IP Law 2025: Regulations on Opposition to Industrial Property Applications
The first Intellectual Property Law of Vietnam (Law No. 50/2005/QH11, passed by the National Assembly of Vietnam on November 29, 2005, and taking effect from July 1, 2005 – the "IP Law 2005") has been amended and supplemented by various Laws in 2009, 2019, 2022, and most recently by Law No. 131/2025/QH15, enacted on December 10, 2025, and taking effect from April 1, 2026 (hereinafter referred to as the "IP Law 2025").
Shortly thereafter, the Government issued Decree No. 65/2023/ND-CP (as amended and supplemented by Decree No. 100/ND-CP, effective from April 1, 2026) and the Ministry of Science and Technology issued Circular No. 10/2026/TT-BKHCN, effective from April 1, 2026, to provide detailed regulations and guidelines for the implementation of specific clauses and articles of the IP Law. This article only addresses the regulations concerning the application opposition process during the examination of industrial property applications.
1. Under the IP Law 2025
(a) Regulations on application opposition are provided in Article 112a. Specifically:
Article 112a. Opposition to industrial property applications
1. Within the following time limits, any third party shall have the right to oppose the grant of a protection title:
a) Six months from the publication date of the patent application, or three months from the publication date of the patent application in case the patent application is subject to expedited substantive examination in accordance with Clause 2a, Article 119 of this Law;
b) Three months from the publication date of the industrial design application, trademark application, or geographical indication application.
2. The opposition specified in Clause 1 of this Article must be made in writing, accompanied by supporting documents or citations of information sources, and is subject to the payment of fees and charges.
3. The Minister of Science and Technology shall provide detailed regulations on the order and procedures for handling the opposition specified in Clause 2 of this Article.
Thus, the time limits for oppositions have once again been significantly shortened compared to those under the IP Law 2022. Specifically, the timeframe is now reduced to only six months for patents (down from nine months), three months for industrial designs (down from four months), and three months for trademarks (down from five months), while the time limit for geographical indications remains unchanged at three months [1]. Prior to 2022 IP Law 2022 (effective as of January 1, 2023), the application opposition window was defined as the period starting from the publication date of the application up until the date the protection title was granted.
(b) Article 117. Refusal to grant protection titles
Previously, Point a, Clause 3, Article 117 of the IP Law 2022 provided as follows:
Article 117. Refusal to grant protection titles
"3. Where an industrial property application falls under the cases specified in Clauses 1, 1a (i.e., the subject matter stated in the application fails to fully satisfy the protection conditions) and 2 (i.e., the layout design application fails to satisfy formality requirements) of this Article, the state management agency in charge of industrial property rights shall carry out the following procedures:
a. [IP Vietnam] Notify the substantive examination results, clearly stating the intended refusal to grant the protection title and the reasons thereof, and set a time limit for the applicant to raise objections to such intended refusal."
The IP Law 2025 has abolished the entirety of Clause 3, including the aforementioned Point 3a. Consequently, the "Notification of substantive examination results" procedure—and any subsequent responses or objections to it—will no longer exist. Based on the substantive examination results, IP Vietnam will directly issue either a Decision to Grant or a Decision to Refuse the protection title. If the applicant disagrees with IP Vietnam's refusal decision, they may initiate an administrative appeal or file a lawsuit in court.
2. Regulations under Circular No. 10/2026/TT-BKHCN
Circular No.10/2026/TT-BKHCN issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology on March 31, 2026, which took effect from April 1, 2026, provides detailed regulations and guidelines on the handling of industrial property application oppositions across the following four articles:
- Article 27. Handling of oppositions to patent applications;
- Article 59. Handling of oppositions to industrial design applications;
- Article 82. Handling of oppositions to trademark applications; and
- Article 103. Handling of oppositions to geographical indication applications.
The aforementioned Articles share a similar structure and cover the following contents: requirements for the opposition; time limits for application processing concerning IP Vietnam and the applicant; conditions for organizing a dialogue between the industrial property applicant and the opposer; suspension of opposition settlement; and notification of opposition settlement results by IP Vietnam...
In particular, there is a new provision regarding lawsuits filed with the Court, with the specific content as follows:
3. Where the opposer’s opposition relates to the right to register industrial property, such opposition shall be handled as follows:
a) IP Vietnam shall notify the opposer to file a lawsuit with a competent Court in accordance with the law on civil procedure, and set a time limit of two months from the date of notification for the opposer to submit a copy of the Court's notice of case acceptance;
b) Upon the expiration of the time limit specified in Point a of this Clause, if the opposer fails to submit a copy of the notice of case acceptance, the opposition shall be deemed withdrawn, and the industrial property application shall continue to be processed as if no opposition had been filed.
c) In case IP Vietnam receives a copy of the Court's notice of case acceptance within the time limit specified in Point a of this Clause, IP Vietnam shall suspend the processing of the industrial property application pending the outcome of the dispute resolution by the Court, except for the case specified in Point d, Clause 2 of this Article (i.e., the application is withdrawn). The processing of the application shall resume immediately after IP Vietnam receives a legally effective judgment or decision from the Court.
Particularly for trademark application oppositions under Article 82.3, certain oppositions relating to the right to file shall still be resolved by IP Vietnam, including the following cases:
a1) There are clear grounds to determine that the applicant lacks the right to register in accordance with Clauses 2 and 7, Article 87 of the Intellectual Property Law (2);
a2) The opposition relates to the right to register a trademark application for signs that are, or contain, geographical names or other signs indicating the geographical origin of Vietnamese local specialties in accordance with Clauses 3 and 4, Article 87 of the Intellectual Property Law;
a3) The opposition relates to the right to register but is not accompanied by supporting documents or citations of information sources, or is accompanied by supporting documents or citations of information sources but such documents or citations do not provide sufficient grounds to determine that the applicant lacks the right to register.
3. Commentary
- With the aforementioned amendments to Article 112a and Article 117, the IP Law 2025 puts an end to the situation where two different entities (i.e., the "third party" and the "applicant") could both initiate opposition procedures. Now, applicants are only permitted to pursue administrative appeal procedures against IP Vietnam's decisions. This clear distinction also helps accelerate application processing and reduces the workload for IP Vietnam's examiners.
- Regarding oppositions related to the right to register industrial property: Circular No. 10/2026/TT-BKHCN stipulates that these matters will be handled by the Court instead of IP Vietnam. This is highly reasonable because the Court is the appropriate forum to review and rule on an individual’s moral rights. IP Vietnam should focus its capacity and time on assessing the technical aspects of the subject matter stated in the application to determine whether it meets the statutory protection requirements. Allowing IP Vietnam to handle such disputes would be time-consuming and inefficient; furthermore, if an involved party disagrees with IP Vietnam’s decision, they would inevitably have to file a lawsuit in court anyway. A prime example is the trademark case for “AARDWOLF & Australian Map Device”, which dragged on for over 10 years, with the final ruling ultimately delivered by the Court.
- However, it would be more appropriate if the provision under Point a3, Clause 3, Article 82 regarding the handling of trademark application oppositions - whereby IP Vietnam may handle the opposition during the substantive examination process if there are "clear grounds to determine that the applicant lacks the right to register..., or if the opposition regarding the filing right is not accompanied by reliable documents/information for verification" - were also incorporated into Articles 27, 59, and 103 (for patents, industrial designs, and geographical indications). It is not absolutely necessary for every third-party opposition regarding the right to register to be referred to the Court for resolution.
- Circular No. 10/2026/TT-BKHCN also fails to clarify whether, in cases where the opposition is referred to the Court, the opposer is still required to pay fees and charges as in other opposition cases handled directly by IP Vietnam. Furthermore, it remains unclear how a situation would be resolved if the industrial property application continues to be processed because the lawsuit was not accepted within the two-month time limit, but the Court's subsequent ruling conflicts with IP Vietnam's application examination results.
Finally, according to the Implementing Provisions, the IP Law 2025 and Circular No. 10/2026/TT-BKHCN only take effect from April 1, 2026. This means that oppositions filed against industrial property applications that were validly accepted before April 1, 2026, shall still be governed by the provisions of the 2022 IP Law./.
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