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Vietnamese businesses remain indifferent to registering trademarks
The number of applications for trademark registration keeps increasing year on year, but the increase does not match increases in business growth.
The information was released by the National Office for Intellectual Property (NOIP). The office’s report shows that the number of applications for trademark registrations increased by 68 percent in 2007 over the previous year, from 6,335 applications to 10,660. Meanwhile the number increased by 49 percent in 2008 to 15,826.
However, according to Dr Tran Le Hong from NOIP, the number of applications is less impressive when compared with the current 400,000 operational businesses in Vietnam.
“The modest numbers of registered trademarks show that many businesses still do not have long term vision or business strategy. Instead they just aim at short term business,” Hong noted
Hong cites many reasons which make businesses hesitate to register their trademarks. Businesses either do not want to spend money and time on registrations or they do not fully understand the significance.
Meanwhile, according to Hong, the lack of trademarks registered and protected by the laws have made many Vietnamese businesses lose market share.
Hong, while urging Vietnamese businesses to register trademarks to protect intellectual property he also stressed that exporters should also register trademarks in foreign countries.
Hong cited the case of the Vietnam Tobacco Corporation (Vinataba) as an example. Though a well known trademark in Vietnam, Vinataba still cannot export products to Indonesia under its brand name.
The problem lies in the fact that Vinataba has not registered its trademark in the country. Instead, ‘Vinataba’ was registered by an Indonesian company as a brand name for clothes and footwear in 14 countries.
“Famous brand names will always try to be copied by illicit businesses. Once businesses lose brand names to rivals it means they also lose markets,” Hong said.
vietnamnet, vneconomy
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