On June 30, 2019, in Hanoi, representatives from the European Union and Vietnam officially signed the historic EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), a comprehensive and mutually beneficial agreement in which thoughtful consideration was given to the development gap between the two parties. The ambitious agreement includes a number of provisions on intellectual property, which we discuss below.Patent

As of June 27, 2019, foreign traders in Laos who have no registered business in the country will need a Trading Rights Certificate from the Department of Import and Export, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, in order to import or export goods. This development comes with Decision on Trading Rights of Foreign Traders No. 0623/MOIC, which was published in the official electronic gazette on June 12, 2019, and will take effect 15 days after publication.

On June 14, 2019, the National Assembly of Vietnam ratified a law amending and supplementing the Law on Insurance Business and the Law Intellectual Property (IP Law), with the primary purpose being to bring the existing laws in line with the terms of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which came into effect in Vietnam on January 14, 2019. The key changes in the amended IP Law are presented below.PatentsGrace period applicable to utility patents

Partner Vinh Quoc Nguyen, an expert on Vietnamese real estate laws, provided the chapter on Vietnam for Practical Law’s Corporate Real Estate Global Guide 2019, a high-level comparative overview of commercial real estate laws and regulations in 32 jurisdictions worldwide. The chapter also highlights recent trends in the condominium, office, and retail sectors of the Vietnam real estate market.

Intellectual property (IP), such as trademarks, copyrighted works, designs, inventions and trade secrets, is a valuable asset for many companies. It brings with it market advantages and distinguishes one company’s business from another’s. Hence, it is important for company management to recognize and manage their IP portfolios properly.

Despite rapid economic development over the past two decades and an increasingly urban population, Vietnam remains a primarily agricultural country. According to 2018 statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, 70% of the population (67.5 million) was living by agriculture, with agricultural land (including forests) covering 26 million hectares—an area about the size of the country of New Zealand.

The Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam (IP Viet Nam) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) have launched a new Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program. The program will be in effect for two years, commencing on June 1, 2019, and ending on May 31, 2021. The number of requests accepted per year is limited to 100 from each office.

Myanmar’s Copyright Law was finally enacted into law on May 24, 2019, effectively repealing the old Copyright Act of 1914. The law lays out the new legislative framework for the protection of literary and artistic works and other related rights, to be implemented through administrative bodies and subsidiary regulations that will be issued in due course.Overview