- The first thing: logo, trademark

- Trademark application will be reject if trademark can not make the distinctive function
- Trademark can not be registered if it already belongs to another person:

+ Be identical to, or confusingly similar to, another person’s trademark which has already been registered or been filed for registration at an ealier date, or is considered to be well-known or widely recognized

+ Be identical to proper name, emblem and image of a nation, a locality, a celebrity, a Vietnamese or overseas organization (except in cases where there is permission from a competent agency or individual)

- Each trademark for a product or a service belongs to only one subject – the first applicant. Therefore, to avoid useless investment, enterprises, before filing an application, should make sure that the trademark they want to register does not belong to another person or there is no other application for its registration.

Trademark registration capacity search:

Once having a trademark, you should carry out searching before filing an application to assess the capicity of registering that trademark. The search result will show you whether your trademark is identical to or similar to another person’s trademark resgistered in Vietnam for the same kind of goods or serivces. Moreover, the result will help you to affirm whether your using of trademark, until the time of searching, is violation of anyone else’s industrial property rights

An application for trademark registration should consist of:

- A form requesting a trademark registration certificate to be issued (Application form), according to the sample issued by NOIP.

- Regulations on using collective trademarks, in case of application for a collective trademark.

- A sample trademark (15 copies)

- Documents certifying legal right to file such an application, if the applicant is a beneficiary of such a right (Inheritance certificate, Tranfer deed, Labor agreement…)

- Power of attorney (prepare by WINLAW)

- Copy of the first application or exhibition certificates, in case there is request of priority according to International treaty (including Vietnamese translated copy)

- Documents certifying the origin, awards, or medals related to the trademark, if it contains such information.

- A receipt of application fees

- Goods and services sticked with trademark in Application form need to be categorized according to the Table of categorizing goods and services (under Nice Agreement 9)

- The sample trademarks should be expressed clearly within the size of 80x80 mm in maximum, and the distance between two closest points must not be less than 15mm.

- If there is a request of color protection, the trademark must be displayed with the exact colors which need protecting. If there is not such a color protection request, trademark should be in black and white.

Samples of application form:

Download – Application form for Trademark Registration

Download – Application form for application form amendment

Download – Application form for Titles protection certificates

Download – Application form for trademarks searching

Download – Application form for international trademarks searching