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Procedures For A Trademark Certificate
A trademark is one of the important factors for a business, helping to distinguish the goods and services of the business from those of other businesses. To protect ownership of a trademark, a business needs to carry out trademark certificate registration procedures at the Department of Intellectual Property.
Definition of trademark certificate
Trademark certificate is also known as certificate of ownership protection. The certificate of protection is issued by the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam to certify that organizations and individuals are protected by the state for trademark rights within a certain scope and period of time.
Trademark registration brings many benefits to individuals and organizations that produce and provide their services/products in the domestic and foreign markets. And trademark registration is the only measure to establish legal ownership of the trademark. From here, it will limit or even boycott unfair competition in the market such as counterfeiting, imitation, and smuggling… Trademark registration is the act of bringing the trademark into the law, preventing all acts of infringement on products/services that have been certified as trademarks. Any act of infringement on a certified trademark must be subject to appropriate penalties under the law. And the Trademark Certificate is the result of valid trademark registration.
This is the brand’s “protective shield”, helping businesses affirm their position in the market and avoid the risk of being copied or disputed.
Why does your brand need a trademark certificate?
Trademark registration is a legal procedure carried out by a competent state agency to establish legal ownership of an individual or organization’s trademark. This is not only a preventive step but also a “protective barrier” for brand value in a fiercely competitive business environment.
Trademark certificate helps:
- Prevent the risk of intellectual property infringement from third parties
- Create a solid legal basis for handling disputes related to brand names, symbols or logos
- Affirm the right to exploit and use exclusively, thereby increasing the value of the brand as a type of intellectual property that can be bought, sold, franchised or valued
Validity of Trademark Certificate
After submitting the application, if the trademark is eligible for a Certificate, after 18 to 24 months of examination, the Intellectual Property Office will issue a notice of granting a certificate for that trademark. Upon receiving the notice, the applicant or the applicant’s representative will pay the certificate fee to be granted a Certificate of Protection. The Certificate of Trademark Registration will be valid for 10 years from the date of application and is valid throughout Vietnam. Note that you can renew it many times and each renewal is for 10 years.
Although logically, the Certificate of Trademark Registration will be a legal document to protect the owner in case of a dispute. However, it should be noted that, according to the provisions of the current Intellectual Property Law, within 05 consecutive years, if a trademark shows no signs of being used, it may be requested to terminate its validity, except in the case where at least 03 months from the date of request for termination of validity, the trademark is used or reused.
Contents on the Trademark Certificate
The certificate of trademark registration granted to the trademark owner will include the following main contents:
- Certificate number
- Certificate owner including information: Name of owner and address of owner
- Information on application number and date of filing of trademark application
- Information on group of products/services registered
- Information on decision number to grant the certificate of registration
- Information on validity period of the certificate of registration
Procedures for granting a Certificate of Trademark Registration
The trademark registration procedure will include the following basic steps:
Step 1: Prepare the application
The application includes the following documents:
- 02 Application forms requesting a Certificate of Trademark Registration according to form No. 04-NH
- 09 Trademark samples attached in addition to 01 sample attached to the application
- Documents proving the right to register (Business registration certificate, agreement contract, confirmation letter, consent letter, decision or establishment license, organization charter): 01 copy
- 01 Authorization letter to submit the application (if any)
- 01 copy of the Application fee payment receipt if you submit by post
For collective trademark and certification trademark applications, in addition to the above documents, you also need to add the Collective Trademark Usage Regulations/ Certification Trademark Usage Regulations and some other documents in special cases.
Step 2: Submit the application
After completing the application, you proceed to Submit the application to the National Office of Intellectual Property in Hanoi or the representative office of the National Office of Intellectual Property in Ho Chi Minh City or Da Nang City
Here, you will have to pay the application fee (for each group of up to 6 products and services) of 150,000 VND
For applications with more than 06 products and services, you will have to pay an additional 30,000 VND for each product and service from the 7th onwards.
Step 3: Monitor the results and pay the protection certificate fee
The application will have to go through two main stages of assessment: content assessment and formal assessment
Form assessment of the application is aimed at checking compliance with the formal regulations for the application, thereby concluding whether the application is considered valid or not. The time for formal assessment of the application lasts 01 month from the date of application submission
The content assessment of the application is aimed at assessing the ability of the trademark to be protected under certain protection conditions. The formal examination period lasts no more than 03 months from the date of publication of the application.
After reviewing and evaluating your trademark as eligible for a certificate of protection, the Intellectual Property Office will send a notice of payment of the certificate fee to the owner. The owner will pay the fee and receive the certificate after 02 to 03 months from the date of payment of the fee.
Consult Corporate Secretarial Services to have thele.blog register your trademark on your behalf.
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