The Vietnam National Assembly has amended its Intellectual Property (IP) Law, with the amendments coming into force on 1 January 2010.

The amendment is part of Vietnam’s attempt to resolve the discrepancies between their current law and international IP law, and is also aimed to resolve some of the inconsistencies found within their current law.

Notable amendments include the Vietnam National Assembly’s addressing the important issue of IP rights enforcement. The assembly has elected to remove the requirement for “cease and desist” letters prior to requesting an administrative action.

This requirement involved the IP owner sending written notice to the IP infringer; and only if the infringer continues the infringing activity can a request for administrative action be submitted. The new law will require evidence of “deliberate” infringement and will be particularly welcomed by IP owners who have often had difficulty with “cease and desist” letters enabling infringers to avoid punishment.

It remains uncertain, however, as to exactly what would constitute evidence of “deliberate” infringement and how this will be ascertained and interpreted by the relevant authorities. The amended law also removes the power of authorities to administratively sanction people who incite others to commit IP infringement; this provision was previously incompatible with the principle of administrative sanctions which only permitted imposing sanctions on persons who committed the violation.

In addition the assembly has removed the unequal duration of Copyright protection between the Vietnamese, US citizens and WTO members. Currently, due to the US Bilateral trade agreement, US citizens are afforded Copyright protection for duration of 75 years in comparison to the 50 years granted to the Vietnamese, while WTO members are also granted 75 years protection. The amended law will see the duration of Copyright protection increase to 75 years for the Vietnamese, therefore making the law equally applicable to everyone.

Finally, the assembly has also extended the statutory examination term for Industrial Designs, Trademarks and Geographic Indications from 6 to 9 months, and Patents from 12 to 18 months. This revision is aimed at relieving the backlog of cases within the national IP office due to a surge of applications.

As Vietnam becomes increasingly integrated into the global economy, this amendment of IP laws is another step forward to solidifying their position in the world market.