Intellectual property protection is always a concern of innovators. Photo luatsurieng.vn

The advice came from a ministry official who was speaking at a seminar held in HCM City yesterday.

Nguyen Quan, Minister of Science and Technology, said that intellectual property rights were a "power tool" for socio-economic growth that many companies had used in an effective way.

Quan was attending at a seminar organised by the Business Association of High-Quality Vietnamese Goods, the National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam and Tia Sang magazine.

Companies employing IP protection effectively have been able to create prestigious trademarks, which have added to their market share and revenue, he said.

As a member of the World Trade Organisation, in recent years, Viet Nam has issued a number of laws, ordinances, decrees and directives to establish a legal framework and measures on IP rights.

Quan said that protection of IP rights had enabled the country to deeply integrate into the world economy.

Viet Nam is negotiating a series of Free Trade Agreements that have higher requirements for IP protection, especially the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

"Accepting higher requirements on IP protection will create challenges for enterprises when they have to pay higher expenses for IP rights-related activities, while local consumers must pay higher prices for IP-protected products," he said.

Pham Phi Anh, deputy head of the National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam, agreed.

"Applying for trademark registration and design registration could be expensive, and with limited financial capacity, local firms, mostly small- and medium-sized ones, do not always have the money to protect their IP rights beyond their borders," he said.

However, these are only short-term negative impacts. Effective IP protection, in the long-term, would create a healthy business environment for both local and foreign enterprises in the domestic market, limiting production of fake and imitation goods as well as actions violating IP rights in the market, he added.

Critical requirement

Vo Tri Thanh, Deputy Head of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said that "effective IP rights protection is a critical requirement to boost technology transfer, promote creativity and innovation, and bring more benefits to consumers".

Delegates at the seminar said enterprises had become more aware of IP rights protection and made efforts to protect it, but many others have not paid much attention to it.

Representatives of many enterprises, including Viet Tien Garment Company and Thang Loi Company, said they had encountered difficulties to protect their IP rights because of other producers copying their designs and trademarks. They asked for better support from government agencies.

Hoang To Nhu, deputy head of the HCM City Department of Science and Technology's IP Office, said: "The situation related to IP rights' violations has become complicated, causing difficulties for authorities."

Nhu called for close co-operation between authorised agencies and enterprises to better deal with violations and protect the legitimate benefits of firms who had registered IP protection for their inventions, trademarks and industrial designs.

Quan said the ministry was working with other ministries and agencies on a series of measures to help firms protect their IP rights more effectively. — VNS