Register trademarks for meat, fruit and vegetable products in Vietnam?

1. What are trademarks for meat, fruit and vegetable products?

Trademarks for meat, fruit and vegetable products are unique signs used to distinguish products of one company from products of other companies in the market or from other products of the same company. Trademarks can be presented in one color or many colors, in the form of illustrations, images, letters, phrases or slogans.

Trademarks for meat, fruit and vegetable products are classified into Class 29 of the newest version of Nice Classification. Class 29 mainly contains foods of animal origin as well as edible vegetables and garden products, prepared for consumption or preservation, in particular:

- Food base from meat, fish, fruit or plants;

- Edible insects;

- Milk drinks with milk dominate;

- Milk substitutes, for example almond milk, coconut milk, peanut milk, rice milk, soy milk;

- Preserved mushrooms;

- Pulses and nuts prepared for human consumption;

- Seeds prepared for humans, not spices or flavorings.

Class 29 does not include particular products as below:

- Food for babies;

- Nutrient substances and foods are made suitable for medical use;

- Dietary supplements;

- Seeds processed for use as spices;

- Latte sauce;

- Incubated eggs;

- Food for animals;

- Live animals;

- Seeds for planting trees.

2. Why should companies register trademarks for meat, fruit and vegetable products in Vietnam?

Meat, fruit and vegetable are very popular products in our life. Because of their popularity, many companies producing and selling in this market forget to care about the trademarks of their products. However, in the modern economy, trademark is a very important factor that can affect the success or failure of a company. If companies do not register trademarks for their meat, fruit and vegetable products, other companies can use as well as the same trademark and the company can lose a lot of customers just because of this simple reason. It is often difficult to distinguish meat, fruit and vegetable products by normal customers without a unique trademark. Besides, there are other benefits of registering trademarks for products of companies that you can refer as below:

- Prevent other companies, organizations or individuals in the market from registering the same or similar trademark as your registered trademark for meat, fruit and vegetable products, thus enhancing your company's place on the market.

- Establish the legal basis in order to ask state authorities to handle violations acts of other entities and protect your trademark from threats such as copying your trademark or use the registered trademark without your consent;

- You can have extra incomes from licensing or transferring your registered trademarks as a company property. Registration of the trademark is a condition to license or transfer the trademark.

3. How to register trademarks for meat, fruit and vegetable products in Vietnam?

A dossier to register trademarks for meat, fruit and vegetable products in Vietnam normally includes documents and papers as below:

- Trademark Registration Declaration under Form No. 04-NH (02 copies);

- 08 Trademark samples (not exceeding 80 mm x 80 mm, not less than 20 mm x 20 mm);

- Class and the list of goods and services accompanied by the trademark;

- Receipts of payment of state charges and fees

4. Procedures and processing time of trademark registration for meat, fruit and vegetable products in Vietnam

You can refer here a normal process of registration of trademarks for meat, fruit and vegetable products.

Step 1: Search the trademark in the intellectual property database

This is not a mandatory procedure but it is important to check first because you will not be able to register a trademark if there is a similar or identical trademark that has been registered before. There are two methods of search: basic search and advanced search.

- Basic search: It is easy to carry out the basic search but the result of this method often has a low accuracy rate (about 60%). The processing time of basic search is normally from 1 day to 3 days.

- Advanced search: Your registering trademarks for meat, fruit and vegetable products will be reviewed by specialists in the field of intellectual property, therefore, the result of advanced search will have a higher accuracy rate (up to 90%). The processing time of this method is normally from 3 days to 7 days.

Step 2: Application submission

You can file the trademark application for meat, fruit and vegetable products directly to the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) in Ha Noi city or its two representative offices in Da Nang city and Ho Chi Minh city. The application can also be filed by post office or couriers.

Step 3: Formal examination

This procedure is a valuation of the application in terms of the conditions of the form, the subject of exclusion, the right to apply ... in order to determine the validity of the application and make an invalid or valid application conclusion. The processing time of formal examination time is 1 month from the submission date.

Step 4: Publish the valid application

A valid trademark application will be published on the Industrial Property Gazette within 2 months from the date the application is decided as a valid application. The information is published includes trademark samples and lists of goods and services accompanied by the trademark.

Step 5: Content appraisal of application

A valid trademark application will be appraised to evaluate the possibility of granting a Trademark Registration Certification under the requirements to be protected. The processing time for content appraisal of the trademark application is about 9 months from the date of publication of the application.

Step 6: Granting the Trademark Registration Certificate

Within 01 month from the date the full payment of state fees is made, the applicant will be granted a Trademark Registration Certificate according to the provisions of law.

5. Where to register an exclusive trademark for meat, fruit and vegetable products in Vietnam?

Foreign companies can only register their trademarks for meat, fruit and vegetable products in Vietnam through a legal industrial property representative in accordance with the intellectual property law of Vietnam.

Minh Khue Law Firm has helped many foreign companies to register their trademarks for meat, fruit and vegetable products in Vietnam. Minh Khue Law Firm is an industrial property representative organization that was certified by the NOIP since August 2017, our representative code is 226.

Our Intellectual Property Department will handle and apply the trademarks for clients. Our office address is at Room 2007, C2 building, Vincom Tran Duy Hung, Trung Hoa ward, Cau Giay district, Ha Noi city.

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 submitted 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 for meat, fruit and vegetable products that were registered by Minh Khue Law Firm:

Shiitake fish sauce Trademark

Class 29: Food on fish basis; fish, preserved; clams no longer alive; shrimp, no longer alive; crustaceans, no longer alive; salted fish.

GARUM Fish Sauce Trademark

Class 29: Food on fish basis; fish, preserved; clams no longer alive; shrimp, no longer alive; crustaceans, no longer alive; salted fish.

THAN TAI Fish Sauce Trademark

Class 29: Food on fish basis; fish, preserved; clams no longer alive; shrimp, no longer alive; crustaceans, no longer alive; salted fish.

6. Contact to register a trademark for meat, fruit and vegetable products in Vietnam

Please contact: Minh Khue Law Company Limited

Address: Room 2007, C2 building, Vincom Tran Duy Hung, Trung Hoa ward, Cau Giay district, Ha Noi city.

Phone number: + 84986 386 648 - Lawyer: To Thi Phuong Dzung

Email: dung@luatminhkhue.vn

Best Regards,

Intellectual Property Department - Minh Khue Law Company Limited