IP Office in Vietnam extends deadlines due to the drastic impacts from the fourth wave of the Covid-19 crisis
Due to the fight against the fourth wave of the Covid-19 crisis keeps raging on without a possibility of a swift cessation, The National Office of Intellectual Property há issued Notice No. 7581/TB-SHTT dated August 2, 2021, on the application of legal provisions on the time limit (deadline) for applicants affected by the Covid-19 epidemic.
The acute respiratory infection epidemic caused by a new strain of Coronavirus (Covid-19 disease) is continuing to severely affect all aspects of the socio-economic development of countries around the world in general and the establishment of industrial property rights in particular.
Accordingly, since 19 July 2021 – the moment when the fourth wave has started to spread across the country, the IP Office of Vietnam has suspended accepting filings of application for industrial property registration directly. Instead, they only accepted the applications filed through the post office and the e-filing portal.
IP Office in Vietnam extends deadlines due to the drastic impacts from the fourth wave of the Covid-19 crisis. Source: NOIP
Furthermore, in order to minimize the damages caused by the Covid-19 epidemic for applicants/owners in the procedures for establishing industrial property rights, NOIP has announced the temporary regulations during this crisis time as follows:
“All procedures related to the procedure for establishing industrial property rights (priority claims, supplementation of documents, responses to the IP Office’s decisions/notifications, renewal and extension of the validity of protection titles, payment of fees and charges, and filing of appeal petitions) due in the period from June 30, 2021, to the end of August 31, 2021, is automatically extended until the end of September 30, 2021.
For other cases, if an applicant is still affected by the Covid-19 epidemic with regard to the implementation of their rights and obligations in the procedures for establishing rights to industrial property objects at the IP Office, such applicant may request [the IP Office] to apply the clauses on objective obstacles and force majeure as set out in Points 9.4 and 9.5 of Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BKHCN, as amended and supplemented by Circular No. 16/2016/TT-BKHCNh.”
In the course of implementation, if any problems arise, all related parties may report them to the National Office of Intellectual Property for guidance to resolve.
Guidance for the implementation of the content of Notice 7581
The content of Notice 7581, like similar Notices from the NOIP, e.g. Notice 5277 last year, is still very vague and inexplicit. Specifically, the exact wording and phrase of Notice 7581 include only the procedures to “establish industrial property rights,” not every aspect that related to industrial property rights.
The notice involves: “All procedures related to the procedure for establishing industrial property rights (priority claims, supplementation of documents, responses to the IP Office’s decisions/notifications, renewal and extension of the validity of protection titles, payment of fees and charges, and filing of appeal petitions).”
With this closed list of industrial property procedures, it can be understood that the grace period would only cover the specific items listed, not other related aspects unmentioned. Furthermore, it is also questionable if the deadline extension to September 30, 2021, will also be automatically applied to the following procedures:
- Filing requests for invalidation;
- Filing requests for renewal of license agreements;
- Filing patent applications;
- Filing requests for substantive examination of patent applications;
- Filing industrial design applications;
- Filing responses to office actions in post-grant procedures.
In the event that the deadline expansion is not automatically applied to these procedures, rights holders that want to extend and prove that they have valid reasons for their late action must submit evidence to prove force majeure and objective obstacles. Moreover, if rights holders proactively request a deadline extension, it is unclear whether the new deadline will be reckoned from the actual deadline, or from September 30, 2021.
The wording of the Law in Vietnam is still full of ambiguities and intricacies. On top of that, there have been little or no explanations from the competent authorities to clarify the enforcement of these rules. Accordingly, if possible, rights holders should take the necessary actions which are excluded from the closed list mentioned above by the actual deadlines to avoid any future problems that may arise due to the misunderstanding of the regulations.
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– You could visit here to see the Trademark Registration in Vietnam.
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– You could check Questions of filing trademark in Vietnam: POA, Trademark requirement and trademark fee in Vietnam.
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