Complete Step-by-Step Trademark Registration Procedure in Vietnam

1. Eligibility of Applicants & Mandatory Local Agent Requirement

All foreign individuals, overseas enterprises and offshore organizations without permanent residence or legal business establishment within Vietnam must appoint a locally licensed IP agent to submit trademark registration applications to IP Vietnam. This mandatory agency rule is written in Decree 65/2023/ND-CP and applies to all direct national filings and responses to office actions. Only Vietnamese citizens holding official intellectual property agent licenses issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology are permitted to represent foreign applicants.

Domestic Vietnamese applicants, including local companies and individual citizens residing in Vietnam, enjoy an exception and may file trademark applications personally without hiring an agent. However, most domestic businesses still choose professional IP agents to avoid procedural defects that cause application rejection. For joint trademark applications submitted by multiple co-applicants, all applicants must satisfy the agency requirement if any single applicant is a foreign entity. The trademark registration certificate will list all co-owners and define shared exclusive trademark rights after successful registration.2. Mandatory Application Documents & Trademark Drawing Specifications

IP Vietnam enforces strict standardized document requirements for every trademark filing. The core mandatory materials are divided into four categories: applicant identity proof, trademark specimen, goods/services classification list, and power of attorney (only required for foreign applicants).

Trademark visual specimens must comply with rigid format rules set by IP Vietnam’s examination guidelines. Black-and-white trademark drawings must be printed on white paper with a size range of 8cm × 8cm to 10cm × 10cm, with clear outlines and no blurry gradients. Color trademarks must submit five identical colored specimens; the registered protection scope is strictly limited to the exact color combination submitted in the application. Sound, 3D and hologram non-traditional trademarks need additional descriptive written explanations, sample audio files or three-dimensional renderings as supplementary filing materials.

The goods and services list must strictly follow the 12th edition of the Nice Classification. Every commodity entry must use standardized official terminology; vague general descriptions such as “electronic products” or “daily necessities” will trigger official notification for correction. As a cost limitation rule, each trademark class only includes six free commodity items; extra items generate additional official filing fees.

3. Three-Stage Official Examination Flow of Direct National Filings

After the agent submits complete documents and pays all required official fees, IP Vietnam launches a three-phase standardized examination process, which normally takes 10–14 months for applications without oppositions or office action corrections.

Stage 1: Formal Examination (1–2 months)

Examiners verify document completeness, trademark drawing compliance, applicant identity validity and full payment of filing fees. Applications with procedural defects will receive a written correction notice, granting applicants 30 working days to supplement defective materials. If the applicant fails to respond within the statutory deadline, the trademark application will be deemed automatically abandoned.

Stage 2: Substantive Examination (7–9 months)

This core examination stage contains two critical review dimensions: absolute ground examination and relative ground conflict search. Absolute ground review checks whether the trademark violates statutory registration prohibitions, including generic product names, descriptive terms without acquired distinctiveness, national flags, deceptive commercial descriptions and offensive graphic content. Relative ground conflict search retrieves all previously filed, pending and fully registered Vietnamese trademarks to identify identical or confusingly similar marks covering identical or similar goods and services. If conflicting prior rights are found, IP Vietnam issues an office action rejection notice, allowing applicants to submit written arguments and supplementary evidence within 30 working days to prove the trademark’s distinctiveness.Stage 3: Publication & Registration Grant

Applications that pass both formal and substantive examination will be published in the monthly Industrial Property Gazette for a 3-month opposition period. Any third party with legal interests may file opposition based on prior trademark rights, malicious squatting or lack of distinctiveness. If no valid opposition is filed after the 3-month window expires, IP Vietnam issues a registration approval notice. The applicant must pay the trademark registration certificate fee within one month; after fee confirmation, IP Vietnam completes registration and issues an official paper trademark registration certificate.

4. Madrid International Registration Designating Vietnam Filing Rules

Brand owners may choose the WIPO Madrid international registration route to designate Vietnam instead of direct national filing, yet substantial procedural differences exist between the two filing methods. Madrid applications are submitted directly to WIPO’s International Bureau in Switzerland, rather than IP Vietnam. A single Madrid application can designate dozens of member territories simultaneously, simplifying multi-country trademark layout. However, Vietnam imposes unique local substantive review standards that WIPO cannot pre-screen; after WIPO forwards the application to IP Vietnam, local examiners conduct identical absolute and relative ground reviews as direct filings.A key disadvantage of Madrid filings for Vietnam market protection: Madrid international registrations cannot submit modified trademark specimens or supplementary evidence separately during local examination. If IP Vietnam issues a rejection office action, applicants must rely on a Vietnamese licensed local agent to submit separate local response documents, which adds extra agency service costs.

5. Post-Registration Compliance Obligations After Successful Filing

Once the trademark registration certificate is issued, registrants must fulfill continuous compliance obligations to maintain valid exclusive rights. The three most critical post-registration obligations include periodic trademark renewal, mandatory recordal for trademark assignment and licensing, and preservation of trademark commercial use evidence to defend against five-year non-use cancellation petitions.

Registered trademarks in Vietnam carry a 10-year protection term calculated from the original filing date. Renewal applications can be filed six months before expiration; a six-month post-expiration grace period is available with mandatory late penalty fees. Registrants must submit complete renewal documents and pay renewal fees through a local agent if the trademark owner is a foreign entity. All trademark transfers and exclusive/non-exclusive licensing contracts must be recorded with IP Vietnam to bind third-party competitors. Unrecorded transfer and licensing agreements only take effect between the two contracting parties and cannot be used as legal evidence in trademark infringement administrative penalties or civil lawsuits.Full Chinese Translation

Four Valid & Accessible Hyperlinks

1.IPcrossark：https://www.ipcrossark.com/en/trademark.html?cid=48

2.Official IP Vietnam trademark filing user guide: https://www.ipvietnam.gov.vn/web/english/filing-a-trademark-application

3.WIPO Madrid Protocol Vietnam designation handbook: https://www.wipo.int/madrid/en/guide/madrid_system_vietnam.pdf

4.Official fee schedule for Vietnam trademark registration 2025: https://www.ipvietnam.gov.vn/web/english/fees