Doing business for many years before learning about trademark registration
Building a private brand is the goal of many business households and small businesses. However, when wanting to register a trademark to protect their achievements, many people are confused because they are not clear what documents to prepare, what procedures to follow and what fees to pay.
After nearly two years of selling local specialties on social networks, Mr. Tran Van Hung (Hanoi) decided to learn about the procedures for registering a trademark for his own brand.
According to Mr. Hung, increasingly competitive business makes many business owners worried about the situation of names or brand images being copied.
I know that trademark registration is necessary, but when I researched, I found that there are quite a few documents and regulations. The thing I am most concerned about is what the dossier includes and whether the registration fee is high or not," Mr. Hung shared.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong (35 years old, Hung Yen) has been selling handmade cakes through social networks for many years. To create her own mark, she invested in designing logos, packaging and brand names for products. However, after the number of customers increased, she discovered another establishment using a similar name to advertise products in the same segment.
At that time, I thought about registering the trademark. But after researching, I found that there are many regulations on dossiers, trademark samples, and product classifications, so I was quite confused. I don't know what documents to prepare and where to start," Ms. Huong said.
These are also common questions raised by many individuals, business households and businesses when they want to protect their brands.
Registrants must meet all application requirements.
Discussing this issue, the Ministry of Science and Technology said that the trademark registration dossier must have 3 minimum types of documents including the trademark registration declaration, trademark sample and fee and charge payment documents.
In which, the registrant must submit a declaration of trademark registration according to form No. 08 in Appendix I issued with Decree 65/2023/ND-CP.
According to the guidance, the label description in the declaration must clarify the constituent elements and the overall meaning of the label if any. If the label contains words in figurative language, they must be transliterated. If there are words in foreign languages, they must be translated into Vietnamese. For non-Arabic or Roman numerals, they must also be converted to Arabic numerals.
The list of goods and services in the declaration must be grouped in accordance with the International Classification of Goods and Services under the 12th Nice Agreement.
In addition to the declaration form, the applicant must submit 5 identical trademark samples attached to the declaration form, including both size and color. The trademark samples must be clearly presented, in which the size of each component is no larger than 80mm and no smaller than 8mm. The overall trademark must be shown in a template with a size of 80mm x 80mm.
In case of requesting color protection, all trademark samples in the dossier must present the correct color requested for protection.
In addition, the dossier must have documents proving that fees and charges have been paid according to regulations.
For collective marks or certified marks, in addition to the above documents, the registrant must also supplement regulations on the use of collective marks or certified marks.
In some cases, the dossier must also include an explanation of the characteristics or quality of the product; a map of the geographical area; or a document from the Provincial People's Committee allowing the use of place names or signs indicating the geographical origin of local specialties for trademark registration.
The Ministry of Science and Technology also said that the dossier may need to supplement some other documents depending on the case such as a power of attorney if submitted through an industrial property representative service organization; documents confirming the permission to use special signs; documents proving registration rights or documents proving priority rights.
In addition to the requirements on dossier components, the management agency notes that each application is only required to be granted one protection certificate in accordance with the registered trademark.
All documents in the dossier must be made in Vietnamese. Documents in other languages according to the provisions of the Law on Intellectual Property must be translated into Vietnamese.
Documents must be presented on A4 paper, vertically, using Times New Roman font with a font size of no less than 13. In case it is a geographical area map, A3 paper can be used.
Documents in the dossier must be typed or printed clearly, without erasure or correction. If the dossier has two or more pages, it needs to be stamped with the seal of the applicant or the document issuing agency if any.
Regarding costs, the fee for submitting a trademark registration application is 150,000 VND. The fee for announcing the application is 120,000 VND. The search fee for content appraisal is 180,000 VND for each group of goods and services. For goods or services from Saturday onwards in the same group, the additional search fee is 30,000 VND for each goods or service.
The content appraisal fee is 550,000 VND for each group of goods and services. For goods or services from Saturday onwards in the same group, applicants must pay an additional 120,000 VND for each goods or service as prescribed.
