Notice No. 4863/TB-SHTT of Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam to Clarify the Transition Provisions of the Law Amending Intellectual Property Law in 2025
10/21/2026
On 5 October 2026, Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IPVN) issued Notice No. 4863/TB-SHTT (Notice 4863) to clarify the transition provisions of the Law amending Intellectual Property Law in 2025 (2025 amended IP Law) and Circular 10/2026/TT-BKHCN (Circular 10), wherein the unclear issue regarding the term “at the time of filing” has been clarified as “international filing date” for PCT applications. Accordingly, the new shortened 36-month deadline for requesting substantive examination (counted from the earliest priority date (if there is priority claimed) or from the filing date (if there is no priority claimed)) will be applied for PCT applications having an international filing date from 1 April 2026.
In addition, the 2025 amended IP Law specifies that if a Power of Attorney (POA) does not indicate the validity period, the validity period will be determined according to the Civil Code, i.e., one year from the effective date or until the specific authorised work is completed. The transition provisions of the 2025 amended IP Law and Circular 10 do not specify how this new regulation will be applied in specific circumstances. Notice 4863 also clarifies that the new POA regulation will be applied for:
- Direct applications having a filing date from 1 April 2026 (*);
- PCT applications having a Vietnam national phase entry date from 1 April 2026 (*);
- International industrial design applications under the Hague system designating Vietnam or international trademark applications under the Madrid system designating Vietnam, having the date of actually conducting actions in Vietnam (submitting required documents, responding to a Notice of Refusal, requesting a certificate confirming the protection of an internationally registered trademark in Vietnam, etc.) from 1 April 2026
- Divided applications having a dividing date from 1 April 2026; and
- Converted applications (invention or utility solution) having a converting date from 1 April 2026.
Please note the following:
- (*) For actions such as recordal of change/assignment/amendment, appeal, annuities, renewal etc. filed from 1 April 2026 even for the applications filed before 1 April 2026, the new POA regulation will be applied.
- If a POA states “the POA remains valid until formally revoked in writing by one of the parties” or “the POA remains valid until replaced by another POA”, then the POA is considered to have a validity period under the IP Law. Therefore, if applicants do not require a specific validity period in POAs, it is recommended to include a general statement in the POAs, for example, “the POA remains valid until formally revoked in writing by one of the parties” to avoid submitting a new POA when applications have not yet been completed.
Should you require further assistance regarding the above matters, please feel free to contact us at the following e-mail address: hanoi@duongtran.vn.