Filing fees increased
On November 14 2016 the Ministry of Finance issued Circular 263/2016/TT-BTC on industrial property charges and fees to replace Circular 22/2009/TT-BTC of February 4 2009, guiding the collection, remittance, management and use of government fees relating to industrial property.
The new circular has increased government fees significantly for many services to be carried out by the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP). The most noticeable fee increases are summarised below:
Type of procedures | Type of IP subjects | Government fees | Increase (%) | |
Current | New | |||
Examination | Patent | D612,000 (~US$27.8) | D940,000 (~US$42.7) | >53% |
Industrial design | D300,000 (~US$13.6) | D700,000 (~US$31.8) | >130% | |
Trademark | D360,000 (~US$16.4) | D670,000 (~US$30.5) | >86% | |
Conducting search for examination | Trademark | D84,000 (~US$3.8) | D160,000 (~US$7.3) | >90% |
Renewal | Industrial design and trademark | D540,000 (~US$24.5) | D800,000 (~US$36.4) | >48% |
Opposition | Patent, industrial design and trademark | D300,000 (~US$13.6) | D600,000 (~US$27.3) | 100% |
Cancellation | Patent, industrial design and trademark | D180,000 (~US$8.2) | D210,000 (~US$9.5) | >16% |
Invalidation | Patent, industrial design and trademark | D300,000 (~US$13.6) | D440,000 (~US$20) | >46% |
There are also some changes in naming the fee items, therefore new application forms will need to be introduced shortly by the NOIP.
The government fees for industrial property filing procedures have not been changed since 2009 and are considerably lower than other countries in the region.
The new government fees took effect from January 1 2017. Vietnamese industrial property filing firms are revising their fee schedules in light of the new fees in order to update their clients and associates of the fee changes.
Van-Anh Hoang, IPMAX Law Firm, Hanoi
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