protection titles, termination and invalidation of international industrial design applications in order to consistent with The Hague Agreement that Vietnam has recently joined.

·To supplement Clause 12a after Clause 12, in the context of Interpretation of terminologies about inventions: to supplement the concept of “Confidential inventions: inventions that classified by competent state agencies as state secrets under laws and regulations on protection of state secrets”

·To amend, supplement to Clause 1: aim to specify the concept of the public disclosure in the form of a written description; whereby an invention is considered to have no novelty if it is “disclosed in another patent application with an earlier filing or priority date but published on or after the filing or priority date of the patent application”.

·To supplement Article 89a after Article 89, in the context of Mode of filing patent applications: to supplement the context of Security control for inventions before filing applications overseas, specifically "Inventions in technical fields that have an impact on national defense and security, are created in Vietnam and are subject to the registration of an individual who is a Vietnamese citizen and permanently resides in Vietnam or of an organization established under the law of Vietnam may only file a patent application abroad if it has already filed a patent application in Vietnam to carry out the security control procedures and the government shall provide detailed guidance on this Article.”

·Artilce 96 is amended and supplemented to include additional grounds for a patent to be invalidated in whole or in part. Also, the amended Article 96 clearly states that if a patent is invalidated in whole or in part, the validity of the patent is null from the date of grant.

·To supplement Clause đ1 after Clause đ, in the context of General requirements for industrial property registration applications: to supplement the context of filing of documents when filing a patent application regarding genetic resources or traditional knowledge of genetic resources, Specifically, it is necessary to submit “Document explaining the origin of genetic resources or traditional knowledge about genetic resources in the patent application, for inventions directly created based on genetic resources or traditional knowledge on genetic resources.”.

·Accordingly, the patent holder is not required to pay the use fees for patent for the period during which the initial marketing registration procedure of the pharmaceutical product manufactured under the patent in Vietnam is delayed or the charged use fee for the delayed period is deducted in the next maintenance period or refunded. The delay period is counted from the first day after the end of two years from the date the licensing agency sufficiently receives the required documents to the first written opinion.

·In case the State owner representative assigns the right to register inventions, industrial designs and layout designs application as a result of scientific and technological tasks using the budget of the State for organizations, individuals in need; cases in which the State owner representative permits organizations and individuals to use inventions, industrial designs or layout designs as a result of scientific and technological tasks funded by the budget of the State without the consent of the owner and the payment of compensation to the owner of the organization or individual using it is clearly specified.

·Adding Article 145d.The grounds for compulsory licensing of an invention are related to the use of the invention to meet the needs of other countries' pharmaceutical products for prevention and treatment that are eligible for import under international treaties to which Vietnam is a member under article 145 of the Law.

From Banca IP Law Firm

August, 2022.