Protecting Intellectual Property Rights Abroad for Vietnam Enterprises

The development of international supply chains has become a critical success factor for big companies, and should be seen as important key for products of developing countries to gain entry into high standard market such as USA, European Countries, and Japan. However, many Vietnam companies have experienced problems in shifting their supply chain abroad as well as managed their intellectual property such as geographical indication, trademarks.

On October 24th, 2017, Vietnam Intellectual Property Association (VIPA) in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (AIPPI) organized the seminar “Protecting intellectual property rights abroad for Vietnamese enterprises” to provide Vietnam companies value information for protecting their Intellectual Property right in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and global supply chain development.

All the experts have strongly recognized the important role of intellectual property protection abroad for Vietnamese enterprises and introduced:

-Introduction to the International World of Intellectual property

-Protecting a valuable asset- How to protect your Brand with Madrid

-Options to protect an invention: Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and trade Secrets

-Introduction to the international design System- Hague

-Other WIPO services, Tools and Products

-About International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property- AIPPI (Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle)

Vietnam is a member of the WIPO and is a signatory to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. It has acceded to the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, and in 2004 joined the Berne Convention. Therefore, the Vietnamese enterprises should file trademarks, patents or industrial designs by international systems for saving cost and managing the registration procedures effectively. However, it is suggested that the international Bureau of WIPO does not decide whether trademarks, patents or industrial designs are eligible for protection or not, and the final decisions must depend on Intellectual Property law of each country i.e. Vietnam. For differences of laws in every country and difficult techniques when preparing Intellectual Property application, applicants should find valuable assistant from Intellectual Property agent.

Our licensed agent of intellectual property practice at ANT Lawyers helps clients to protect, and profit from their intellectual assets in Vietnam.

ANT Lawyers 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 in Vietnam.  We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and designs for our clients.

Tuan Nguyen and Thao Hoang at ANT Lawyers

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Vietnam trade ministry slashes 675 business and investment conditions

The move aims at reducing business obstacles and boosting Vietnam’s business climate.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on Friday has decided to cut down more than half of the total business and investment conditions, from around 1,200 terms to just 675.

“It is such a breakthrough and it's beyond my expectations,” said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. More than half of the business conditions were cut, meaning there will be less administrative burden placed on businesses.

The move is a part of the ministry’s ongoing institutional reform to improve business climate, Minister Tran Tuan Anh commented.

A simplified inspection process will also be applied to a wide range of goods. Only products at high risk of violating food safety regulations will fall under customs’ specialized inspection. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will work with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to later publish a list of exempted goods.

Accordingly, customs checks will take three to fours days less to clear, which will help save an estimated VND2 million ($100) per batch of goods.

However, a lot remains to be done to improve ease of doing business in Vietnam, which according to the World Bank, lags behind Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

PM Phuc urged the ministry to accelerate privatization of state owned enterprises and come up with better solutions to deal with 12 long-term loss projects.

Meanwhile, businesses wish the ministry could reduce the time it takes to issue some certificates and provide better support.  

Source: e.vnexpress

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Danang seeks investors for infrastructure, tourism projects

HCMC – Danang City’s government organized two conferences to lure investors for the central coast city’s infrastructure and tourism projects under the framework of the Invest Danang 2017 Forum taking place on October 14-15.

In the infrastructure sector, local authorities continued attracting investment, especially from the private sector, into key projects in the coming time.

According to city vice chairman Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, the conference aimed to introduce important projects to international and domestic investors, donors and overseas organizations. The city wished to draw attention, feedback and suggestions from potential investors to complete the projects.

Specifically, the city is seeking investors for huge projects such as Lien Chieu Port which is able to handle 100,000 DWT ships and container vessels from 6,000 to 8,000 TEUs, and Danang railway station relocation.

To secure connectivity with neighboring localities, authorities of Danang and Quang Nam Province approved in principle to develop a tramway project linking Danang with Hoi An City.

In addition, local government is preparing a solid waste treatment complex and a water environment improvement project. The two projects are expected to deal with urban and beach pollution in the central city.

Given the importance of information technology application, Danang is calling for private investors to take part in its smart traffic management project and media and information technology development project.

The conference is a forum to exchange experiences in official development assistance project implementation and public-private partnership, helping partners and investors learn about key infrastructure projects in Danang. Many international financial organizations committed to give capital support for the city’s projects.

At the tourism conference, enterprises said the city has large potential for tourism development. However, slow-moving port and yacht wharf projects have dampened waterway tourism growth.

Besides, the city is short of incentives for investors of entertainment services, especially night entertainment spots, shopping and cuisine centers, large-scale art performance programs and distinctive tourism products.

In the coming time, Danang will launch programs and plans to assist investors, speed up promotion activities, develop tourism products and call on investment for the manpower and technology sectors.

According to the tourism department, the city will concentrate on three main groups of products including sea tourism and high-class leisure, shopping and meeting-incentive-conference-exhibition (MICE) tourism, and cultural, historical and ecological tourism. There will be auxiliary products such as spiritual, culture-culinary, healthcare and sports tourism.

The city will also focus on manpower training for the tourism sector and strengthen regional connection to promote advantages of coastal central localities.

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The Benefits of Mediation Services in Vietnam

The process of integrating with market economy is developing strongly, which creates many opportunities for businesses to extend their operation and cooperate with international companies. As a result, dispute arising is inevitable. To coincide with benefits, especially information confidentiality under parties’ agreement, commercial mediation is one of the commercial alternative dispute resolution which is more and more popular.

Commercial mediation is a dispute resolution negotiated by parties and the mediator is the third party as an intermediary to support parties to resolve dispute under the regulations of Decree 22/2017/ND-CP on February 24th, 2017. Following the regulations, commercial mediation can be negotiated by parties before, after or at any time of dispute resolution process. By Decree 22, commercial mediation is applied in cases of a dispute between parties with at least one party practicing commercial activities or another dispute under the laws can be resolved by the commercial mediation. Moreover, participating in commercial mediation is voluntary and all the information of mediation shall be kept secret under parties’ agreement, provided that agreement’s content is legal.

Commercial mediation is becoming a popular dispute resolution because of its simple and flexible procedure, economical cost for parties. Parties have chance to choose a suitable procedure and avoid complicated legal procedure. Under the law on parties’ self-determination to choose any mediator and a place to proceed procedures, which helps parties select a mediator with professional skills on dispute resolution. Furthermore, parties could reach an agreement with good will and cooperating spirit. Both still continue to develop and protect business relationship because of parties’ benefits. Under the Decree, all the information involving dispute must be kept secret, unless parties have written agreement or current law has other regulations.

Under the law, parties are entitled to choose a mediator to resolve dispute. According to Decree 22/2017/ND-CP, commercial mediators include commercial case mediators and mediators from commercial mediation institutions selected by the parties or appointed by a commercial mediation institution at the request of disputing parties to support them to resolve dispute pursuant to regulations of this Decree. A person who wants to become a mediator must qualify conditions of Article 7 of Decree 22. Apart from general moral standards following Law on Civil, mediators must have a university or higher qualification and at least two years of working experience in their educated discipline, also mediation skills as well as legal understanding, knowledge of business and commercial practice. Instead of bringing the case to court, which parties cannot predict the result, even inextricable, choosing a mediator who is knowledgeable and experienced could help parties resolve dispute smoothly.

Pursuant to Civil Procedure Code 2015, time for resolving commercial disputes belonging to the jurisdiction of the Court could take years. Meanwhile, choosing mediation, parties take less time to resolve dispute. Moreover, dispute is absolutely resolved by parties’ agreement because in the mediating procedure, with mediator’s support, parties can show their decision on dispute resolution. Then, they can save significant cost.

Another benefit of dispute resolution is that parties decide themselves how to resolve dispute and can know the result. This is a prominent advantage of dispute resolution compared with other resolutions, which have unpredictable result. Importantly, mediation is a private procedure so that parties’ name is not revealed publicly during mediating procedure, decrease hazards to parties’ business reputation.

According to Investment Climate Advisory Services of the World Bank Group, Alternative Dispute Resolution Center Manual: A Guide for Practitioners on Establishing and Managing ADR Centers, mediating resolution has brought many benefits. For individual benefits, mediation reduces the need for enforcement proceedings to ensure one party complies with an agreement, since the parties enter into their settlement agreements consensually. For private sector benefits, mediation enhances private sector development by creating a better environment for business. It lowers the direct and indirect costs that businesses incur in enforcing contracts and resolving disputes.

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HCMC calls for investment in infrastructure

The government of HCMC has rolled out hundreds of projects, including six in Thu Thiem New Urban Area, which will need local and foreign investors to get involved in.

City vice chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen told an investment promotion conference on October 11 that the city would develop a comprehensive traffic system to fuel socio-economic development and ease the pressure of high population growth on infrastructure.

The conference was attended by 500 investors, and representatives of municipal agencies and departments.

There are 64 traffic infrastructure development projects, five urban rehabilitation projects and seven flood control projects requiring private sector capital. Eleven national-level projects will be implemented in the city, including nine for traffic improvement.

The city looks to become one of the biggest economic, financial, commercial and science-technology centers in Southeast Asia. Therefore, in its development plan by 2020 with a vision towards 2025, the city will need private investment in services including finance, banking-insurance, tourism, transport-warehousing, post-telecom, information technology, real estate, consulting, science and technology, healthcare, and education.

The four priority groups of industries are mechanical engineering, electronics-information technology, chemical-rubber-plastic and food-foodstuff processing, and urban infrastructure, environment, healthcare and manpower.

Tuyen said the city would promote domestic and international investments in these sectors so that it can become a modern, friendly and livable place.

According to a construction plan until 2020 and after 2025, the city will be expanded towards four directions – east, south, northwest and southwest, said a representative of the Department of Zoning and Architecture.

The city is working on eight metro lines, three tram lines and a monorail line with a combined length of 220 kilometers. The Saigon Hi-Tech Park in District 9, and new urban areas like Thu Thiem, Saigon South, Thanh Da South, Tay Bac and Hiep Phuoc are underway, offering lots of opportunities for investors.

Vo Van Hoan, office manager of  the HCMC People’s Committee, said the city would need a staggering US$40 billion to fund projects in seven breakthrough programs until 2020. But the city alone cannot afford to raise such a huge amount, so capital from domestic private and foreign firms would have to be sought, he said.

The city also said huge private capital would be needed for upgrading 500 old and deteriorating apartment buildings, and developing new housing blocks.

Source: The Saigon Times

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Unemployment Insurance for Employee Unilaterally Terminating Labor Contract

Unemployment insurance is a measure to assist workers in a market economy. In addition to providing financial support to stabilize the lives of employees during the period of unemployment, the main purpose of unemployment insurance is to help the unemployed to find a suitable and stable job, through vocational training, counseling and job referral.

When the labor contract is unilaterally terminated by the employee, the employee does not need to have a certificate from the employer that the legal termination is legal, to be eligible for Unemployment Insurance (UI).

Within 03 months since the date of termination of the labor contract, the employee who doesn’t obtain a new job and wish to receive UI only need to submit an application for unemployment insurance and one of the document following documents:

i) The labor contract or contract has expired or has been completed under a labor contract;

ii) Resignation decision;

iii) Decisive dismissal;

iv) Disciplinary decision on dismissal;

v) Notice or agreement to terminate the labor contract or contract of employment.

The unemployed shall receive a Decision on unemployment insurances within 15 working days from the filing date. From the 16th day, the unemployed shall be entitled to unemployment insurance as requested.

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Foreign printing and packaging equipment providers eye Vietnamese market

HCMC – Foreign providers of machinery and equipment in the packaging and printing industry are increasingly promoting their products to penetrate the Vietnamese market, as seen at the international exhibition Vietnam Print Pack 2017 that kicked off in HCMC on October 5.

The exhibition is taking place at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in District 7, featuring 480 booths of 300 enterprises from 11 countries and territories.

Hank Kan, business and marketing director of SBL Machinery Co Ltd., a Taiwanese manufacturer and provider of packaging machinery, said the company’s products are shipped to European countries for many years. However, SBL has recently seen great opportunities for selling its products to Vietnam, as the country is attracting heavy foreign investments while its production is posting strong growth.

Hank Kan said the company wants to promote its products to local producers, and finds a major distributor who will represent SBL in the Southeast Asian nation.

He believed at least Vietnam-based Taiwanese companies will order SBL’s products, adding that producers from other countries may do so, as the company’s products are of high quality and competitively priced.

This is the first time Konia Minolta Business Solutions Vietnam has exhibited its products – digital label printers and inkjet printers - at the annual event. Le Minh The, its head of business and marketing division, said the printing products manufactured on the latest technology is very easy to use, helping enterprises save time.

Nguyen Van Dong, chairman of the Vietnam Printing Association, said printing and packaging exhibitions in the Asia have recently attracted many exhibitors and visitors, as Southeast Asian nations have achieved strong growth in the printing industry, especially the packaging segment.

Many enterprises told the Daily that Vietnam holds strong appeal to worldwide producers to build factories here, as the country has competitive advantages in terms of market and manpower. Meanwhile, domestic producers seeking to enhance competitiveness have no way but to improve their production efficiency.

Besides, the demand for consumer goods, packaged foods, bottled beverages and pharmaceuticals is rising, leading to an increase in packaged products.

Industry insiders said packaging is the decisive factor behind customers’ decision to purchase a product. Customers are more demanding, requiring packaging to be not only convenient but also safe and environmentally friendly. Therefore, enterprises in the packaging sector that want to survive should apply advanced technology.

According to foreign experts and companies, the local packaging sector has yet to develop. Thus, many providers of machinery and equipment for producers have realized considerable potential and major advantages in Vietnam. This is why they have joined exhibitions, and some have set up representative offices in order to provide their products in a timely manner.

The organizers of Vietnam Print Pack 2017 – the Vietnam National Trade Fair and Advertising Company (Vinexad) and Yorkers Trade and Marketing Service Co Ltd. - said the local packaging and printing industry has developed quite high, with average expansion at around 15-20% of production value. Hence, the domestic market is quite appealing to international machinery and equipment providers.

ANT Lawyers is a law firm in Vietnam with English speaking lawyers whom understand the laws of Vietnam within the business and the local culture context.

For Vietnam legal matters or services, the clients could reach ANT Lawyers, the exclusive Vietnam law firm members via email at ant@antlawyers.vn or call the telephone at (+84) 24 32 23 27 71.

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Child Adoption by Foreigners

Presently, there are many foreign people want to adopt a Vietnamese. Besides, the law of Vietnam also has strict regulations for child adoption by foreigners.

First is the adoption of specific child by foreigners. The Adoption Act 2010 defined that the Vietnamese residing abroad and foreigners permanently residing overseas are allowed to adopt specific child in the following cases:

As stepfather or stepmother of the adopted person;

As uncle or aunt of the adopted person;

Has adopted children who are siblings of the children that are adopting;

Adopt children with disabilities, HIV / AIDS or other fatal diseases;

As foreigners who are working and studying in Vietnam for at least 01 years.

In which the 4th case is a special case that are encouraged by the State with simpler procedures than other cases.

The order and procedures for adoption of child will be conducted as follows:

The profile of child adopting people includes:

+ Application for adoption by name;

+ A copy of the passport or replacing document that have the same value;

+ The written permission for child adoption in Vietnam;

+ The psychological and family investigation;

+ Documents certifying health status;

+ Documents certifying income and assets;

+ Judicial record;

+ Documents certifying marital status;

+ Documents evidencing eligible for child adoption by name.

+ In case of specific child adoption for children over 5 years old and two or more siblings, the record must clearly state the psychological preparation plan for children, preparing conditions for children to integrate into the new family, culture and society environments.

The above documents are issued and certified by the competent authority where the child adopting people permanently reside. To be certified by the State of Vietnam, it should be certified through the procedure of consular legalization.

The profile of children to be adopted includes:

+ Birth certificate

+ Certification of health issued by the district or higher health authorities;

+ Two full body and looking straight images, which was taken within 06 months

+ Documents about the noteworthy characteristics, preferences and habits of children.

These papers are issued by nurturing organizations or natural parents / guardians of children.

Profiles of the child adopting person and the child being adopted are submitted directly at the Bureau for adoption. The case that cannot submit the profile directly at the Bureau for adoption, the child adopting person have to authorize by written document their relatives residing in Vietnam to submit the profile at the Bureau for adoption or send the profile through post office in the form of guarantees.

In the procedure of adoption of specific children with disabilities, HIV / AIDS or suffering from serious diseases, Vietnam law allows the free implementation of procedures to find alternative families and introduce children for adoption. The meaning of this is to shorten the procedure, creating condition for these children to be adopted and nurtured in an enabling environment.

After receipt of the application for adoption, Bureau of adoption will check and appraisal the profile to determine that the child adopting people was certified by the competent authorities of the country where he or she resides that he or she satisfy the eligibility for child adoption under the laws of that country and under the laws of Vietnam.

Towards the child to be adopted, after receiving profile from natural parents or guardians of the child, Bureau for adoption has the responsibility to inspect children’s record, conduct consultation with the natural father / mother or the guardians of child about the child adoption for foreigner during 07 working days.

Within 07 working days from the expiration date of changing opinion about the child adoption for foreigner of the natural parents or guardians of children, if children are eligible to be adopted by foreigner, who are entitled to adoption by name, Bureau for adoption will report the Department of Justice, Department of Justice will certify by document that the children eligible for adoption by foreigner. Finally, Department of Justice submits to the Provincial People’s Committee decided to allow the foreigner to adopt the children.

Second is the adoption of child not by name with foreign element. The adoption of child not by name with foreign element is the cases when Vietnamese residing abroad, foreigners reside in the country in which that country is a member of international treaties on child adoption with Vietnam and adopt Vietnamese children; Vietnam citizens residing in Vietnam adopt foreign children; foreigners permanently residing in Vietnam adopt Vietnamese children.

For the adoption case that not by name, the order and procedures will include:

+ The profile of people that want to adopt children should be submitting to the Bureau for adoption through the adoption agencies of that country that are licensed to operate in Vietnam. If that country does not have adoption agencies licensed to operate in Vietnam, the adoption profile should be submitting to the Bureau for adoption through diplomatic representative offices or consular office of that country in Vietnam.

+ The profile of children being adopted will be submitted by natural parents or guardians of the children at the Bureau for adoption.

+ The Bureau for adoption receives, inspect and evaluate profile of the child adopting people and children being adopted.

Compared to the case of adoption by name with children with disabilities, HIV / AIDS or other serious diseases, the case of adoption not by name, the Department of Justice has to implement the procedure to find alternative family and introduce children for adoption. The meaning of these two procedures is to encourage local Vietnamese permanent residing in Vietnam to adopt Vietnamese children, enabling Vietnamese children to live, learn and develop in their own homeland. Only when the above procedure to find alternative family and introduce children for adoption have finished without any local people want to adopt that children, the Department of Justice will consider deciding for the children to be adopted by foreigner.

The notice period to find alternative family is regulated as 60 days, during this period, if any Vietnamese wants to adopt children, they should contact the Commune People’s Committee where children resides to consider and settle the adoption. If time runs out 60 days, the Department of Justice has to prepare a list of children who need to find alternative families and submit to the Ministry of Justice.

On the other hand, within 30 days after receiving profile from foreigner that want to adopt Vietnamese children, the Department of Justice has to review and introduce children to be adopted on the basis of children with no domestic adoption. After introducing children to be adopted, the Department of Justice reported the Provincial People’s Committee for comments.

The case that the Provincial People’s Committee disagrees, they have to send a written document stating the reasons and submit to the Department of Justice. On the other hand, the case that the Provincial People’s Committee agrees, within 07 working days, the Provincial People’s Committee decided for children for abroad adoption.

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Draft law doubles foreigners' realty ownership terms in Vietnam

If passed, the new law will give foreigners a 99-year lease for properties in special economic zones.

Vietnam’s government has expressed support for a new draft law that would give foreigners 99-year leaseholds on properties they buy in key investment areas.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment presented the bill to the cabinet on Wednesday, suggesting the leasehold duration for foreigners in special economic zones should be nearly doubled from the current 50 years.

Vietnam has 18 special economic zones and is developing three more in Quang Ninh Province near the Chinese border, the central province of Khanh Hoa, and Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the bill had been carefully drafted but needed to stand out to draw more investment to the zones.

The bill will be reviewed by the legislative National Assembly for approval this October.

Vietnam opened up its housing market to outsiders in July 2015, allowing foreign investment funds, foreigners with valid visas, and international firms operating in Vietnam and overseas to buy unlimited residential properties with a leasehold of 50 years.

There are around 82,000 foreigners working and living in Vietnam. Before the amendments to the Housing Law, each of them were elegible to buy one apartment providing they were either married to Vietnamese nationals, held managerial positions or had contributed to the country.

Industry insiders believe that easing ownership restrictions has created more interest in the local housing market, but many people complain that regulations and paperwork are still very complicated for foreign buyers.

Meanwhile, many Vietnamese are pouring money into overseas properties, particularly in the U.S., which PM Phuc says is a sign that Vietnam’s investment environment needs to improve.

Vietnamese ranks ninth among foreign buyers of residential properties in the U.S., according to the 2017 Profile of International Activity in U.S. Residential Real Estate issued by the U.S. National Association of Realtors last month.

The report said Vietnamese people spent over $3 billion buying homes across the Pacific in the year ending March 2017.

Source: e.vnexpress

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