Industrial Design

A guide to filing a design application in Vietnam

Filing deadline

In case of filing an application claiming priority under the Paris convention, the deadline is 6 months from the priority date. In case of a regular application, it should be filed as soon as possible.

Required information

  1. Full name(s), address(es) and nationality(ies) of the applicant(s);
  2. Full name(s), address(es) and nationality(ies) of the inventor(s);
  3. Country(ies), application number(s) and filing date(s) of the priority application(s);
  4. Locarno (8th edition) classification of the design. If this information is not provided, fees for classifying the design will be charged.

 Required documents 

  1. A set of drawings/photos normally comprising:
    • Perspective view
    • Front view
    • Rear view
    • Right view
    • Left view
    • Top view
    • Bottom view
  1. Description of the design: If the product to be registered is uncommon, please provide us with a brief description of the design to facilitate us preparing the specification of the design.
  1. Power of Attorney (POA) (notarization/legalization is not required). The deadline for submitting the original POA is 01 month from the filing date. This deadline is non-extendable.
  1. Priority document(s). The deadline for submitting the priority document(s) is 3 months from the filing date. This deadline is non-extendable.

Remarks: 

Partial designs are not yet patentable in Vietnam. In Vietnam, there are three types of design applications:

  1. An application for one design of a product.
  1. An application for multiple designs of a product.
  1. An application for a set of articles: Articles which share a common function and the same set of basic features can be filed together in an application. However, they are NOT compulsory to be filed in the same application.

The validity term of a Design Patent is 05 years from the regular filing date. The Design Patent is effective from the granting date and renewable for two additional consecutive periods of 05 years each (max. 15 years); 

Procedures: 

– Formality examination period is 01 month from either (i) the filing date (if all required documents have been submitted), or (ii) the date on which the NOIP receives all required documents, whichever is later.

– A design application is published within 02 months from the date of official acceptance as a valid application.

– Substantive examination period is 07 months from the publication date.

– In practice, the actual period from filing until granting often ranges from 1 to 2 years.