Bringing Vietnamese products to the world by IPR tools
07/12/2018
Intellectual property is currently a hot issue not only in domestic but also international markets, especially market for agricultural products. Legal protection is an effective tool to go further and build a brand for Vietnamese agricultural products
Although export values of many agricultural products have been among the world's top, the lack of attention to intellectual property has led to significant disadvantages for Vietnamese agricultural products.
Touching on this issue, Mr. Tran Giang Khue, Head of Southern Bureau of the National Office Intellectual Property (NOIP) said, intellectual property is currently a hot issue not only in domestic but also international markets, especially market for agricultural products. Legal protection is an effective tool to go further and build a brand for Vietnamese agricultural products.
Therefore, Mr. Khue pointed out, it is necessary to avoid the situation of " close the barn door after the horse has bolted" and businesses need to work out plans for registration, protection and take measures to manage, exploit as well as protect their rights appropriately. It’s worth recalling cases such as the Buon Ma Thuot coffee pre-registered in China, or Trung Nguyen coffee registered in the US, Ben Tre coconut candy in Thai market ... because these are incidents that have ever happened to Vietnamese agricultural products.
At home, we are taking a great care over intellectual property as they are valuable assets. There are high valued brands such as Viettel (about 2.6 billion USD), Vinamilk (about 1.8 billion USD) ... then there must be sufficient measures to protect the ownership of these brands and at the same time, use and exploit them as good promotional and communication tools so that Vietnamese brands can reach out into the minds and trust of consumers, Khue said.
Explaining why there are many good quality products in Vietnam, but the number of intellectual property registration to enable exports to overseas markets is still low, Mr. Khue said, one of the main reasons is the awareness of enterprises on intellectual property. As intellectual property is still considered a new issue and a bit distant away, local businesses have not invested, or set up specialized departments and also have yet worked out strategy of brand building, intellectual property development based on relevant categories of intellectual property rights.
Another cause is constrained financial ability of local enterprises. Businesses are struggling with various aspects, from executive management, salary for workers and other difficulties while overseas registration is expensive, especially in large markets such as the EU or the US. Registration in Korean, Japanese and Chinese markets also require a lot of money. Language is another barrier leading to modest intellectual property registration abroad.
Being confronted with such a reality, Vietnamese enterprises, according to Khue, need to take following steps to build a brand for their products.
Firstly, we need a strategy to build a brand for agricultural products in a professional way. Branding strategy must come from business strategy, market development of enterprises and a long term vision.
Secondly, there should be a specialized department dedicated to branding and intellectual property in order to understand market information, legal regulations and take necessary administrative measures to register.
Thirdly, in brand building development, we must always pay attention to product quality as product quality determines the core value of the brand when entering the market. Enterprises must establish specific quality criteria suitable for individual overseas markets. Only when their quality reputation is firmly established, then businesses’ advertisement and communication campaigns, using brand recognition system for continuous and professional promotion, will go faster into the minds of consumers.
In addition, attention is also required on gathering information of each market to identify the needs of individual market. This will enable businesses to fully understand the markets and find out fast, less costly and sustainable breakthrough.
Touching on this issue, Mr. Tran Giang Khue, Head of Southern Bureau of the National Office Intellectual Property (NOIP) said, intellectual property is currently a hot issue not only in domestic but also international markets, especially market for agricultural products. Legal protection is an effective tool to go further and build a brand for Vietnamese agricultural products.
Therefore, Mr. Khue pointed out, it is necessary to avoid the situation of " close the barn door after the horse has bolted" and businesses need to work out plans for registration, protection and take measures to manage, exploit as well as protect their rights appropriately. It’s worth recalling cases such as the Buon Ma Thuot coffee pre-registered in China, or Trung Nguyen coffee registered in the US, Ben Tre coconut candy in Thai market ... because these are incidents that have ever happened to Vietnamese agricultural products.
At home, we are taking a great care over intellectual property as they are valuable assets. There are high valued brands such as Viettel (about 2.6 billion USD), Vinamilk (about 1.8 billion USD) ... then there must be sufficient measures to protect the ownership of these brands and at the same time, use and exploit them as good promotional and communication tools so that Vietnamese brands can reach out into the minds and trust of consumers, Khue said.
Explaining why there are many good quality products in Vietnam, but the number of intellectual property registration to enable exports to overseas markets is still low, Mr. Khue said, one of the main reasons is the awareness of enterprises on intellectual property. As intellectual property is still considered a new issue and a bit distant away, local businesses have not invested, or set up specialized departments and also have yet worked out strategy of brand building, intellectual property development based on relevant categories of intellectual property rights.
Another cause is constrained financial ability of local enterprises. Businesses are struggling with various aspects, from executive management, salary for workers and other difficulties while overseas registration is expensive, especially in large markets such as the EU or the US. Registration in Korean, Japanese and Chinese markets also require a lot of money. Language is another barrier leading to modest intellectual property registration abroad.
Being confronted with such a reality, Vietnamese enterprises, according to Khue, need to take following steps to build a brand for their products.
Firstly, we need a strategy to build a brand for agricultural products in a professional way. Branding strategy must come from business strategy, market development of enterprises and a long term vision.
Secondly, there should be a specialized department dedicated to branding and intellectual property in order to understand market information, legal regulations and take necessary administrative measures to register.
Thirdly, in brand building development, we must always pay attention to product quality as product quality determines the core value of the brand when entering the market. Enterprises must establish specific quality criteria suitable for individual overseas markets. Only when their quality reputation is firmly established, then businesses’ advertisement and communication campaigns, using brand recognition system for continuous and professional promotion, will go faster into the minds of consumers.
In addition, attention is also required on gathering information of each market to identify the needs of individual market. This will enable businesses to fully understand the markets and find out fast, less costly and sustainable breakthrough.
(Source: HQ Online)