Vietnam – China: Implementing projects on innovation, application and protection of intellectual property

In order to further enhance the exchanges and cooperation in the field of intellectual property (IP), on June 14, 2019, in Hanoi, the National Office of Intellectual Property (IP Vietnam) and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) signed a bilateral cooperation memorandum – as legal basics to promote projects and mutually beneficial cooperation activities related to innovation, application, protection and intellectual property administration.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the two authorities aims to create a foundation for cooperation and development in the field of IP, sharing experiences in developing and implementing national IP strategies, IP laws and policies of the two countries, as well as other issues of mutual concern about IP; sharing practical experiences and cooperation in examination and granting; training and developing human resources; mobilizing capital with intellectual property assets and information services to facilitate the use of intellectual property assets; information technology development and application; exchanging documents and data related to inventions, industrial designs and cooperation in developing resources; raising public awareness about IP.

This Memorandum of Understanding will replace the Memorandum of Understanding signed on October 19, 2017 between the two authorities with the expansion of cooperation to trademark and geographical indication matters after CNIPA receives two more these functions in 2018.

Mr. Dinh Huu Phi, Director of Vietnam Intellectual Property Department, said that the Government of Vietnam always attaches great importance to the development of science, technology, and innovation – in which IP is a lever to promote creative activities.

IP is one of the important areas under the management of the Ministry of Science and Technology – the body assigned by the Government to act as a focal point to coordinate with other State authorities in management of IP.

“The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding will create a foundation for profound professional cooperation activities not only in the field of inventions and industrial designs but also in in the areas which CNIPA takes over from two other authorities,  that is trademark and geographical indication, which contributes to facilitating the protection and commercialization of IP rights of enterprises”, added Mr . Dinh Huu Phi.

According to Dinh Huu Phi, CNIPA is currently in the top 5 largest and most modern IP agencies in the world. Vietnam National Office of Intellectual Property wishes to be able to learn the areas that CNIPA has advantages such as: deploying public services as valuation and capital contribution by intellectual property asset; commercialization of intellectual property rights; IT exploitation especially artificial intelligence in managing and appraising patent and trademark applications; training high-quality human resources, … sharing experiences in the application of synchronous solutions to improve the efficiency and quality in examining applications, especially the experience of processing the backlog applications.

Mr. Shen Changyu, CNIPA Director also said that China currently has more than 10,000 Patent Examiners and 1,500 Trademark Examiners of which both quantity and quality are ensured. With the application of monitoring system, improving the quality of examination, CNIPA sets a target for a examination duration from 2020 onwards is 16 months for patent applications and 4 months for trademark applications.

CNIPA has completed a review of 10 years of implementation and is beginning to implement the next phase of the National IP Strategy: “CNIPA is willing to share relevant experiences with the NOIP, especially the assessment of the results of implementation and orientation of the new phase of China’s national IP strategy”.

“We expect in 2019 to improve the operational quality of the IP system through enhancing macro management, further facilitating the development of the world’s leading IP examination  agencies; forming an IP culture and making more efforts to foster talent for the IP field.

In addition to the signing ceremony, the seminar “Introduction of China’s industrial property protection system” took place on the same day. Mr. Le Ngoc Lam, Deputy Director of Vietnam National Office of Intellectual Property said, the workshop aims to introduce officials, civil servants of Vietnam National Office of Intellectual Property and Vietnamese IP representatives about China’s IP protection system, contributing to improve understanding of registration procedures to establish the rights of individuals, organizations and related entities in the two countries.

Source: National Office of Intellectual Property