How much has Viet Nam implemented its commitment on intellectual property since it joined the WTO?

Viet Nam’s legal documents on intellectual property are fairly comprehensive compared to the world. That is part of the reason why the country was eligible to join the WTO. Intellectual property concerns the whole of society. Business demand for legal protection has increased 50 per cent since the country joined the WTO.

Registration for intellectual property abroad has also risen dramatically over the past two years. Many local businesses have copyright protection in potential countries for export, including the US, Europe, China, Japan and South Korea.

A number of seminars on intellectual property have been held. The police have caught illegal imported copycats such as motor and computer appliances and cigarettes.

The Law on Intellectual Property is aimed to boost people’s awareness as the country integrates into the world economy.

However, the fight against trade fraud has not been fierce enough, so there remains a large number of fake products on the market. In the long term, this could affect the country’s prestige and limit foreign investment into the country.

Which offices are in charge of intellectual property protection?

Inspectors of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Market Watch, economic police, inspectors of culture and information, procuracy and courts. However, having too many agencies dealing with the issue can have its set backs. In some cases, no one solves the issue, and in others, all combine but for some others all the agencies tried to tackle the issue, but no one could do it thoroughly as a consequence.

What have the Copyright Office of Viet Nam (COV) and the Viet Nam Intellectual Property Association (VIPA) done to help the agencies to understand more about copyright?

COV and VIPA have collaborated closely to organise short courses on intellectual property rights for managers and enterprise leaders on a regular basis.

Since 2005, we have opened five official courses and granted certificates to students. Many graduates have become lawyers of intellectual property rights. Besides giving out information, we have also hosted programmes for small- and medium-sized enterprises which help them know where they stand and what they should do to get global copyright protection.

What will Vietnamese businesses have to do to improve the implementation of copyright protection?

It takes time for people to become fully aware of all the rules, yet we have made great efforts to do this over the last two years.

We respect copyright, but we have had to make choices to ensure people’s benefit. In places where HIV/AIDS is a big problem, like Brazil or South Africa for example, pharmaceutical companies do not have to pay copyright to produce AIDS medicines. Viet Nam applies the same in producing vaccines. In this case, copyright exemption is a humanitarian matter.

How do you suggest companies doing business abroad?

First, they have to consider intellectual property as a tool in business, so they have to register their trademarks. If their trademarks have been protected, they have to carefully negotiate with agents in foreign countries to prevent them from registering the trademarks as theirs.

Enterprises can seek help from COV or local science and technology departments when they register abroad. The State has a policy to support businesses in terms of registration fees. They may also come to us for free consultation.