Intellectual property · Vietnam
Trademark registration in Vietnam
Vietnam is first-to-file, roughly half of all applications fail, and the rules just changed in your favor. We search, file with IP Vietnam through licensed agents, run the new 2026 timelines properly, and watch the register so the mark stays yours.
Why register
What a registered mark gets you in Vietnam
Vietnam is first-to-file: ownership goes to whoever registers, not whoever used the name first, so the filing date decides everything. Here is what the certificate gives you once it's yours.
The exclusive right to your name
Registration gives you the exclusive right to use the mark for your goods and services across all of Vietnam, and the legal standing to stop anyone else using it or anything confusingly close: competitors, copycats, and the partner who decides to go solo with your brand.
The enforcement toolkit
Customs recordation to stop counterfeit shipments, administrative raids through market surveillance, and takedowns on Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop all run on the certificate. With it, enforcement in Vietnam is fast and practical. Without it, you are writing letters nobody must answer.
An asset, not just a defense
A registered mark can be licensed to your distributor, franchised, or sold outright, and it's what acquirers and investors look for when they price your Vietnam business. At roughly USD 60 per class in official fees for ten years of protection, renewable forever, it's the cheapest asset you'll ever put on the balance sheet.
What can be registered
Almost anything that identifies you, if it's distinctive.
A registrable mark identifies your business rather than describing the product. Generic and purely descriptive terms are refused, and so are marks confusingly similar to existing registrations in your classes.
Word marksBrand names, company names, taglines, and letter or number marks, the most common filing.
Logos & devicesVisual symbols and graphic elements, registered as you use them.
Combined marksWords and graphics together, protecting the lock-up as a whole.
Shapes & 3D marksThe form of a product or its packaging, provided the shape is not functional.
Colors as elementsColor combinations as part of a mark; a single color on its own is not registrable in Vietnam.
Sound marksRegistrable in Vietnam since the 2023 amendments, where the sound is distinctive and can be represented graphically.
Every application names the goods and services it covers, grouped under the Nice Classification's 45 classes, with official fees counted per class (each class covers up to six items; more items add fees). Multi-class filings are allowed, with one caution from practice: a problem in one class delays the whole application, so in higher-risk cases we sometimes split the filing. We map your products to the right classes as part of the search.
The process
How registration works, under the new rules
Vietnam's amended IP Law took effect on 1 April 2026 and cut the statutory timelines sharply. On paper the path is now about eight months; in practice the office is still clearing its backlog, so plan twelve to eighteen months and treat anything faster as a bonus.
1
Search before filingDays
Roughly half of Vietnamese trademark applications fail, mostly careless filings colliding with earlier marks. We search IP Vietnam's records and the Madrid designations for identical and confusingly similar marks in your classes, including Vietnamese transliterations and meanings, so yours is filed into clear space.
2
Filing and formality examination~1 month
We file through a licensed Vietnamese IP agent, which the law requires for foreign applicants: the mark, the classes, the applicant details. IP Vietnam checks the formalities within about a month, and the filing date it fixes is the date your protection will run from once granted.
3
Publication and opposition1 month + 3-month window
The application is published in the Industrial Property Gazette within a month of acceptance, faster than the old two, and third parties have three months from publication to oppose, down from five under the old law. Oppositions are uncommon but serious, with Vietnamese-language evidence on strict deadlines; we handle the defense.
4
Substantive examination5 months statutory
An examiner assesses distinctiveness and conflicts on absolute and relative grounds, now within a statutory five months of publication, down from nine. A fast track of around three months exists for qualifying applications, including marks already in use or facing infringement. Office actions carry short response deadlines, and a missed one counts as withdrawal; we answer them on your behalf.
5
Grant, fee, and certificateOn approval
IP Vietnam issues a decision to grant, you pay the registration fee promptly (a granted-but-unpaid application lapses), and the certificate follows: ten years of protection from the filing date, renewable indefinitely. What keeps it alive from here is worth reading twice.
The checklist
Key requirements for trademark registration in Vietnam
The documents and details IP Vietnam needs before the application can be filed. The list is short, and most clients send everything in one email.
- A clear representation of the mark. The logo file in high resolution, or the word mark exactly as you use it.
- What it covers. Your products or services, described in your own words; we map them to the Nice classes, watching the six-items-per-class fee line.
- Applicant details. The full legal name and address of the person or company that will own the mark.
- A signed power of attorney. Foreign applicants without a commercial presence in Vietnam must file through a licensed Vietnamese IP agent; the POA appoints one, simply signed, no notarization, and we handle this inside the service.
- Priority documents, only if applicable. Where you're claiming priority from an application filed abroad within the last six months.
Keeping it alive
No use declarations here. Registrations still die in four ways
Vietnam doesn't require the periodic use filings the Philippines does, which lulls owners into treating the certificate as permanent. It isn't, and the failure modes are predictable.
Missed renewalsProtection runs ten years from the filing date. Renewal files within the six months before expiry, with a short grace period after at a surcharge. A lapse opens a gap, and in a first-to-file system, gaps get filed into.
Five years of non-useA mark unused in commerce for five consecutive years can be terminated on request by anyone with an interest. Keeping dated evidence of use (sales, listings, packaging, campaigns) is cheap insurance against a claim that otherwise turns into archaeology.
Unwatched publicationsThe opposition window is now three months from publication, down from five, so the time to stop a confusingly similar mark just got shorter. If nobody is watching the gazette for you, collisions slide through to examination with no one arguing your side.
Stale recordsAssignments, name changes, and address changes recorded with IP Vietnam keep the certificate enforceable, the renewals smooth, and the customs and marketplace recordations valid, since those systems check the register, not your letterhead.
Our service builds all four into the engagement: the renewal calendared a decade out, use evidence kept with the file, a watch on the gazette running on the new, shorter clock, and the register kept current as your company changes.
What it costs
IP Vietnam's official fees come to roughly VND 1.5 million per class (around USD 60) through to grant, for a standard specification of up to six items per class, with grant and publication fees on approval. Emerhub's fee for the search, filing, and prosecution is quoted on request per class, with oppositions, office action responses, and renewals quoted as they arise.
Why Emerhub
Filed by the team that's already here.
Already on the ground
The same Ho Chi Minh City team that handles incorporations, product registrations, and import licensing files your trademark, through licensed Vietnamese IP agents. Most marks ride alongside a market entry, and the timing between the two is part of the advice.
A straight answer before you spend
If the search shows your mark is weak, descriptive, or already taken, we tell you before you pay filing fees, with options: adjust the mark, narrow the classes, or challenge what's blocking you.
We keep it alive
Many providers file and disappear. Vietnamese registrations are won and lost at the renewal, the five-year use rule, and the now-shorter opposition window, so ours come with the calendar and the watch built in.
Common questions
Vietnam trademark FAQs
Specific questions about registering and keeping a mark in Vietnam.
Does registering my company protect my brand name?
No. The enterprise name on your ERC only stops someone from registering an identical company name; it gives no trademark rights. Your brand needs its own IP Vietnam registration, and until it has one, anyone can file for it, including your manufacturing partner.
How long does registration take?
The honest answer has two parts. The law in force since 1 April 2026 sets a statutory path of roughly eight months: formality in a month, publication a month later, a three-month opposition window, and substantive examination within five months of publication, with a fast track near three months for qualifying marks. In practice IP Vietnam is still clearing a long backlog, so plan twelve to eighteen months and treat anything faster as the new rules working. Protection runs from the filing date either way, which is the reason to file now rather than when the queue looks shorter.
What does it cost?
Official fees come to roughly VND 1.5 million per class through to grant for a standard specification, with each class covering up to six items and extra items adding fees. Our fee covers the search, the filing through a licensed agent, and the prosecution to certificate, quoted per class; contested matters are quoted as they arise. Schedule a call with your mark and product list and we'll give you the exact figure.
Someone already registered my brand. What can I do?
It depends where their filing stands. If it's within three months of publication, we oppose. If it's registered, the routes are an invalidation request (within five years of grant, or at any time where the filing was in bad faith) or a termination request once the mark has sat unused for five consecutive years. Negotiated purchase and coexistence are also real options, and sometimes the cheapest ones. We assess which fits before you spend on any of them.
Do I need a local agent to register?
Foreign applicants without a commercial presence in Vietnam are required to file through a licensed Vietnamese IP agent; it's a statutory rule, not a preference. Our service includes the agent, the power of attorney that appoints them (simply signed, no notarization), and a local address for correspondence, so official notices reach people who act on them inside the deadlines.
What is the Nice Classification, and can I file multiple classes?
The international system that groups all goods and services into 45 classes. Your registration protects the mark in the classes you file, with fees per class and per item beyond six. Multi-class applications are allowed, with one practical caution: a problem in one class holds up the entire application, so where one class looks risky, we often file it separately and let the clean classes run.
What happens if someone opposes my application?
They have three months from publication under the new law. Oppositions are uncommon in Vietnam, under five percent of applications, but they are serious when they come: the defense runs in Vietnamese, on strict deadlines, with the examiner deciding on both sides' arguments. We prepare the response and tell you honestly when a coexistence deal is the better outcome.
Do I have to prove I'm using the mark?
There are no periodic use declarations in Vietnam. The use rule bites differently: a mark unused for five consecutive years can be terminated on request, so the protection is only as strong as your evidence of use. We keep dated proof (sales records, listings, packaging, campaigns) with the file, so a termination claim meets a wall instead of a gap.
Can I use the Madrid System instead of filing locally?
Yes; Vietnam is a member of both the Madrid Agreement and the Protocol, so you can designate it in an international application. IP Vietnam examines the designation under the same rules, and a provisional refusal still needs a licensed local agent to answer it, with the WIPO channel adding weeks to every exchange. For a Vietnam-only filing, the national route is usually faster and more controllable; for a multi-country program, Madrid with local support works well.
How does renewal work?
The registration renews every ten years, counted from the filing date. The renewal files within the six months before expiry, with a short grace period after it at a surcharge; miss both and the mark lapses, and in a first-to-file system someone may be waiting for exactly that. We calendar yours the day the certificate issues.
Protecting a brand in Vietnam?
Talk to our Ho Chi Minh City team
A free, no-obligation consultation: thirty minutes with our Ho Chi Minh City team to check your mark, settle the classes, and map the filing, including what to do if someone got there first.
Emailvietnam@emerhub.com
Phone / WhatsApp+62 811 1053 9667
Office1bis Phạm Ngọc Thạch
Sài Gòn, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam
Sài Gòn, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam