Delegates from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar discussed issues related to intellectual property and trademarks in their countries at a workshop in Hanoi on September 8.

Deputy Director of the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP) Tran Huu Nam stressed the importance of IP and trademark building to the development of enterprises all over the world.

Vietnam and others developing countries need to come up with solutions to promote and utilize those tools efficiently in gaining competitive advantages at global market, he added.

David Faulks, Managing Director of Generation Alliance, an Australian strategic brand consultancy, recommended that Vietnam should determine its key products in connection with special features of local geography, communities and stories to attract target customers before building comprehensive brand strategies.

According to Nguyen Quoc Thinh, a lecturer from Vietnam University of Commerce, most domestic companies, while aware of the importance of brands, trademarks and inventions, fail to see the potential of franchise and other similar commercial activities, thus few of them applied for patents. Some 39 percent of Vietnamese enterprises do not even know where and how to register for IP rights.-VNA