How to File a Patent in Vietnam with IP Viet Nam
To file a patent in Vietnam, submit an application to IP Viet Nam in Vietnamese through a licensed local representative, claiming an invention that is novel, inventive and industrially applicable. Vietnam is first-to-file. You separately request substantive examination within a set period, after which IP Viet Nam examines and, if allowed, grants the patent.
Filing a patent in Vietnam means dealing with the body now generally referred to as IP Viet Nam (its older English name was the National Office of Intellectual Property, NOIP). It is the central industrial-property office for inventions, and the process will feel broadly familiar to anyone who has filed elsewhere. Vietnam does, though, have a few features that catch applicants out: it is strictly first-to-file, it requires a Vietnamese-language specification filed through a licensed local representative, and it treats the request for substantive examination as a separate step you must take deliberately within a set period. This guide walks through the route from filing to grant, the distinctive patent-for-utility-solution alternative, and the two main ways foreign applicants reach Vietnam: the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) national phase and the Paris Convention priority route. For the wider picture of protecting an invention in Vietnam, see our Vietnam patents overview.
A scoping note before the detail. Substantive examination and the grant of patents remain with IP Viet Nam, but the wider administration of industrial-property rights in Vietnam has recently been reorganised, with some ancillary procedures decentralised to provincial authorities. The exact division of responsibilities is in transition, so treat any question about which office handles a particular procedural step as a confirm-with-counsel point rather than assuming a single authority handles everything.
A further scoping note. IP Viet Nam handles industrial property, including inventions, but copyright in Vietnam is administered by a separate body, the Copyright Office of Viet Nam (COV). Some creations, such as software code and written or artistic works, are protected automatically by copyright under the Berne Convention without registration, and can in addition be voluntarily registered with the COV, which is a distinct route from the patent process described here. So do not assume the patent route is the only or the right way to protect a given output; which right fits is a point to settle with counsel.
What you can protect, and the core requirements
Vietnam grants patents for inventions, which IP Viet Nam assesses against three substantive conditions during examination. The first is novelty: the invention must not already be part of the state of the art, meaning it must not have been publicly disclosed, used or described anywhere before the filing date (or the priority date, if you claim priority). Vietnam applies a high novelty standard, so a disclosure you made yourself can be a problem. A grace period may exist for certain disclosures by the applicant, but its conditions and length are specific and easy to get wrong, so confirm the current position with IP Viet Nam or local counsel rather than rely on it.
The second requirement is inventive step. Even a new invention must not be something a person skilled in the field could arrive at obviously from what was already known. This is usually the requirement that determines whether a patent is granted. The third is industrial applicability: the invention must be capable of being made or used in some industry. Beyond these, the application must disclose the invention clearly and completely enough for a skilled person to carry it out, and the claims must be supported by the description. Weak disclosure or unclear claims are common grounds for objection.
The specification and claims
A complete patent application generally comprises a request identifying the applicant and inventors, a description of the invention, one or more claims, an abstract, and any drawings needed to understand the invention. The description sets out the technical problem, the prior art and how the invention solves it, in enough detail that a skilled person could reproduce it. The claims define the legal scope of protection and are the part the examiner scrutinises most closely; they must be clear, concise and supported by the description. Amendments after filing cannot add matter beyond what the original application disclosed, so the quality of the specification you file at the outset sets the ceiling on what you can ultimately protect. This makes careful drafting, by someone who understands both the technology and Vietnamese claim practice, the single most valuable investment in the process.
Filing language and the local-representative requirement
A Vietnamese patent application is filed and examined in Vietnamese. Foreign applicants therefore need a Vietnamese translation of the specification, claims and abstract, and translation quality matters: errors or ambiguities introduced in translation can narrow your claims or create objections that are awkward to fix later, given the bar on adding new matter. Some documents may be filed initially in another language with a Vietnamese translation supplied within a prescribed later period, but the availability and the exact deadline are specific and change, so treat that as a confirm-with-counsel point and plan on the basis that a careful Vietnamese specification will be needed.
A foreign applicant with no residence or established commercial presence in Vietnam must act through a licensed Vietnamese industrial-property representative (a local IP agent) to file and prosecute the application and to receive official correspondence from IP Viet Nam. This is a procedural requirement, not merely a practical convenience, so engaging a qualified local representative early is effectively necessary for most foreign filers. Confirm the current rules on who must be appointed and the form of the power of attorney with local counsel.
First-to-file: the date is everything
Vietnam is a first-to-file jurisdiction. Where two applicants independently arrive at the same invention, the one who files first at IP Viet Nam has priority, regardless of who invented it first. The practical consequence is simple: file early, and file before you disclose. First-to-file also makes priority dates valuable, which is where the Paris and PCT routes below come in. The same first-to-file principle, combined with Vietnam's commercial profile, creates a trade-mark-squatting risk on the brand side that is worth keeping in mind when planning protection across rights, though it is a trade-mark rather than a patent concern.
Filing, official fees and publication
Applications are filed with IP Viet Nam, with electronic filing increasingly the norm. On filing you pay official fees. The cost of obtaining a Vietnamese patent is driven by several factors rather than a single number: the official filing fee, the separate examination-request fee discussed below, translation into Vietnamese, the local representative's fees, the number of claims, and annuity fees once granted. Official fees apply; confirm the current amount with IP Viet Nam or local counsel, and do not rely on figures quoted second-hand.
After a formality check, the application is published in the official gazette once the prescribed period from the filing or priority date has elapsed (or earlier on request, in defined circumstances). Publication makes the application visible to third parties and starts the clock on certain provisional rights and observations. Treat the exact publication timing as a confirm-with-counsel point.
The separate request for substantive examination
This is the step most likely to trip up an unwary applicant. Filing an application does not by itself put it in the substantive-examination queue. Substantive examination begins only when a separate request is filed and the associated fee paid, and that request must be made within a set period running from the filing or priority date. If the request is not filed in time, the application is treated as withdrawn and the opportunity to obtain a patent is lost. Because this period is fixed and is among the most dangerous deadlines in the Vietnamese process, do not rely on a remembered figure: confirm the current period with IP Viet Nam or your local representative and diary it carefully, including for any national-phase entry.
Examination, objections and grant
Once substantive examination is requested, an IP Viet Nam examiner reviews the application against the patentability requirements and for formal and clarity issues. If the examiner identifies problems, the office issues a notification (an office action), to which the applicant responds by argument and by amending the claims or description, within the limits on adding new matter. If the examiner is satisfied, IP Viet Nam issues a decision to grant, and the patent is registered and published once the grant fee is paid. If a refusal is maintained, the applicant can pursue the available appeal and complaint procedures.
A granted patent is kept in force by paying annuities (renewal fees), typically due periodically, and lapses if they are not paid. The patent term runs from the filing date for a defined number of years, subject to those annuities. Treat the exact term, the annuity schedule and any restoration options as confirm-with-counsel, since they are set by statute and change. Note too that the 2022 amendments to Vietnam's IP Law, in force from 2023, introduced a range of changes across the system (including, on the trade-mark side, a formal opposition procedure), so confirm any procedural detail against the current law rather than older summaries.
The patent-for-utility-solution alternative
Vietnam offers a distinctive second-tier right, the patent for utility solution (in Vietnamese, giai phap huu ich, literally a useful solution). It is Vietnam's equivalent of a utility model, intended for technical solutions that are useful and new but may not clear the inventive-step bar of a full invention patent. The defining difference is the threshold: a patent for utility solution requires novelty and industrial applicability, but is not held to the full inventive-step bar of an invention patent. In practice the protectable subject matter is usually framed as something that is not merely common general knowledge, rather than a right with no qualitative hurdle at all, so this is a lower bar rather than no bar. That lower threshold can open protection to genuinely useful incremental improvements that could not support a standard patent.
The trade-offs run in both directions. A lower threshold to obtain the right also means a less robust right, and the term of a patent for utility solution is shorter than that of a full invention patent. It can suit shorter-lifecycle products or improvements where speed and a realistic threshold matter more than a long term and the strongest possible right. Because the choice between the two is strategic and fact-specific, and the procedural detail is jurisdiction-specific, our patent for utility solution guide covers the trade-offs and how it sits alongside the full patent route. Confirm the current threshold, term and procedure with local counsel before deciding.
Reaching Vietnam from abroad: PCT and Paris priority
Vietnam is a member of the main international frameworks that foreign applicants rely on, including the Paris Convention and the PCT, so both routes below are available. Note that Vietnam is not an EU member, so EU-wide or EUIPO rights do not extend to it; you protect an invention in Vietnam through the national system described here. Trade agreements such as the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement have raised IP standards over time, but they do not create a single regional right covering Vietnam.
Most foreign applicants reach Vietnam by one of two international routes, and the choice usually depends on how many countries you are targeting and your timing.
The PCT national-phase route is common where you want protection in several countries. You file a single international application under the PCT, which preserves an effective filing date across member states, then later enter the national phase in each country you choose, including Vietnam, by meeting that country's requirements (Vietnamese translation, national fees, appointment of a local representative and any local formalities) within the prescribed national-phase deadline. Entering the Vietnamese national phase still requires you to make the separate request for substantive examination within the applicable period, so that deadline does not disappear because you arrived via the PCT. For how the international system works generally, see our PCT guide.
The Paris Convention priority route suits applicants filing directly in a smaller number of countries. If you file a first application in a Paris Convention country, you can file a corresponding application in Vietnam within the Paris priority period (commonly twelve months for patents, but confirm the current period and its precise calculation with IP Viet Nam or counsel) and have the Vietnamese application treated, for assessing prior art and intervening filings, as if filed on your original priority date. The two routes are not mutually exclusive; a PCT application itself commonly claims Paris priority from an earlier national filing.
A practical sequence
The following summarises the typical order of events for a foreign applicant. The exact periods are set by statute and should be confirmed with IP Viet Nam or counsel.
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Priority filing | First application filed somewhere, setting the priority date |
| Entry into Vietnam | File directly under Paris priority, or enter the national phase from a PCT application, through a local representative |
| Translation | Provide a Vietnamese specification (timing depends on the route taken) |
| Publication | Application published in the official gazette after the prescribed period |
| Request examination | File the separate substantive-examination request within the set period, or the application lapses |
| Examination | IP Viet Nam examines; respond to any office actions by argument or amendment |
| Grant and maintenance | Pay the grant fee, the patent is registered and published, pay annuities to keep it in force |
Where to get this right
Vietnamese patent prosecution rewards early filing, accurate Vietnamese drafting, an appointed local representative, and disciplined diary management of two deadlines in particular: the priority or national-phase entry deadline, and the separate request for substantive examination. Getting either wrong can be fatal to the application, and most such errors are unrecoverable.
IPEnvoy is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. This page is general information to help you understand the process, not a substitute for advice on your specific invention. For filing in Vietnam you should confirm the current fees and statutory periods on IP Viet Nam's official website and instruct a qualified local IP professional. IPEnvoy can connect you with vetted local counsel in Vietnam and coordinate filings across multiple jurisdictions where you need protection in more than one market.