Summary of IP applications flied in Vietnam in 2020

Thanks to the improvement of procedures for handling applications and incentive regime for examiners, both the number and quality of application examination at the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) in 2020 increased remarkably despite the difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Below are some main results:

- Trademarks: the number of trademark applications (both national and international) which were received, completely examined as substantive and granted protection titles increased by 1.6%, 12.9%  and 15.5% respectively compared to 2019;

-   Inventions/utility solutions: In total 8368 applications were received, showing an increase of  about 3.1% compared to 2019. Notably, while the number of applications by foreign entities decreased by 2%, the number of applications filed by the Vietnamese  increased 35% (namely, 1505 compared to 1115 in 2019), showing that the need and awareness of the protection of patent rights of domestic organizations and individuals has increased significantly. The number of applications that have been completely examined as substantive (rejected or accepted) was 7155 (an increase of about 16.1% compered  to 2019). The number of patents granted in 2020 increased by 57.3% compared to 2019. There were 450 requests for modification/transfer of applications were recorded, an increase of 59% compared to 2019;

-   Industrial designs (ID): the number of registration applications filed through national route (i.e. to NOIP) was 3,213, thus decreased by 8% compared to 2019. 2020 was the first year Vietnam receives international applications under the Hague System with the number of international registrations designating Vietnam is 174, covering 328 IDs. In total, 3,270 applications have been examined as to substantive, showing an increase of 4.8% compared to 2019. 2,869 applications were completely processed (refused or accepted for protection), showing an increase of 2.8% compared to 2019. Priority in settlement was given to the applications which have been filed before January 1, 2019 to avoid a deep backlog./.