In modern days, countries around the world have built their own system of trademark registration and consider the trademark registration procedure as the most complete legal platform for the protection of a trademark in trade. According to the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law the trademark registration procedure includes the following stages:
Formality appraisal:
According to the Point 13, Section 1 of Circular No. 01/2007 / TT-BKHCN guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Intellectual Property Law regarding industrial property as amended and supplemented by Circular 05/2013 / TT-BKHCN Details of the implementation of a number of articles of the Intellectual Property Law regarding property are as follows:
“… 13.8 Time limit for formality appraisal
a) The time limit for formality appraisal is 1 month from the filing date as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 119 of the Intellectual Property Law …. “
- Therefore, the formality appraisal period is 01 month. However, the time limit for formality appraisal can be extended up to 2 months if you make an amendment to the trademark application.
Publication of valid applications:
Point 14, Section 1 of Circular 01/2007 / TT-BKHCN as amended by Clause 13, Article 1 of Circular 16/2016 / TT-BKHCN stipulates as follows:
“… b) Publication of other applications: layout design registration application, industrial design registration application, trademark registration application, geographical indication registration application shall be published within 2 months from from the date of accepting a valid application … “
- Thus, a valid trademark registration application is published on the IP Gazette within 02 months from the date of being accepted as a valid application. The contents of publication of a mark registration application are information related to a valid application inscribed in the notice of acceptance of a valid application, the model of the trademark and the accompanying list of goods and services.
Content appraisal:
Clause 2, Article 119 of the Intellectual Property Law stipulates:
“… 2. An industrial property registration application shall be substantially examined within the following time limit:
a) For an invention, twelve months from the date of publication of the application if a request for substantive examination is filed before the date of publication of the application or from the date of receipt of a request for substantive examination if such request is filed after the date of publication. publication of the application;
b) For an industrial design, trademark or geographical indication, it is six months from the date of publication of the application … “
And Point 15, Section 1 of Circular 01/2007 / TT-BKHCN is amended and supplemented by Circular 05/2013 / TT-BKHCN as follows:
“… c) In case the applicant proactively requests amendments and supplements to the application, or responds to the NOIP’s notice stated at Point 15.7.a (i) and (ii) of the Circular This time, the time limit for substantive examination is extended corresponding to the time limit for processing an applicant’s request for amendment or supplementation or explanation under the provisions of Clause 4, Article 119 of the Intellectual Property Law such as after:
(i) For an invention, not more than 6 months;
(ii) For trademarks, not exceeding 03 months;
(iii) For industrial designs, not more than 02 months and 10 days;
(iv) For geographical indications, not more than 02 months. “
- Therefore, the time limit for content appraisal of a trademark application is 9-12 months from the date of publication of the application. However, the time limit for content appraisal can be up to 18-20 months due to the relatively large number of applications The National Office of Intellectual Property receiving each day.
If the trademark registration application is eligible, The National Office of Intellectual Property shall issue a Notice of Intention to issue a certificate for the trademark.
Time to receive trademark registration certificate
From the time when an application is valid in content, The National Office of Intellectual Property will notify the applicant to pay the fee for the grant of a trademark registration certificate. The waiting time is 15 days from the date of full and timely payment of the prescribed fees and charges. However, the actual time can be up to 1-2 months due to many objective reasons
- In accordance with the current law, as well as the information that we have analyzed above on the minimum period of trademark registration after filing the full application to the grant of trademark registration certificate is about 12 months.
However, in reality, there still exist trademark applications with a processing period lasting about 3 years or even longer because of having to re-evaluate many times or the applicant does not agree with the notices of The National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) or the application or file is not correct, complete, accurate, does not fulfill the obligation to pay the State fee, so the time will be prolonged.