Industrial property rights: A growing hit with business

The value of a product will increase if it is protected in terms of geographical indication

Protecting business

Under the Intellectual Property Law, organizations and individuals own industrial property rights to a diverse range of inventions, industrial designs, semi-conductor integrated circuits, labels, trademarks, geographical indications and business secrets that they create or own.

When businesses have a monopoly on specific labels, designs or inventions, their rivals cannot use them, creating a defensive measure against competitors, helping combat fraud and create higher quality products and profits. Industrial property rights also help increase business value considerably in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), improving the owners’ image in the eyes of investors and sponsoring organizations.

In 2018, the NOIP received 63,717 applications for industrial property rights registration, an increase of 8.1 percent compared with 2017. These included 46,369 applications for label registration at a national level; 7,508 applications for label registration at an international level; 6,071 applications for patent registration; 2,873 applications for industrial design registration. The NOIP dealt with 42,867 applications for industrial property rights registration, an increase of 9.2 percent compared with 2017. The increase reflects improved business awareness of industrial property rights.

Online services

NOIP Director Dinh Huu Phi said that protecting industrial property rights, in particular, and the office’s operations, in general, is aimed at supporting businesses. In 2019, the office continues dealing with registration applications, giving priority to patents, labels and pending complaints, as well as inventions catering for implementation of government and Ministry of Science and Technology plans and projects.

In addition, the NOIP is defining economic and technical standards, as well as a price framework for assessment of applications for industrial property rights registration. Online public services will be provided at the fourth level. The infrastructure for information technology application will be upgraded to meet technical and management requirements. At the same time, the NOIP will accelerate necessary preparations to put into operation an Industrial Property Administration System (IPAS), a cooperation project with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This software system will help the NOIP deal with applications faster.