30/05/2026
TRADEMARK PROTECTION IN VIETNAM
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Trademark protection is one of the first steps to take on your way to establish a business brand, in Vietnam or anywhere. However, before trademark analysis, it is necessary to understand the rules of human – customer thinking.
WHAT IS A BRAND? WHAT IS A TRADEMARK?
Brand
A brand is a concept of the products with the manufacturer’s signs attached to their surface and packaging to confirm their quality and origin in the eyes of the consumers. Brand is often associated with the ownership of the manufacturers and is usually delegated to the official trade representative.
- According to the definition of the American Marketing Association. “A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” In fact, there are also other symbols make up a brand.
- “A brand – as being defined by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is a special (visible and invisible) sign that identifies a product or service that is produced or provided by an individual or organization.”
At present, there is no definition of brand in Vietnam; therefore, only trademark is subject to intellectual property rights protection in Vietnam. More specifically, in Vietnam, only trade names (legal entity names in Vietnamese, English and abbreviations) are protected. In the meantime, according to the UK-American law system, brands can be protected and the registered trademark owners reserve the right to sue anyone for infringing on their trademarks. Note: How to distinguish a brand from a trademark protection. A manufacturer is usually characterized by a brand, but he may have many different brands. For example, Toyota is a brand, but it comes with many trademarks like Innova, Camry, etc.
The term “brand” is sometimes used to refer to any distinct feature of a confirmed product, particularly those of a well-known product, e.g., Gucci fashion, Elton John’s sunglasses and so on. It should be noted that the brand protection right only really exists when such brand has been used and registered for a certain series of products or services. Brand ownership may be discarded or ceased to be protected if it is not continued to be used. Thus, the brand owners must use their brands if they wish to maintain this right.
Trademark
A trademark is essentially a symbol, a language in the thinking process, playing an important role in trade as a powerful tool for occupying the mind and then cognition and behaviors of customers.
Trademarks may be traded or leased. Trademarks can be protected domestically or internationally.
- Article 785 of the Civil Code says, “Trademarks are signs used to distinguish goods and services of the same type of different manufacturers and providers. Trademarks may be words, images or their combinations, expressed in one or more colors”.
- In Vietnam – US Trade Agreement defines, “A trademark is the marks of an enterprise (or group of enterprises) that distinguish its goods from those of the same type of other enterprises”.
- According to Philip Kotler, the world’s leading marketing expert, “A trademark is a name, a term, a sign, a symbol, a picture or their combinations, used to confirm the goods or services of a seller or a group of sellers and distinguish them from the goods and services of competitors”.
In ancient times manufacturers used trademarks to differentiate their goods. The term “brand” comes from the ancient Icelandic language, meaning “to burn”. The pride of self-produced goods is not the main reason to use trademarks. In fact, manufacturers hope that customers can recognize them to further buy their products or recommend to others. Initially, marks were stamped on livestock, and later on, ceramic, animal skin and silk producers also used this method to distinguish their goods from others’.
A sign eligible to be registered should meet the standards set out by national trademark protection agencies and international ones. There are two main criteria to consider:
- The trademark must be unique and/or allow a business to distinguish its products/services from other businesses.
- The trademark does not describe products/services that may mislead or violate social order and social morality.
WHY SHOULD TRADEMARK BE SEARCHED BEFORE APPLYING FOR TRADEMARK REGISTRATION?
Read more: https://vivabcs.com.vn/resources/management/trademark-protection/
