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The southern Binh Duong Province set up a VND500 million (US$32,000) fund to support provincial businesses and to protect their intellectual property (IP) rights abroad. The programme is the first of its kind in the province and was passed by the provincial People’s Committee.
An official of the committee, Le Duc Khoi, said although it is a modest amount of money, it has significance as a gesture toward improving local enterprises’ knowledge about IP rights.
In the face of international integration, it is necessary to protect these businesses and develop trademarks domestically and globally, he said.
Under the project, the committee will cover the full costs for Vietnamese companies operating in Binh Duong to build up IP rights overseas. Firms will be supported in obtaining exclusive innovation patents, utility solutions patents, exclusive industrial design patents, trade label certification and original trade name usage rights.
In addition, the province will subsidise 50 per cent of the enterprises’ costs in registering trademarks in the European Union, United States, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, mainland China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and some South-east Asian nations.
Until now, only 30 per cent of total enterprises in the province have registered IP rights domestically and merely 3 per cent of them have registered globally.
We hope that the businesses ultimately will be fully informed, which will help them gain a foothold in the local and international markets, Khoi said.
VNS - (22/11/2004)
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