On December 10, 2025, the National Assembly of Vietnam adopted the Law Amending and Supplementing a number of Articles of the Law on Intellectual Property, which is scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2026. This amendment marks a significant milestone in the development of a modern legal framework, transitioning intellectual property rights from a traditional legal protection role into a central economic resource for a knowledge-based and innovation-driven economy. Several notable changes regarding patents under this amended Law are detailed below.
- Revisions to Time Limits in the Patent Application Processing Workflow
To enhance administrative efficiency, the amended Law significantly shortens several statutory time limits within the patent prosecution process:
- Early Publication of Patent Applications (Article 110, Clause 2): The timeframe for publication following a request for early publication has been reduced to one month, down from the previous two-month period.
- Opposition to Patent Applications (Article 112a, Clause 1): The standard period for filing an opposition has been shortened to six months from the date of publication, compared to the previous nine-month window. Furthermore, a shortened opposition period of only three months has been introduced for applications undergoing accelerated substantive examination.
- Request for Substantive Examination (Article 113, Clause 1): The deadline for filing a request for substantive examination has been reduced to 36 months, instead of the 42-month period previously required.
- Completion of Substantive Examination: The statutory timeframe for completing the substantive examination of a patent application has been shortened to 12 months, down from the previous 18-month limit.
- Publication of Decisions Regarding Protection Titles: Decisions related to the granting, termination, invalidation, or amendment of a Protection Title must now be published in the Industrial Property Gazette within 30 days from the date of issuance, rather than the 60-day period previously mandated.
The reduction of these processing timelines plays a crucial role in optimizing administrative procedures. These new regulations not only minimize waiting times and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of applicants but also enable inventors and enterprises to promptly establish their rights to protect and exploit their intellectual assets more effectively.
- Introduction of Accelerated Substantive Examination (Article 119, Clause 2a)
The amended Law formally establishes a mechanism for accelerated substantive examination. Under this provision, effective from April 1, 2026, patent applicants are entitled to request an expedited process, with the substantive examination results to be completed within a period of three months in accordance with the applicable statutory framework.
- Increased Compensation for Patent Infringement
To strengthen enforcement and enhance deterrence against infringing acts, the amended Law increases the statutory levels of compensation for damages as follows:
- Material Damages: In cases where actual material losses cannot be precisely determined, the statutory cap on damages has been doubled to 1,000,000,000 VND (about USD 40,000), increasing from the previous limit of 500,000,000 VND (about USD 20,000).
- Moral Damages: Compensation for moral injury has been increased significantly, with the new range set from 10 to 100 times the state-prescribed base salary (which is a statutory unit in Vietnam used for calculating various social and legal benefits, subject to periodic adjustments by the Government), replacing the former fixed range of 5,000,000 VND (about USD 200) to 50,000,000 VND (about USD 2,000).
For instance, based on the current state-prescribed base salary of 2,340,000 VND (about USD 93.6), the compensable amount under the new regulations ranges from 23,400,000 VND (about USD 936) to 230,400,000 VND (about USD 9,216), significantly exceeding the previous maximum of 50,000,000 VND.
- Refined Security Control for Foreign Patent Filings (Article 89, Clause 1)
The amended Law revises the security control regime for inventions intended for filing abroad by narrowing the scope of subject matter subject to such controls. Mandatory security review is now restricted exclusively to inventions classified under the “list of State secrets”.
The amended provision also explicitly identifies the competent authorities responsible for granting permission, namely the Ministry of National Defense and/or the Ministry of Public Security. This revision alleviates procedural burdens for technical inventions that, while related to security, are not classified as State secrets. Consequently, the new regulations remove the default requirement to first file a patent application in Vietnam for non-sensitive technical fields, aligning Vietnam’s approach with international patent filing practices.
- Clarification of Right Holders recorded in Protection Titles (Article 92, Clause 1)
The amended Law clarifies the entities eligible to be recorded as right holders in Protection Titles to specify individuals and organizations entrusted with the management and use of the results of scientific, technological, and innovation tasks funded by the State budget. These rights are now explicitly granted to individuals or organizations entrusted with the management and use of the results derived from State-funded research, development, and innovation tasks.
This regulation aims to recognize and empower the autonomy of researchers and research organizations. It serves as a powerful catalyst for innovation, encouraging entities to optimize the practical application of research outcomes into the economy.
Overall, the amended Law on Intellectual Property introduces substantial improvements for applicants by streamlining procedures, shortening examination timelines, and strengthening enforcement mechanisms. These reforms are expected to facilitate faster and more effective protection of patent rights, thereby supporting innovation-driven growth in Vietnam.
