Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Amid increasingly sophisticated and complexintellectual property (IP) violations, Vietnamese businesses remained slowto register their products and protect their rights, said experts.

According to industry insiders, strong IP protection paved the way for along-term economic development strategy, and was also mandatory for thecurrent economic integration process.

However, Do Huu Quang, former leader of the Market Management Departmentin the south of Vietnam, told local media: “Trademarks of local products arebeing violated as firms don't pay enough attention registering their IP.”

Quang added the value of intangible assets and brandvalue accounted for three-quarters, and in some cases 90percent, of the company's asset value. However, the registration and protectionof intellectual property rights had gone largely ignored by domesticenterprises. 

According to PwC Vietnam, the average proportion of the value of intangibleassets in total enterprise value worldwide in 2016 was 53 percent, but thisproportion among Vietnamese enterprises was only 26 percent.

IP registration of intangible assets aims to ensure they are exclusively usedto promote the enterprises. Importantly, it is weapon to proactively combatcounterfeit and pirated goods, and protect market shares for goods andservices domestically and internationally.

Statistics show that the number of applications for trademark protection filedat the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (Ministry of Science andTechnology) is increasing. Before 1990, only about 300 to 2,000 applicationsfor trademark protection were made each year. From 1990 to 2005, an average of4,500 applications were filed annually. Since 2010, that figure has risen to32,000-50,000.  

However, Quang said: “These numbers are still too low, especially compared tothe number of enterprises in the country.”

According to the newly published White Book on Vietnamese Enterprises, at theend of 2018, the number of operating enterprises was 714,755, with the numberof newly-established enterprises rising sharply. In the first nine months ofthis year, the Government Statistics Office counted more than 100,000newly-established enterprises nationwide.

Participantsat a recent conference on IP in Hanoi found that enterprises were slow toregister for IP both at home and overseas, although Vietnam’s export turnoverhad continuously increased in recent years. 

For example, since 2015, the rate of filing for registration of designs inJapan has increased thanks to the Lahay Agreement on international registrationof industrial designs, managed by the World Intellectual Property Organisation(WIPO). Since then, 50 percent of applications filed in Japan have been fromforeign companies. Having joined the agreement a month ago, not many Vietnameseenterprises have bothered to take advantage of it.

The Intellectual Property Office said the number of industrial designregistration applications of Vietnamese enterprises in foreign countriesaccounted for a very small portion. For example, there are only 10 registereddesigns in the United States and 166 in the European Union.

Quang urged: “Enterprises should register to protect their IP. At the sametime, they should build and follow an IP strategy, and set up an IP data systemto track updates with competitors so they can prevent infringements.”

Current IP enforcement was mostly done by State agencies, without activeparticipation of businesses and consumers. He told businesses not to avoid orbe afraid to sue when there was an IP infringement. 

Tran Giang Khue, in charge of the southern branch of the Intellectual PropertyOffice, said enterprises needed special teams to deal with the issue. “It iseither register now or lose your trademark,” Khue said./.