Ottawa (VNA) – The Global Affairs Canada through the ExpertDeployment Mechanism for Trade and Development (EDM) provided a training courseon improving intellectual property (IP) management capacity for a delegationfrom the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and Ministry ofFinance from November 27 to December 2.

This was part of Canada’s commitment to helping Vietnamese officials andexperts to concretise the IP provision under the Comprehensive and ProgressiveTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

According to Deputy Director General at the MoST’s IP Office of Vietnam Le HuyAnh, examination and protection of non-traditional trademark (sound mark), implementation of IP rights, plan outlining and financial management of IPoffices, and promotion of innovation were the four main contents of thetraining course.

The IP protection for sound mark is alien to Vietnam, while Canada IP Office(CIPO)’s financial management is applicable in the country, he said.

CIPO under the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is similar abusiness model, with more than 1,000 staff and a revenue of 200 million CAD(148 million USD) in 2022, he said, adding the model allows it to expandoperation scale and ensure service quality and efficiency at the same time.

The IP Office of Vietnam and CIPO have agreed to sign a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) in 2024 to carry out IP cooperation. Vietnam will considerand promote the signing of an agreement on mutual recognition of geographicalindications with Canada to ease burden for businesses of both sides, he said.

Hoang Ngoc Dinh, representative of Vietnam’s science and technology in Canada,said that cooperation with CIPO is an opportunity for Vietnam to improve its IPright protection and implementation capacity, while helping localities andbusinesses better respond and comply with IP issues in the future.

As part of the efforts to carry out the CPTTP’s IP provision, Canada committed tohelping Vietnam better its capacity through joining hands with Vietnamese sidesto build instructions that help Vietnamese firms implement commitments underthe trade pact, and the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of theDeposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure.

In 2020 and 2021, Canada supported the Copyright Office of Vietnam (COV)with administrative reform, implementation of the IP law, and raising publicawareness of IP. In 2023, it has sharpened focus on helping the Vietnamese sides withtrademark and geographical indication registration procedures in the CPTPP’skey markets, including Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand./.