Is it possible to amend the protection certificate and what are the procedures?

Amendment of protection certificate is a legal process that allows the owner to update information or adjust the scope of protection. This procedure applies to many types of intellectual property protection documents, including patents, trademark registration certificates and industrial designs. The following article by Long Phan will analyze in detail the regulations and procedures for amending protection certificate in Vietnam. Please refer!

Cases where protection documents are amended

According to the provisions of Article 97 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2005 (amended and supplemented in Clause 31, Article 1 of the Law on Intellectual Property 2022) and Article 29 of Decree 65/2023/ND-CP.

The owner of a protection title has the right to request the state management agency in charge of industrial property rights to amend the following information on the protection title under the condition that fees and charges must be paid. Specifically as follows:

• Change in name and address of the protection certificate holder; organize geographical indication management; name and nationality of the author of the invention, industrial design, layout design;
• Change of owner of protection title (transfer of ownership due to inheritance, inheritance, merger, division, separation, consolidation, joint venture, association, establishment of a new legal entity of the same owner, transformation of business method or according to the decision of the Court or other competent authority);
• Amend the description of specific characteristics of products bearing geographical indications, geographical areas corresponding to geographical indications, regulations on use of collective marks, regulations on use of certification marks.

At the request of the protection title holder, organizations or individuals exercising the right to register geographical indications, the state management agency in charge of industrial property rights is responsible for correcting errors in the protection title due to that agency’s fault. In this case, the protection title holder, organization or individual exercising the right to register geographical indications is not required to pay fees or charges.

In addition, the protection title holder has the right to request the state management agency on industrial property rights to narrow the scope of industrial property rights; In this case, the corresponding industrial property registration application must be re-examined for content and the requester must pay a content appraisal fee.

Therefore, the owner of the protection certificate has the right to request to amend the information on the protection certificate when there is information that needs to be changed or errors corrected.

The agency issues a decision to amend the protection certificate

Pursuant to Point a, Clause 5, Article 29 of Decree 65/2023/ND-CP, the National Office of Intellectual Property is the agency with authority to make decisions on amending protection titles. The Department of Intellectual Property, under the Ministry of Science and Technology, is the state management agency for industrial property rights. The Department is responsible for evaluating, granting and managing intellectual property protection titles.

Procedures for requesting amendments to protection documents

Prepared documents

To request an amendment to the protection title, the owner needs to prepare complete documents as prescribed in Clause 4, Article 29 of Decree 65/2023/ND-CP. Specifically, the dossier includes the following main documents:

• Declaration requesting amendment of protection title according to Form No. 06 in Appendix II of Decree 65/2023/ND-CP, which clearly states the change recording requirements. An amendment request declaration can request the amendment of multiple protection titles if they have the same amended content, provided that the requester must pay the prescribed fee for each protection title;
• Original certificate of protection in case the certificate of protection is issued in paper form;
• Documents confirming the change of name and address (original or certified copy); decide to change name and address; Business registration license records the change of name and address; Other legal documents proving the change of name and address (original or certified copy) if the content requested to be changed is name and address;
• Documents proving the transfer of ownership rights as prescribed in Point b, Clause 1, Article 29 of Decree 65/2023/ND-CP (documents proving inheritance, succession, merger, division, separation, consolidation , joint venture, association, establishment of a new legal entity of the same owner, conversion of business form or according to the decision of the Court or other competent authority), if requesting to change the owner of the insurance title. households;
• Documents detailing the revised content;
• 05 sets of photos or drawings of the modified industrial design (if modification of the industrial design is requested); 02 copies describing the specific characteristics of the product bearing the geographical indication, a map of the geographical area corresponding to the revised geographical indication (if requesting to amend the geographical indication); 02 copies of regulations on use of collective marks, 02 copies of regulations on use of revised certification marks (if requesting amendments to collective marks or certification marks); 05 trademark samples (if requesting to amend the trademark sample according to the provisions of Point a, Clause 3 of this Article);
• Authorization document (in case the request is submitted through a representative);
• Copy of fee and charge payment voucher (in case of payment of fees and charges via postal service or direct payment to the account of the state management agency on industrial property rights).

Implementation procedures

Pursuant to Clauses 5 and 6, Article 29 of Decree 65/2023/ND-CP. The process of requesting an amendment to a protection certificate includes the following main steps:

Step 1: Receive documents to amend the protection certificate:

• The owner of the industrial property protection certificate prepares 01 set of documents as described above.
• After fully preparing, the requester will submit the dossier by submitting it directly or by post to the headquarters of the National Office of Intellectual Property.

Step 2: Within 02 months from the date of receipt of the application, the National Office of Intellectual Property will consider the request to amend the protection title of the requester:

• In case the application to amend the protection title is valid, the National Office of Intellectual Property will issue a decision to amend the protection title, register and publish the decision to amend the protection title in the Industrial Property Official Gazette. within 60 days from the date of decision.
• In case the dossier requesting amendment of the protection title is incomplete or invalid, the National Office of Intellectual Property will issue a notice of intention to refuse to accept the amendment, clearly stating the reason and setting a deadline. 02 months from the date of notification for the requester to correct errors or make objections. At the end of the above time limit, if the requester does not correct the errors or corrects the errors unsatisfactorily, has no objections or has objections that are not valid, the National Office of Intellectual Property will issue a decision to refuse the request to amend the protection title.

Consulting services and support for amending protection certificates

With his experience, Long Phan can advise and support you on regulations related to amending protection certificates in the most accurate and appropriate way. Long Phan’s services include:

• Evaluate the feasibility of the modification request.
• Instructions for preparing complete and accurate documents.
• Representing customers to submit applications and work with state agencies.
• Explanation and additional documents at the request of competent authorities.
• Track progress and notify customers of results.

The process of amending a protection certificate is a legal procedure that requires careful preparation of documents and a thorough understanding of the regulations during the amendment process. If you need detailed advice on this issue, please contact Long Phan via hotline 0906735386. Long Phan is ready to assist customers in implementing procedures to amend protection certificates quickly and accurately, ensuring your legal rights.