Intellectual Property in Vietnam: A Guide for Foreign Businesses

Vietnam has become one of the more important destinations for foreign businesses thinking about intellectual property in Asia, driven by manufacturing growth, a large domestic market and deeper trade links with Europe and the wider region. If you are bringing a brand, a product or creative work into Vietnam, understanding how the system is structured, who administers it and how protection is obtained will save you both cost and risk. This page gives a top-level orientation; the linked topic pages go deeper on each right.

The main rights recognised in Vietnam

Vietnamese law recognises the familiar categories of intellectual property, with one local feature worth flagging early. The principal rights are trade marks, which protect brand names, logos and other distinctive signs; patents for invention, which protect new technical solutions that are novel, involve an inventive step and are industrially applicable; the patent for utility solution, Vietnam's second tier of patent protection, discussed below; industrial designs, which protect the appearance of a product; and copyright, which protects original literary, artistic and scientific works.

You can read more on each in the dedicated sections for trade marks in Vietnam, patents in Vietnam, copyright in Vietnam and industrial designs in Vietnam.

The two-body structure

A point that often surprises businesses new to Vietnam is that intellectual property is not handled by a single office. Industrial property rights (trade marks, patents, the patent for utility solution and industrial designs) are administered by IP Viet Nam, the Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam. This office was formerly known as the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP), and you will still see the older name in some materials and older case references, so do not be thrown by the change.

Copyright is administered separately by the Copyright Office of Viet Nam (COV), a distinct body. This split matters in practice: a single product launch can involve filings with two different authorities under two different procedures. Confirm the current names, addresses and online filing arrangements directly with each office before you act, as administrative structures in Vietnam have been reorganised more than once.

Filing through a local representative

Foreign applicants generally cannot file directly and instead act through a licensed local industrial property representative (a Vietnamese IP agent or attorney). Filings are made in Vietnamese, so documents prepared in another language will need translation, and the representative typically holds the power of attorney and handles correspondence with the office. Engaging a competent local representative early is one of the most useful things a foreign business can do, both to navigate procedure and to advise on local practice.

First-to-file and the squatting risk

Vietnam operates a first-to-file system for industrial property rights, including trade marks. In broad terms, priority goes to the party who files first rather than the party who used the mark first. This has a direct commercial consequence: trade mark squatting is a real risk. Third parties sometimes register the brands of foreign companies before those companies enter the market, then seek payment to release the registration or block the genuine owner. The practical lesson is to file early, ideally before any public announcement of market entry, and to clear and secure your core marks as a priority. The Madrid Protocol pillar explains how an international trade mark registration can cover Vietnam alongside other markets through a single application.

The 2022 IP Law amendments

Vietnam amended its Law on Intellectual Property in 2022, with the amended provisions generally taking effect in 2023. The amendments were significant and touched many areas of practice, including the introduction of a formal trade mark opposition procedure, refinements to examination and enforcement, and changes intended to align Vietnamese law more closely with its international commitments. The formal opposition route sits alongside, rather than replaces, the long-standing ability for third parties to file observations or opinions with the office during examination, so both channels remain available. Because the detail of these reforms is still settling into practice, treat any specific procedural step, opposition window or timing as something to verify against the current text and with local counsel rather than as a fixed rule.

The patent for utility solution

A distinctive feature of Vietnamese law is the patent for utility solution (giai phap huu ich, literally a useful solution). This is Vietnam's equivalent of a utility model, a second tier of patent protection. The key practical difference from a standard invention patent is that a patent for utility solution requires novelty and practical or industrial applicability, but does not require an inventive step. This makes it a useful route for incremental innovations and improvements that are genuinely new but might not clear the higher inventiveness bar of a full invention patent. The trade-off is typically a shorter term of protection.

One procedural point applies to both tiers and is easy to miss: substantive examination is not automatic. A request for substantive examination must be actively made within a set period after filing or priority, or the application can be treated as withdrawn, and that period differs for inventions and for patents for utility solution. Confirm the current deadlines with IP Viet Nam or local counsel rather than relying on a fixed figure. The patents section covers how the two tiers compare and when each is worth pursuing.

Summary table

A word on the copyright line in that table. Protection arises automatically on creation under the Berne Convention, so registration with the COV is not what creates the right. Voluntary COV registration is widely used because it provides useful prima facie evidence of ownership in a dispute, but it is evidentiary rather than constitutive.

Treaty membership and international filing routes

Vietnam is well connected internationally, which gives foreign businesses several efficient routes to protection. It is a member of the Paris Convention (priority claims across member countries), the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) for international patent applications, the Madrid System for the international registration of trade marks, the Hague System for the international registration of industrial designs, and the Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works. Vietnam's accession to the Hague System in particular means design protection can now be sought through a single international application designating Vietnam, rather than only through a national filing.

Trade with the European Union runs through the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which carries intellectual property commitments and has shaped some recent reforms. It is worth being precise here: the EVFTA is a trade agreement between Vietnam and the EU, and Vietnam is not a member of the European Union or its regional IP systems. EU registered rights such as the EU trade mark do not extend to Vietnam; protection in Vietnam must be secured under Vietnamese law or through the international systems above.

A note on this guidance

IPEnvoy is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice; this is general information only. Intellectual property law in Vietnam is detailed and has been reformed recently, so confirm the current position with IP Viet Nam's official website (and, for copyright, the Copyright Office of Viet Nam) and a qualified local IP professional before making decisions. Official fees apply to most filings; confirm the current amounts with IP Viet Nam or local counsel.