Vietnam’s trademark legal regime is built upon the 2022 Amended Law on Intellectual Property (No.07/2022/QH15) and supporting decrees including Decree No.65/2023/ND-CP, fully aligned with CPTPP, EVFTA and TRIPS international standardsAlitium. The exclusive administrative body governing all trademark affairs is IP Vietnam (formerly NOIP, National Office of Intellectual Property) under the Ministry of Science and Technology, which takes charge of trademark filing examination, registration publication, opposition handling, non-use cancellation and trademark right maintenance.
Article 72 of the 2022 IP Law defines registrable trademark signs comprehensively, covering words, numerals, graphics, three-dimensional shapes, sound marks, holograms and any combinations of the above elements. Generic terms, descriptive marks without acquired distinctiveness, and marks identical or confusingly similar to national emblems are explicitly prohibited from registration. Unlike many Southeast Asian nations, Vietnam formally recognizes non-traditional trademarks such as 3D packaging marks and audio logos for commercial brand protection高文律师事....
Vietnam strictly implements the first-to-file priority principle for trademark ownership, which is the most fundamental rule of its trademark system. When multiple applicants submit identical or confusingly similar marks for the same goods/services, the registration right is exclusively granted to the applicant holding the earliest filing or priority date. If two applications carry the exact same filing date, all applicants must reach a written agreement to assign exclusive rights to one party; without consensus, all applications will be rejected entirelyCỔNG THÔNG....
Vietnam is one of the earliest ASEAN members to join both the Madrid Agreement (1949) and Madrid Protocol (2006), providing two parallel filing routes for global brand owners: direct national filing with IP Vietnam, or international filing via WIPO Madrid system to designate Vietnam as a protected territory海域云. Key distinctions exist between the two approaches: Madrid applications adopt a single-language, one-time global fee payment model to cover multiple jurisdictions, while direct local filings require engagement of a Vietnamese licensed IP agent for all procedural responses. Regardless of filing channels, IP Vietnam conducts identical substantive examination standards for all trademark applications targeting Vietnam market protection.
Vietnam references the 12th Edition of the Nice Classification (implemented from January 2025) to classify goods and services into 45 standard categories. A critical cost-control rule for applicants: each trademark application class allows a maximum of 6 standard goods/service items free of extra official fees; every additional item beyond the six-item limit will generate separate surcharges per commodity entry. This limit is far stricter than the 20-item standard applied in China, creating extra cost risks for brands with diversified product lines.
A registered trademark certificate remains valid for 10 years, calculated starting from the official trademark filing date, rather than the registration issuance date. The law establishes two time windows for trademark renewal: applicants may submit renewal applications within six months prior to the expiration date to maintain uninterrupted protection; a six-month post-expiration grace period is also permitted for delayed renewals, but filings within the grace period incur mandatory late penalty fees set by government decreeAlitium. Each successful renewal extends trademark protection for another decade, with no legal upper limit on total renewal times.
The five-year continuous non-use cancellation system constitutes the biggest compliance risk for trademark registrants in Vietnam, clearly stipulated under Article 95 of the 2022 IP Law. If a registered trademark fails to achieve genuine commercial use on all designated goods/services for five consecutive years after registration publication, any third party (including competitors and trademark squatters) may file a non-use cancellation petition with IP VietnamKENFOX IP ....
A legally critical distinction is drawn between genuine commercial use and token symbolic use under Vietnamese judicial practice. Mere printing of trademark logos on internal corporate documents, marking samples not circulated to mass consumers, or attaching marks to free promotional gifts without formal sales transactions cannot be recognized as valid use evidence. When responding to non-use cancellation petitions, trademark holders must provide objective, verifiable proof including Vietnamese local sales invoices, distributor licensing contracts filed with IP Vietnam, offline retail promotional materials and e-commerce platform transaction records to prove continuous market circulation of trademarked goods within the five-year statutory period. Failure to submit sufficient credible use evidence within the statutory response deadline will result in IP Vietnam issuing a revocation ruling against the entire trademark registration, and all exclusive rights of the trademark shall be deemed void retroactively starting from the revocation effective date.
After a trademark application passes formal and substantive examination, IP Vietnam will publish the application in the monthly Industrial Property Official Gazette, triggering a 3-month statutory opposition window. Any third party with legitimate legal interests (prior trademark owners, market competitors, industry associations) may file opposition applications with valid legal grounds, including prior trademark conflict, lack of inherent distinctiveness, deceptive product descriptions and malicious trademark squatting. If oppositions are filed, applicants must submit complete defense evidence within the designated 30-day response period; sustained opposition will fully reject the trademark registration applicationKENFOX IP ....
Well-known trademarks receive expanded cross-class protection beyond their registered designated goods or services, a major legislative upgrade introduced in the 2022 IP Law revision to satisfy CPTPP treaty obligations. When a trademark is formally recognized as well-known by IP Vietnam or Vietnamese people’s courts, its owner may block registration and prohibit commercial use of identical or highly similar trademarks across unrelated product and service categories, even without cross-class registration filings. Unlike ordinary registered trademarks limited strictly to their designated Nice classification classes, well-known trademark protection targets all market acts that dilute the distinctiveness of the famous brand or damage its national and international market reputation. Notably, well-known trademark protection applies even to unregistered marks that have established widespread national market recognition across Vietnamese consumer groups德恒律师事....
All trademark exclusive right transfers (assignments) and trademark licensing contracts must complete mandatory recordal filing with IP Vietnam to generate full legal binding force against third-party market participants, as specified in Decree No.65/2023/ND-CP. Unrecorded licensing or transfer agreements remain valid only between the original contracting parties, and cannot be invoked to oppose infringers or competing trademark applicants in administrative and judicial proceedings.
For trademark licensing recordal, applicants must submit fully executed licensing contracts specifying licensed product ranges, licensing term and territory scope within Vietnam, together with certified identity documents of both licensor and licensee. For trademark assignment recordal, the original trademark registration certificate must be submitted alongside the signed transfer deed, and all outstanding official fees related to the trademark must be fully settled before recordal approval is granted. Failure to complete these post-registration recordal procedures will severely weaken the trademark owner’s legal standing during future trademark infringement litigation and administrative enforcement actionsCỔNG THÔNG....
1.IPcrossark：https://www.ipcrossark.com/en/trademark.html?cid=48
2.IP Vietnam Official English Trademark Portal: https://www.ipvietnam.gov.vn/en_US/web/english/trademarksCỔNG THÔNG...
3.WIPO WIPOLEX Full Text of Vietnam 2022 IP Law: https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/legislation/details/21740新興国等知...
4.WIPO Global Brand Database for Vietnam Trademark Search: https://www3.wipo.int/branddb/en/#Cục Sở hữu...
