The 15th National Assembly passed the Law Revising a Number of Articles of the Law on Intellectual Property (the 2022 Law) at its 3rd session in June this year.
The amendments to the 2022 Law aim to help overcome obstacles and inadequacies revealed in the 16-year implementation of the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property, with two revisions in 2009 and 2019 (the 2005 Law), as well as remove inconsistency between the 2005 Law and legal documents recently promulgated by the National Assembly.
Major policies concretized in the 2022 Law
The 2022 Law concretizes seven groups of major policies, including:
- Clearly defining authors, copyright holders, performers, and related rights holders in cases of assignment or transfer of copyright and related rights;
- Promoting the creation, exploitation and dissemination of inventions, industrial designs, layout-designs and plant varieties being outcomes of the state budget-funded science and technology tasks;
- Facilitating the performance of procedures for registration of copyright and related rights and procedures for establishment and protection of industrial property rights;
- Ensuring a satisfactory and balanced level of protection of intellectual property rights;
- Improving the effectiveness of intellectual property support activities;
- Raising the effectiveness of intellectual property rights protection; and,
- Ensuring full and strict implementation of Vietnam’s international commitments on intellectual property protection in the process of integration.
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| A field of Tam Son sticky rice, one of 81 OCOP products of Bac Ninh province__Photo: Dinh Van Nhieu/VNA |
Revised contents
The 2022 Law adds 14 articles to, and revises 88 articles and annuls two articles of, the 2005 Law.
The amendments have been made in general provisions and in the provisions on copyright and related rights, industrial property (patents, industrial designs, trademarks, geographical indications, and trade secrets), plant varieties and enforcement of industrial property rights.
The 2022 Law also amends a number of relevant articles of the Law on Price, Law on Customs, Law on Science and Technology, and Law on Management and Use of Public Property.
The 2022 Law will take effect on January 1 next year. Particularly, the provisions on the protection of sound marks take effect on January 14 this year while the provisions on the protection of test data for agrochemical products will take effect two years later, on January 14, 2024.
Transitional provisions
Copyright and related rights eligible for protection before the effective date of the 2022 Law may continue to be protected in accordance with the 2022 Law if their term of protection has not yet expired.
Copyright and related rights registration applications filed with competent authorities before the effective date of the 2022 Law may continue to be processed in accordance with the provisions of law effective at the time of filing.
An invention, industrial design, mark or geographical indication registration application filed with the state management agency in charge of industrial property rights before the effective date of the 2022 Law may continue to be processed in accordance with the provisions of law effective at the time of filing, except the cases specified in Clause 3, Article 4 of the 2022 Law.
The provisions of Articles 86, 86a, 133a, 135, 136a, 139, 164, 191, 191a, 191b and 194 of the Law on Intellectual Property, which were amended and supplemented under Clauses 25, 52, 53, 54, 55, 66, 74 and 75, Article 1 of the 2022 Law, applicable to inventions, industrial designs, layout-designs and plant varieties being outcomes of the state budget-funded science and technology tasks, will apply to science and technology tasks assigned from the effective date of the 2022 Law.
Rights and obligations to industrial designs being part of products that are assembled into complex products under protection titles granted on the basis of registration applications filed before August 1, 2020, will comply with the provisions of law effective before the effective date of the 2022 Law. Grounds for invalidation of protection titles must comply with the provisions of law applicable for the consideration and grant of such protection titles.
Persons who have been granted certificates for industrial property representation service practice before the effective date of the 2022 Law may continue to practice industrial property representation services written their certificates. Persons who have passed tests on industrial property representation profession organized by competent authorities before the effective date of the 2022 Law may be granted certificates for industrial property representation service practice under the 2005 Law.
Registration applications for protection of rights to plant varieties filed with competent authorities before the effective date of the 2022 Law may continue to be processed in accordance with the provisions of law effective at the time of filing. Persons who possess certificates for rights-to-plant varieties representation service practice before the effective date of the 2022 Law may continue to practice rights-to-plant varieties representation services stated in their certificates.
