Duong & Tran Intellectual Property

2026 Draft Amended Criminal Code: Enhancing the Deterrent Effect on Intellectual Property Crimes

10/23/2026

The draft amended Criminal Code of 2026, published on 22/09/2026 (the “Draft”), amends regulations on both intellectual property (“IP”) crimes by expressly providing for acts on a commercial scale, increasing penalties and increasing the monetary thresholds that determine criminal offenses (at the lightest penalty bracket), in line with socio-economic development, specifically as follows:

Crime of Infringing Copyright and Related Rights

  • Adding certain acts constituting the crime in line with technological developments, such as copying cable signals or satellite signals carrying encrypted programs, instead of being limited to physical copying.
  • Adding the act of distributing to the public “partially modified copies, including copies in electronic form” to the act of distributing to the public copies of works, copies of sound recordings and copies of video recordings.
  • Doubling the monetary thresholds that determine criminal offenses (at the lightest penalty bracket); for example, the amount of illegal profit for the lightest penalty bracket under current regulations, from VND 50,000,000 (USD 1,935) to under VND 300,000,000 (USD 11,615), is raised to from VND 100,000,000 (USD 3,870) to under VND 600,000,000 (USD 23,230), etc.
  • Doubling the fine under the lightest penalty bracket; specifically, the fine under current regulations of from VND 50,000,000 (USD 1,935) to VND 300,000,000 (USD 11,615) is raised to from VND 100,000,000 (USD 3,870) to VND 600,000,000 (USD 23,230).
  • Adding imprisonment of from 03 months to 02 years for offenses under the lightest penalty bracket. For aggravated brackets, the term of imprisonment is increased from the range of 06 months to 03 years to the range of 02 years to 05 years.
  • Adding quantitative factors as the basis for determining criminal offenses:
    • The number of infringing copies in tangible form of 500 copies or more; the number of infringing works, sound recordings and video recordings in electronic form stored, transmitted, disseminated or distributed in cyberspace within 180 days of 50 units or more or with a total capacity of 100 gigabytes (GB) or more;
    • The number of accesses within 180 days to works, sound recordings and video recordings broadcast, transmitted or distributed in violation in cyberspace of 10,000 times or more;
    • Granting access to accounts for unauthorized decryption of cable signals or satellite signals to 200 subscribers or more;
    • The scale of the venue for public performance of works with a capacity of 500 spectators or more.

Crime of Infringing Industrial Property Rights

Under the Draft, the crime of infringing industrial property rights remains limited to trademarks or geographical indications protected in Vietnam where the subject matter is trademark or geographical indication counterfeiting goods, and is not extended to other industrial property subject matters.

  • Doubling the monetary thresholds that determine criminal offenses (at the lightest penalty bracket), for example, the amount of illegal profit for the lightest penalty bracket under current regulations, from VND 100,000,000 (USD 3,870) to under VND 300,000,000 (USD 11,615), is raised to from VND 200,000,000 (USD 7,743) to under VND 600,000,000 (USD 23,230), etc.
  • Doubling the fine under the lightest penalty bracket; specifically, the fine under current regulations of from VND 50,000,000 (USD 1,935) to VND 500,000,000 (USD 19,360) is raised to from VND 100,000,000 (USD 3,870) to VND 1,000,000,000 (USD 38,178).
  • Adding a quantitative factor as the basis for determining criminal offenses, specifically infringing goods in a quantity of 1,000 units or more.
  • Adding imprisonment of from 03 months to 02 years for offenses under the lightest penalty bracket. For aggravated brackets, the term of imprisonment is increased from the range of 06 months to 03 years to the range of 02 years to 05 years.
  • Adding “transnational nature” as one of the aggravating factors for determining penalty brackets.

The Draft amending the Criminal Code increases the monetary thresholds that determine criminal offenses (at the lightest penalty bracket) in order to update them in line with socio-economic development. In addition, doubling the fines, adding fixed-term imprisonment and increasing the term of imprisonment for aggravated brackets reflect Vietnam’s greater emphasis on IP matters and help enhance the deterrent effect against IP crimes.

Should you require further assistance regarding the above matters, please feel free to contact us at the following e-mail address: hanoi@duongtran.vn.