Outline of the Project

Project Name

Project for Strengthening capacity in industrial property examination in IP Viet Nam

Subject

Private Sector Development

Country

Viet Nam

Date R/D Signed

Nov. 24, 2020

Project Site

Hanoi

Term of Cooperation

Mar. 31, 2021 to Mar. 30, 2023

Implementing Organization

IP Viet Nam

Background

In Vietnam, the need for protection of intellectual property rights is increasing as the country's industry develops, and with the enactment of the Law on Intellectual Property Rights in November 2005, the necessary systems for countermeasures against counterfeit goods are being developed. In addition, with Vietnam's accession to the WTO in January 2007, the future development of trade and industry is expected, and the protection of intellectual property rights has been listed as a priority item in the Japan-Vietnam Joint Initiative and the Japan-Vietnam EPA.

For companies considering entering the Vietnamese market, the risk and burden of countermeasures against infringing goods is always involved in both the manufacturing process and the market distribution process, making it difficult to conduct business smoothly, and foreign companies must be reluctant to do business in such a country. In addition, it is difficult for foreign companies to formulate business strategies in such countries in case they have to wait for a long time to obtain intellectual property rights. In order to deal with these issues, this project aims to strengthen IP Vietnam's ability to examine industrial property rights in line with Vietnam's intellectual property laws, and is positioned as a project that contributes to the protection of intellectual property rights, which is a priority item in the Japan-Vietnam EPA.

As the number of patent applications originating from Vietnam is expected to increase in the future, in order to properly protect the rights of these inventions, it is desirable to shorten the time required for the granting of patent rights, as well as to improve the capacity of examination practices and implement user-friendly measures.

Specifically, by revising the patent examination standards and sharing knowledge among patent examiners to reduce the variation in the quality of examination, as well as by formulating and publishing an English version of the patent examination standards to make it more convenient for overseas users, it is expected that the number of patent applications from Japan and overseas will further increase and investment in Vietnam will expand.

The Overall Goal

To establish stable and reliable operation of patent examination.

Project Purpose

To improve transparency, predictability, consistency and accuracy of patent examination practices and operations by IP Viet Nam.

Output

1. Revised Examination Guidelines for Paten
2. Develped Patent Examination Quality Management Documents such as check-flow, check points, and common mistale case compilation etc…
3. Improved skills and competency of patent examiners

Project Activities

1-1	To draft the revised Examination Guidelines for Patent to comply with existing Vietnamese legislation and operation and include emerging technologies.
1-2	To conduct a few days internal and open seminars on the revised Examination Guidelines for Patent.
1-3	To translate and publish the revised Examination Guidelines for Patent.
2-1	To conduct surveys on the current status of patent examination quality management.
2-2	To develop the Patent Examination Quality Management Documents.
2-3	To conduct some pilot activities on line with the Patent Examination Quality Management Documents.
3-1	To organize seminars/workshops in Viet Nam for IP Viet Nam's examiners to improve their patent examination skills.

Inputs
[Japanese side]

Dispatch of a Japaese Long-term Expert.

Inputs
[Vietnamese side]

1. Assignment of Counterpart.
2. Project office.
3. Available data and information related/impactful to the Project.
4. Local cost.