On December 10, 2025, the National Assembly passed Law No. 131/2025/QH15 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Intellectual Property. This Law shall officially take effect from April 1, 2026. Among the amendments, changes relating to industrial designs—particularly those concerning definitions, protection criteria, and examination timelines—are of significant interest.
1. Expansion of Subject Matter for Industrial Design Protection
Under the newly passed amended Law on Intellectual Property, the scope of subject matter eligible for industrial design protection has been expanded compared to previous regulations, in line with modern scientific and technological developments.
According to the definition set out in Article 4, Clause 13 of the amended Law on Intellectual Property, an industrial design is defined as:
“the outward appearance of the whole or a part of a product in physical or non-physical form, represented by shapes, lines, colors, or a combination thereof, and visible during the exploitation of the utility of the product.”
Accordingly, under the amended provisions, partial industrial designs are now eligible for protection in Viet Nam, whereas previously only designs covering the whole product could be registered. In addition, the amended Law permits the registration of industrial designs in non-physical form (i.e., virtual products existing in cyberspace), instead of limiting protection solely to tangible products existing in physical form as under the previous regulations.
2. Broadening the Scope of Exceptions to Novelty
The amended Law clearly specifies cases in which an industrial design is not deemed to have lost its novelty under Article 65, Clause 4, as follows:
“An industrial design shall not be deemed to have lost its novelty if it is publicly disclosed by a person entitled to registration as stipulated in Article 86 of this Law, or by a person who obtained information about the industrial design directly or indirectly from such person, provided that the industrial design registration application is filed within six months from the date of disclosure.”
Accordingly, the amended provisions grant industrial designs a six-month grace period where the design has been publicly disclosed in any form by the person entitled to file the application or by persons who obtained information from such person. This represents a significant expansion compared to the previous regulations, under which an industrial design was considered not to have lost its novelty only if it was disclosed in certain limited circumstances.
In addition, the amended Law supplements Article 65 with Clause 5, providing that an industrial design shall also benefit from a grace period if it is disclosed in an industrial property registration application or a protection title published by the State administration authority for industrial property (IP Viet Nam), in cases where such publication is inconsistent with legal regulations or where the application was filed by a person without the right to register.
3. Shortening of the Publication Timeline
Pursuant to Article 110, Clause 3 of the amended Law on Intellectual Property, an industrial design registration application shall be published within one month from the date on which the application is deemed formally valid. As a result, the publication period for industrial design applications has been reduced by half compared to the previous regulations.
4. Streamlining the Examination Procedure for Industrial Design Applications
4.1. Abolition of the Decision on Formal Acceptance of Application: Under the amended provisions, if an industrial design application does not fall within any grounds for refusal on formal examination, it shall be deemed formally valid. The date on which the application is transferred for publication is the date on which it is considered formally valid. This regulation eliminates the step of issuing a formal “Decision on Acceptance of a Valid Application,” thereby shortening the overall examination procedure.
4.2. Shortening of the Substantive Examination Period: Industrial design applications shall undergo substantive examination within 05 months from the date of publication, instead of 07 months as prescribed under the previous regulations. This shortens the total period from filing to grant by 02 months.
5. Supplementation of Grounds for Invalidation of Protection Titles
Under the amended provisions, a protection title may be invalidated in its entirety if the author of the industrial design is not the person who personally created the industrial property object, rather than only addressing issues relating to the applicant and the subject matter of the protection title as under the previous regulations. As a result, the role of the person who directly created the protected subject matter is further reinforced.
6. Shortening of the Opposition Period
Any third party has the right to oppose the grant of an industrial design protection title within three months from the date of publication, instead of the four-month period provided under the previous regulations.
In summary, under the amended Law on Intellectual Property, the scope of protection for industrial designs has been expanded compared to the former legislation. At the same time, the revised provisions concerning the novelty grace period, examination timelines, and publication procedures provide substantial support for applicants and significantly reduce the overall examination timeframe. These changes create favorable conditions for applicants seeking to protect their intellectual property in an expeditious manner.
