News & Updates

IP law developments across Southeast Asia

Vietnam

Decree No. 293/2026/ND-CP Guiding the Implementation of the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (the Apostille Convention)

On 31 December 2025, Vietnam’s instrument of accession to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (the Apostille Convention – the Convention) was deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands – the Depositary of the Convention – and notified to the Contracting States. Under this arrangement, the Apostille Convention will officially take effect for Vietnam and will apply between Vietnam and the Contracting States that have accepted this accession as from 11 September 2026. To guide the implementation of the Convention, the Government issued Decree No. 293/2026/ND-CP dated 23 July 2026, which takes effect in Vietnam as from 11 September 2026. This Decree clearly provides that a public document of a Contracting State having accession relations with Vietnam which has been issued an Apostille certificate by the competent authority of that Contracting State shall be exempt from consular legalisation and may be used in Vietnam without any further certification procedure under the relevant law. Agencies and organizations in Vietnam may not require any further consular certification or consular legalisation procedure for a public document that has already been issued a valid Apostille certificate.

8/11/2026Read more →

Vietnam

How to Accelerate the Examination of Patent Applications in Vietnam

The 2025 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Intellectual Property (the IP Law), effective from 1 April 2026, allows an applicant to request expedited substantive examination of a Vietnamese patent application where certain conditions prescribed by the Government are satisfied. In addition, on 31 March 2026, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) issued Circular No. 10/2026/TT-BKHCN, effective from 1 April 2026, with substantive amendment on the mechanism of using search and examination results of corresponding foreign patent applications to expedite the examination of Vietnamese patent applications. Furthermore, the ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation Plus (ASPEC+) program was officially launched on 6 April 2026. With the addition and revision of the mechanisms, applicants now have more options to expedite the examination of patent applications in Vietnam. Below is a summary of the options.

8/10/2026Read more →

Vietnam

Accelerate the Examination of Vietnamese Patent Applications by Using Search and Examination Results of Corresponding Foreign Patent Applications

The 2022 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Intellectual Property (the IP Law) introduced a provision allowing the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IPVN) to use search results and substantive examination results of a patent application issued by a foreign patent office in the course of substantive examination of the corresponding patent application in Vietnam. Article 16.9 of Circular No. 23/2023/TT-BKHCN (Circular 23) guided the implementation of this provision of the IP Law as follows: substantive examination results of a foreign patent office used by IPVN in the course of substantive examination of a Vietnamese patent application (foreign results) must be issued by an authority included in a list approved by the Minister of Science and Technology (MOST) upon the proposal of IPVN. However, from the effective date of Circular 23 until now, MOST has not issued the list of foreign patent offices whose examination results IPVN may use. As a result, this provision has not been effectively applied in practice since it took effect. On 31 March 2026, MOST issued Circular No. 10/2026/TT-BKHCN, effective from 1 April 2026 (Circular 10), replacing Circular 23, which substantially amended the above provision, specifically providing that foreign results must be issued by a national or regional intellectual property authority recognized as an International Searching Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authority under the PCT. With this amendment, this provision can now be applied conveniently in practice.

8/7/2026Read more →

Vietnam

Accelerate the Examination of Vietnamese Patent Applications in Certain Special Cases

8/7/2026Read more →

Vietnam

Patent Prosecution Highway Program between Korean Intellectual Property Office and Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam

Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program for accelerating examination of patent applications between Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IPVN) (KR-VN PPH program) was launched on 1 June 2019. The program is continuing to be extended from 1 June 2025 to 31 May 2028. There is a maximum of 100 requests filed each year in Vietnam.

8/6/2026Read more →

Vietnam

Patent Prosecution Highway Program between Japanese Patent Office and Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam

Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program for accelerating examination of patent applications between Japanese Patent Office (JPO) and Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IPVN) (JP-VN PPH program) was launched in 2016 with phase 1 in the period of 2016-2018, and subsequently extended to phases 2, 3, and 4. Phase 4 of the program started from 01 April 2025 and will end on 31 March 2028. There is a maximum of 200 requests filed each year in Vietnam. Of those 200 requests, a maximum of 100 is permitted from 1 April to 30 September, with the remainder permitted from 1 October to 31 March.

8/6/2026Read more →

Vietnam

Accelerate the Examination of Vietnamese Patent Applications under ASEAN Patent Examination Cooperation Program

The ASEAN Patent Examination Cooperation (ASPEC) is a regional patent work-sharing program among nine participating ASEAN member states (“AMS”) including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The program was launched on 15 June 2009 aiming to accelerate the substantive examination of patent applications in participating AMS by reducing duplication on the search and examination work done, saving time and effort.

8/6/2026Read more →

Vietnam

Expansion of Regulations on Novelty Grace Period for Industrial Design in Vietnam

From 1 April 2026, Vietnam’s Law Amending the Intellectual Property Law (the Amending IP Law”), and its guiding regulations came into effect with the substantive change on grace period for novelty of industrial design (ID). Particularly, the grace period for novelty of industrial designs has been expanded to cover more circumstances than previously.

7/23/2026Read more →

Vietnam

Vietnam Industrial Design: Extending Protection to Partial Designs and Designs of Non-physical Products

Vietnam’s amendment of the Intellectual Property Law (IP Law) and its guiding regulations extended protection of industrial design to partial designs and designs of non-physical products, effective from 1 April 2026, by the amended definition of an industrial design, particularly “an industrial design refers to the external appearance of all or part of a product, in physical or non-physical form, expressed in shape, lines, colors, or a combination of these elements, and visible in the process of exploiting the product's use”. Below is a summary of the updated regulations regarding partial designs and designs of non-physical products.

7/23/2026Read more →

Vietnam

Territorial Jurisdiction of the Specialized Intellectual Property Court under Resolution No. 04/2026/UBTVQH16, Effective from June 10, 2026

Resolution No. 04/2026/UBTVQH16 dated June 10, 2026 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Resolution No. 81/2025/UBTVQH15 dated June 27, 2025 regarding the territorial jurisdiction of Provincial People’s Courts and Regional People’s Courts, took effect on June 10, 2026. Territorial jurisdiction of Regional People’s Courts over civil, business and commercial matters and administrative cases relating to intellectual property (IP) and technology transfer is provided as follows: • Regional People’s Court 2 – Ha Noi has territorial jurisdiction over 20 provinces and cities, comprising: Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Hue, Bac Ninh, Cao Bang, Dien Bien, Ha Tinh, Hung Yen, Lai Chau, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Nghe An, Ninh Binh, Phu Tho, Quang Ninh, Quang Tri, Son La, Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa and Tuyen Quang; • Regional People’s Court 1 – Ho Chi Minh City has territorial jurisdiction over 14 provinces and cities, comprising: Can Tho, Da Nang, Dong Nai, Ho Chi Minh City, An Giang, Ca Mau, Dak Lak, Dong Thap, Gia Lai, Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong, Quang Ngai, Tay Ninh and Vinh Long.

7/21/2026Read more →

Vietnam

Digital Court Procedures Under Resolution No. 01/2026/NQ-HDTP

On 15 January 2026, the Judicial Council of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam issued Resolution No. 01/2026/NQ-HDTP ("Resolution 01"), providing comprehensive guidance on the conduct of litigation procedures and judicial administrative procedures in the digital environment at People's Courts. Resolution 01 took effect on 1 March 2026 and supersedes Resolution No. 04/2016/NQ-HDTP, which had governed the submission and service of documents by electronic means under the civil and administrative procedure codes. Resolution 01 represents a significant step in Vietnam's broader digital transformation agenda, extending the scope of permissible electronic court interactions to cover virtually all stages of litigation. Key areas addressed include electronic filing, service of process, fee payment, online hearings, and the storage and exchange of case records in digital form.

7/20/2026Read more →

Vietnam

What Applicants Should Note When Preparing and Filing an International Industrial Design Application Under the Hague System Designating Vietnam

As of 30 December 2019, applicants could use the Hague System to protect their industrial designs in the Contracting Parties to the 1999 Act of the Hague Agreement designating Vietnam. After several years of implementation, we have seen that many international applications (Hague applications) designating Vietnam of foreign applicants have encountered refusal by the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IPVN) for the reasons relating to industrial design description and/or photos/drawings, and unity of applications. Vietnamese law and practice on industrial design protection may differ from those in other countries, especially in term of strict requirements on drawings/photos/specification. This article aims to provide important notes the applicants should pay attention to when preparing and filing Hague applications designating Vietnam to avoid refusal by IPVN.

7/20/2026Read more →