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.-VNA