An Giang, a southwestern province that shares a border of around 100 kilometers with Cambodia, is calling for investment in urban infrastructure, hi-tech agriculture and tourism in order to turn itself into a modern, smart, ecological province imbued with cultural identity of the Mekong River delta.

Over the past time, Vietnam’s legal system on intellectual property (IP) has been built and regularly revised, forming a fundamental legal foundation to regulate issues related to intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection and enforcement. Today, in the face of the requirements of an increasingly intensive, extensive and comprehensive international integration process, it needs further improvements to ensure effective implementation of international commitments and promote the application of scientific and technological research outcomes to production and business, contributing to the national socio-economic development.

Vietnam aims to be one of the world's leading countries in producing and exporting macadamia products by 2030. The project approved by the Government on March 15 aims to develop macadamia cultivation and processing in 2021-2030 sustainably.

Vietnam’s National Assembly (NA) last month passed the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Criminal Procedure Code (the Code) to be effective on December 1, 2021. A key reason for the NA to consider and pass these revised provisions right at a single session was to fulfill Vietnam’s commitments under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Below we look into the Law’s provisions that have been designed to meet the CPTPP’s requirements on taking the initiative to initiate legal action to protect industrial property rights over trademarks and geographical indications.

Early this month, many local media outlets reported that a shipment of more than 22,000 powder milk cans that were emergency relief gift from the Vietnamese community in Australia for underprivileged children in Ho Chi Minh City during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had been stuck at customs warehouses for nearly a month and could not be taken out.

The draft Law Revising a Number of Articles of the Intellectual Property Law has been put for public opinions and is expected to be submitted to the 15th National Assembly for consideration and comments at the 2nd session, and passage at the 3rd session. The amendments and supplementations focus on seven main groups of policies recently approved by the National Assembly, including improvement of the effectiveness of the intellectual property (IP) rights protection. This article introduces some models of specialized IP court in a number of countries in the world and makes some recommendations for Vietnam to improve the effectiveness of its IP rights protection activities.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has said that it is coordinating with relevant ministries, agencies and localities to build a national economic restructuring plan for the 2021-2025 period, with an aim to creating a breakthrough change in the growth model towards higher productivity, quality and competitiveness.

The ST25 sign lodged for trademark protection by a number of companies in the USA and Australia has been discussed recently. While the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam affirmed that ST25 is a common name for rice, it cannot be protected as a trademark. What should business owners pay attention to select a trademark which meets the requirements under the Law of Intellectual Property (IP) of Vietnam and other countries?

The Vietnam Trade Office (VTO) in Australia has sent an official letter enclosed with documents and photos to the IP Australia to clarify that the ST24 and ST25 rice varieties were researched and produced by Vietnamese scientists and granted trademark protection certificates in the country.

Located in Vietnam’s northwestern region, Son La province borders Yen Bai and Lai Chau provinces to the north, Hoa Binh and Phu Tho provinces to the east, Dien Bien province to the west, and Thanh Hoa province and Laos’ Houaphanh province to the south with a borderline of 250 kilometers.