Only 10 percent of 4,400 patent registration applications came from Vietnam in 2014 due to the poor quality of Vietnamese applications, said an official.
Nguyen Van Bay, Director of the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP)'s Centre for Research and Training, said during a recent press conference in Hanoi that the yearly number of patent registration applications has risen 10 percent in recent years, as the number of applications for trademark protection registration in 2014 reached some 33,000.
HCM City took the lead in the number of trademark registrations, with 12,000 applications, followed by Hanoi with 7,600. Northern Lai Chau province, however, had the lowest application numbers, with only 2. This was followed by Bac Kan and Dien Bien provinces, with 5 and 9 applications.
Bay said the reason for the low number of applications was that the number of businesses in these localities, and knowledge about intellectual property, remains modest.
Meanwhile, the US had the highest number of trademark registration applications in Vietnam last year, with 1,713. Japan took second place with 1,295 applications, China 904, the Republic of Korea 785, and Thailand 519.
The director noted that up to 3,000 patent and trademark registrations remain unresolved due to the poor quality of the applications, complicated issues and lack of office staff.
He added that there was no university in Vietnam providing training on completing intellectual property applications.
The application office currently has to train their staff or seek international support.
NOIP is expecting to hire 70 more employees, while promoting information and the use of technology to resolve the application problem.
Le Ngoc Lam, NOIP's deputy head, said Vietnam lacks judges with special knowledge about intellectual property rights, which is the reason that disputes on intellectual property rights take time to resolve.
Further, Lam said officials had been considering creating a court to rule on intellectual property conflicts, as similar courts had been set up in advanced countries.
"We expect that Vietnam would have such courts in the future," he added.-VNA
Nguyen Van Bay, Director of the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP)'s Centre for Research and Training, said during a recent press conference in Hanoi that the yearly number of patent registration applications has risen 10 percent in recent years, as the number of applications for trademark protection registration in 2014 reached some 33,000.
HCM City took the lead in the number of trademark registrations, with 12,000 applications, followed by Hanoi with 7,600. Northern Lai Chau province, however, had the lowest application numbers, with only 2. This was followed by Bac Kan and Dien Bien provinces, with 5 and 9 applications.
Bay said the reason for the low number of applications was that the number of businesses in these localities, and knowledge about intellectual property, remains modest.
Meanwhile, the US had the highest number of trademark registration applications in Vietnam last year, with 1,713. Japan took second place with 1,295 applications, China 904, the Republic of Korea 785, and Thailand 519.
The director noted that up to 3,000 patent and trademark registrations remain unresolved due to the poor quality of the applications, complicated issues and lack of office staff.
He added that there was no university in Vietnam providing training on completing intellectual property applications.
The application office currently has to train their staff or seek international support.
NOIP is expecting to hire 70 more employees, while promoting information and the use of technology to resolve the application problem.
Le Ngoc Lam, NOIP's deputy head, said Vietnam lacks judges with special knowledge about intellectual property rights, which is the reason that disputes on intellectual property rights take time to resolve.
Further, Lam said officials had been considering creating a court to rule on intellectual property conflicts, as similar courts had been set up in advanced countries.
"We expect that Vietnam would have such courts in the future," he added.-VNA
