New regulations with regard to patent applications in Vietnam
came into force on 15th January 2018. These amended
regulations aim to bring the Vietnamese intellectual property
system in line with recent developments. Below are three of the
main changes based on guidelines laid out in Circular No.
16/2016/TT-BKHCN from the Ministry of Science and Technology,
Vietnam.
Late PCT National Phase Entry no longer allowed
Late entry into the PCT National Phase in Vietnam within 6
months of the 31-month deadline is now not allowed for applications
having said deadline on or after 15 January 2018. This change
entails that filing instructions by Applicants to their agents
should be provided well before the 31-month deadline in order to
allow ample time for preparation of the Vietnamese translation of
the specification, which must be submitted at the point of national
phase entry in Vietnam.
