Introduction
Vietnam has been a member of the WIPO since 1976, and has signed several treaties related to intellectual property (IP) including the Bern, Brussels, and Paris conventions, the Madrid Agreement and Protocol, and the Patent Cooperation Treaty. In 2005, Vietnam adopted the first Law on Intellectual Property to meet the requirements of the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement and its bilateral trade agreement with the US. However, deficiencies in the legal framework for effective management and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) were identified in the following years. As a result, the law has undergone several revisions in 2009, 2019 and most recently 2022 to ensure consistency with the other laws and meet the Vietnam’s commitments certain international treaties such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the European Union–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). The IP system in Vietnam covers copyright and related rights, industrial property rights, and rights to plant varieties, which are administered by different authorities under different ministries. The IP Law provides for both registered and unregistered IPRs and includes provisions for the protection of IPRs against unfair competition. This legal guide presents the key provisions on the protection of IPRs in Vietnam.
