Vietnam needs to pay attention to the protection of intellectual property (IP) on the domestic market since this is a crucial feature of a market economy and international integration.

The issue was highlighted at a national conference on Intellectual Property in the Mekong Delta province Bac Lieu on October 30. The function was attended by 300 delegates from a number of institutes, universities, and businesses.

A National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) report under the Ministry of Science and Technology says Vietnam recorded 4,125 patent applications, 29,938 applications for industrial design registration, and 333,733 other applications for national design and trademark registration since 1988.

However, Vietnamese IP was seldomly registered in other countries, while IP owners did not gain much from using protection mechanisms, the report added.

In Bac Lieu province alone, more than 1,330 small- and medium-sized companies are operational, generating trillions of VND of goods value every year. 

Nonetheless, their business capacity remains modest since a number of products have not been protected and haven’t established a trademarked brand. Since 1997, provincial authorities have only received 196 applications for IP protection.

The NOIP pointed to the limited financial capacity and the small and medium size of enterprises. When their IP is violated in other countries, Vietnamese firms often fail to pursue lawsuits due to complicated judicial procedures and the high costs of hiring lawyers.

At the conference, experts and businesspersons stressed that respecting and protecting Intellectual Property would minimise plagiarism of creative work, trademark violations, and intellectual property theft.

They also provided in-depth opinions on related matters, such as building and developing Vietnam’s rice trademark and cooperating between localities on IP protection.