VnnNews – Director of National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam Tran Viet Hung discusses agricultural products and trademark protection
 |
|
Fifteen agricultural products have been granted what is known as protected designation of origin. (Photo: Internet) |
Fifteen agricultural products have been granted what is known as protected designation of origin, also called protected geographical indication.
It is a geographical indicator that ensures only products genuinely originating in a particular region are allowed to use the name of the locality.
Of these 15 products, 13 are made by Vietnamese-owned businesses and two by foreign-owned companies. An additional 500 non-regional agricultural products have trademark protection and collective brand names.
The number of protected products is too few compared with the great diversity of the nation’s agricultural products, which include handicrafts and aquatic products. There are different agri-product specialities in cities and provinces nation-wide.
Why do only 13 products have protected designation of origin?
That’s because the procedures that must be carried out to get protected designation of origin are complicated. Therefore, many provinces have chosen a shorter route by registering for non-regional trademark protection and collective brand names instead.
For example, it took between one and two years for Lang Son anise, Phu Quoc fish sauce and Moc Chau tea to get protected designation of origin. Meanwhile, it takes less than a year to register collective brand names.
What are the competitive advantages of products with protected designation of origin?
A product that has geographical indication protection has advantages in entering the European market.
As this form of protection has existed there for several hundred years, imported products to the market will enjoy more preferential treatment and have better capacity to compete if they can show they also come from a place that’s reputed for the speciality.
Meanwhile, products with trademark protection and collective brand names will find it easier to enter the US and Australian markets, simply because they do not have a system to directly protect products with registered origins but that must be done through the above-mentioned trademarks.
What are the difficulties in registering for protected designation of origin?
Before Viet Nam’s admission to the World Trade Organisation, the country had already improved its trademark registration system, including registration of agricultural products.
There are more enterprises, cities and provinces aware of the importance of protecting their trademarks. This is reflected through the increasing number of applications for protection.
But this requires better management capacity from State offices, especially in determining the quality of specialities through the help of institutes, technology and science departments as well as agriculture and rural development departments.
Nevertheless, Viet Nam is lagging in the development of trademark protection so the ability of managers and staff working in the field is weak.
The problem is compounded by very poor awareness on trademarks among a significant number of enterprises and localities.
Are these problems seen as barriers to getting Vietnamese products onto world markets and have Vietnamese trademarks been infringed upon?
Imitating protected agricultural products is a hot issue. After Phu Quoc fish sauce was granted protected designation of origin, more and more foreign companies showed interest in buying the product.
However, the popular fish sauce’s trademark is often copied illegally, and fake Phu Quoc fish sauce is sold in HCM City and Ha Noi. In foreign countries, some Vietnamese shops also make fake Phu Quoc fish sauce.
It is also the case with Doan Hung grapefruit. Traders brought grapefruit planted in other provinces to Doan Hung to cheat buyers.
Though market watch forces have confiscated and fined some people, the level of punishment is not great enough to discourage trademark violations.
What is the advantage of granting protected designation of origin for certain agricultural products that are local specialities?
According to our studies, the output and value of most protected specialities increase by between 20 and 25 per cent.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
Related news:
- Building a trademark for Mekong Delta rice
- Markets need more protection
- Long way to go for music copyright protection
- Vietnam focuses on forest protection
- Vietnam to charge forest protection fees
