Vietnamese version of 10th edition of Nice Classification to be used for all applications

The National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP), in a notification dated March 9 2012, had announced that the 10th edition of the Nice Classification would be applied to all trademark applications filed on or after January 1 2012.

However, until the Vietnamese translation of the 10th edition was officially published by the NOIP, applicants had to choose between the 9th and the 10th edition of the Nice Classification to classify the goods and services in their trademark applications.

Such a choice will no longer be available from August 1 2012. On July 16 2012 the NOIP released the official Vietnamese translation of the 10th edition of the Nice Classification. Effective from August 1 2012, this shall become the only option for classifying goods and services. In other words, the Vietnamese version of the 10th edition will be applied uniformly to all trademark applications filed on or after August 1 2012 and accepted by the NOIP’s trademark examiners. It should also be noted that, if the specification of goods and services designated in a trademark application is not in accordance with the Vietnamese version of the 10th edition, the NOIP will reclassify the goods and services. In this case, the applicant must pay additional fees to amend the classification, as stipulated by law.

The adoption of the 10th edition of the Nice Classification - and, in particular, the release of the Vietnamese version - should greatly benefit trademark applicants and agents, as this will lead to less ambiguity in the classification of goods/services and, above all, more effective registration procedures.

Son Doan, IPMAX Law Firm, Hanoi