Author: 1. What is a trademark of insurance, financial, monetary and real estate services
According to the provisions of Vietnamese intellectual property law, trademarks are signs used to distinguish goods and services of different organizations and individuals. Signs used as trademarks can be letters, words, sentences, drawings, holograms or a combination of some or all these elements, expressed in a single color or many colors.
A trademark of insurance, financial, monetary and real estate services is a sign to distinguish the services of this company, individual from services of other entities. According to the Nice Classification established by the Nice Agreement, insurance services, financial services, monetary services and real estate services are classified into Class 36, which mainly covers financial and monetary services, services related to insurance contracts of all kinds. This Class particularly includes the following services:
- Services related to financial or monetary issues include:
- services of all banking establishments, or organizations connected to them such as exchange brokers or clearing services;
- services of credit institutions other than banks such as cooperative credit unions, personal finance companies, lenders, etc.;
- "trust investment" service of holding companies;
- services of stock and asset trading brokers;
- services connected with monetary issues secured by trustees;
- services performed in connection with travelers' cheques and letters of credit;
- Hire or lease - purchase financing;
- Services of real estate administrators of buildings, ie, rental services, real estate assessments or funding;
- Insurance-related services, such as services provided by insurance agents or brokers, services are made to insurers and to the insured and insurance contracting services.
2. Why should your company register a trademark for insurance, financial, monetary and real estate services
The competitiveness in the market of insurance, financial, monetary and real estate services is increasing significantly in recent years. Therefore, in order to compete with big companies in this industry, your company has to be noticeable and prove the high quality of services and reputation to the customers. The quality and reputation may take a long time to be proven, but you have a very effective solution to build your own brand in the customers' mind in a shorter time, it is carrying out the procedure of trademark registration.
According to the current provisions of intellectual property law of Vietnam, it is not compulsory to register a trademark in order to provide the service, but this is a necessary action that many companies or individuals choose to apply because of its huge benefits. We will point out some of the outstanding benefits that your company will receive after registering a trademark as below:
- Registering a trademark in the competent state agency will increase the awareness of customers about your company, customers will recognize and distinguish your services with the services of other competitors. After a certain period of time, your trademark can become a famous brand, thus increasing the value of the company.
- Your company will have the right to exclusively use the trademark for the services provided by the company and be protected by the law and competent state agencies. Any intellectual property violation such as copying or using the trademark without your consent shall be handled by the competent state agencies.
- A registered trademark is also an affirmation to customers that your company is a reliable and reputable company, accordingly, you will gain absolute trust from customers.
From the above advantages, companies or individuals (trademark owners) who provide insurance, financial, monetary and real estate services should carry out the procedure of trademark registration as soon as the trademark owners intend to commercialize the services on the market. If you wait until the service has been provided and established a reputation, it will be too late to register for protection of the trademark because your competitors may have registered a similar trademark before you.
3. How to carry out the procedure of trademark registration for insurance, financial, monetary and real estate services
3.1. Conditions for a trademark to be registered and protected
General conditions for a protected trademark are prescribed in provisions of law as below:
- The trademark must be a visible sign in the form of letters, words, drawings, images, including holograms or a combination of such elements, expressed in one or many colors;
- The trademark must be capable of distinguishing goods and services of this trademark owner from goods and services of other entities.
3.2. The application for trademark registration
The application for trademark registration normally includes the following documents:
+ Declaration to apply for the issuance of a trademark registration certificate (made according to a form issued by the National Office of Intellectual Property);
+ Regulations on the use of trademarks, if the trademark requires protection as collective marks;
+ Sample of trademark;
+ Document certifying the legal right to file an application, if the applicant receives the right to file application of another person (Certificate of inheritance, Certification or Agreement on transferring the right to file the application, including the filed application, Contract of assignment or Labor contract, ...);
+ Power of attorney (if any);
+ Papers of payment of the application fee.
+ Copy of the first application or exhibition certificate, if the application requires a priority right under an international treaty, including a Vietnamese translation.
4. Process and time limit for trademark registration
The process of trademark registration for insurance, financial, monetary and real estate services in Vietnam includes the following stages:
4.1. Search of the trademark:
This is not an official stage in the process of registering a trademark in Vietnam. However, every trademark owner who wants to register a trademark should proceed with this procedure because this procedure will help the applicant to check the trademark that intends to register is similar or duplicate another trademark that has been registered and protected. There are two ways to search the trademark as below:
The first way is the preliminary search. This way of search normally take from a few hours to 3 days, depending on the trademark and the number of groups of products/services that the trademark will be used for. Although the preliminary search is fast and free, it has a disadvantage of low accuracy rate (only about 60%) and there is a possibility that the trademark registration application will be rejected because of duplication.
The second way is the advanced search. This is the most recommended way to search and evaluate a trademark. The trademark will be review by experts in the field of intellectual property on the possibility of copying, the similarity of the trademark intended to register compared to registered trademarks. The process may take a longer time (from 05 days to 08 days) but the accuracy rate will be much higher (up to 98%), thus, increasing the chance of successful application.
4.2. Appraisal of the form of the application:
It is an assessment of the validity of the application according to the requirements of the form, the subject of exclusion, of the right to apply, etc., so as to decide whether the trademark registration application is a valid or invalid application. Examination time is from 1 month to 2 months from the filing date.
4.3. Announcing a valid application:
A valid trademark application will be published on the Industrial Property Gazette within 2 months from the date the application is accepted as a valid application. Contents of publication of trademark registration applications are information related to valid applications stated in the notices on acceptance of valid applications, trademark samples and lists of accompanied goods and services.
4.4. Appraisal of the content of the application:
A valid application for trademark registration will be available to be examined the application content and access the possibility of granting a Trademark Registration Certificate to the object stated in the application under the conditions of protection. The time limit for appraising contents of a trademark registration application is from 9 months to 12 months from the date of publication of the application.
5. Where to register exclusive trademarks of insurance, financial, monetary and real estate services
If you are a foreign company or individual, you can only register a trademark for your services in Vietnam through an industrial property representative in Vietnam which was licensed and have a legal representative code in Vietnam. Minh Khue Law Firm is a high-quality and reputable legal industrial property representative in Vietnam, we were licensed by the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam to carry all the procedure of registration of trademarks in Vietnam for domestic as well as foreign companies and individuals. Minh Khue Law Firm was licensed in August 2017, and issued the representative code is 226.
You can contact and come directly to Minh Khue Law Firm for consultancy on the process and procedures of registration of trademarks for insurance, financial, monetary and real estate services in Vietnam.
The procedure will be carried out by the Intellectual Property Department of Minh Khue Law Firm, address at Room 2007, 20th Floor, C2 Building, Vincom Tran Duy Hung, Tran Duy Hung Street, Trung Hoa Ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi.
The person in charge of the Intellectual Property Department of Minh Khue Law Firm:
Lawyer: To Thi Phuong Dzung
Email: dung@luatminhkhue.vn ;
Phone number: + 84986 386 648
The dossier will be filed in: National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam, address at: 384-386 Nguyen Trai street, Thanh Xuan Trung ward, Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi.
You can refer to some trademarks of insurance, financial, monetary and real estate services that were registered by Minh Khue Law Firm:
Trademark of Smartrealtors And Partners Real Estate Limited Company
Class 36: Real estate brokerage; real estate management; service of rent collection, real estate; real estate rental; finance support; Real estate assessment.
6. Contact to register a trademark of insurance, financial, monetary and real estate services
Please contact: Minh Khue Law Company Limited
Address: Room 2007, 20th Floor, C2 Building, Vincom Tran Duy Hung, Tran Duy Hung Street, Trung Hoa Ward, Cau Giay District, Hanoi.
Phone number:+ 84 986 386 648 - Lawyer: To Thi Phuong Dzung
Email: dung@luatminhkhue.vn
Best Regards,
Intellectual Property Department - Minh Khue Law Company Limited
