5 POINTS that most need attention when PCT enters the Vietnam national phase —— Introduction to Vietnam Patent Application

In recent years, Vietnam has made remarkable progress in technology transformation, technology application, and technology innovation, as can be seen from the number of PCT international applications entering Vietnam.

01 The 31-month period cannot be extended

• Before the revision of the Vietnam Patent Law, after paying sufficient fees, even if the 31-month period for entering the Vietnam national phase was missed, it was still possible to enter Vietnam within the next 6 months, but since the revision of the Patent Law in 2016, this clause has been cancelled, therefore, to enter the Vietnamese national phase, applicants must enter within 31 months from the earliest priority date/international filing date, and this period cannot be extended.

02 Appointment of Vietnamese agent

• Patent applications submitted to the Vietnam Patent Office must be represented by a registered patent attorney in Vietnam.

03 Documentation requirements

• Letter of Request (No.01/2007/TT-BKHCN Appendix 01-SC)
• Certified copy of the international application (if the international application has not been published at the time of entry)
• Vietnamese translation of the specification, Claim, abstract of the specification, drawings of the specification and the translation of the amendments
• Official fee receipt for the application fee
• Power of Attorney

04 Review procedure

• After the patent application enters the national phase, starting from the 32nd month, the Vietnam Patent Office will start formality examination and substantive examination. The time for submitting substantive examination is 18 months from the publication date/substantive examination request date (whichever expires later).

05 How does the PCT application enter the Vietnamese national phase in advance?

• In many cases, applicants wish to enter the Vietnamese national phase as early as possible to speed up the examination process, that is, they prefer to conduct formality examination 32 months before and enter the substantive examination stage faster. In response to this, the Vietnamese patent law allows the applicant to file a request for early entry into the Vietnamese national phase, so that the application will undergo substantive examination in advance according to the time specified in the application.
• But in fact, until the final international publication of the PCT application is completed, the examination of the application entering the Vietnamese national phase will not be officially started. This is because all information and documents received and recorded at the receiving office need to be recorded in Vietnam. Only after the international publication is completed, IPVN can examine the application entering the Vietnamese national phase based on the information related to the PCT international application. Therefore, applicants should proactively provide IPVN with information on the publication of international applications, so that patent applications can enter the examination application in advance within 1 month after entering the national phase in advance.

[Editor's Note: If a PCT application needs to enter the national phase in China in advance, it is actually similar to Vietnam's requirements. In other words, it takes a long time whether the certified copy of the international application is conveyed by the International Bureau, or the applicant requests the certified copy of the international application, because the amount of PCT applications is too large now]