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

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

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.