The State has no protection mechanism for the domain name ".vn"

“.vn” domain names are not subject to the Intellectual Property Law and registration is carried out according to international practice with the principle of "first come, first served".

On August 6 in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai, Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (VNNIC) coordinated with Dong Nai Department of Information and Communications to organize a workshop on “Protecting Vietnamese brands with .vn domain names”. This workshop is part of the “Series of workshops related to .VN domain names” starting from March 2013.

There are only 182,000 Vietnamese .vn domain names while the total number of businesses is currently 500,000. (Illustration: Internet)

According to VNNIC data, currently, Vietnamese enterprises alone have only registered about 182,000 Vietnamese .vn domain names. In which each enterprise usually registers more than 1 domain name. However, the total number of enterprises in Vietnam is currently over 500,000, which means that the proportion of enterprises with domain names or websites is still very small.

By not having a website or using email with a professional domain name, businesses have reduced their promotion opportunities. This can be seen through the guidance and resolution of domain name disputes in the daily state management work of VNNIC.

At the workshop, VNNIC and registrars presented papers related to the protection of "Vietnamese brands" such as providing relatively complete and comprehensive information about domain names, or related issues, thereby helping individuals, businesses, internet users... raise awareness about domain names.

Understanding the legal aspects of domain names correctly and deeply will help users avoid the situation of "losing right before their eyes, losing right at home".

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Tran Minh Tan - Director of VNNIC emphasized: "The domain name ".vn" is not subject to the Intellectual Property Law and the registration of domain names is carried out according to international common practice with the principle of "first come, first served".

Therefore, the state management agency cannot have a mechanism to protect and retain all domain names related to trademarks while the trademark owner does not register to use and protect his trademark on the Internet. Therefore, businesses need to pay special attention to this issue to protect their brand on the Internet.

“In the context of increasingly deep integration and globalization, using .vn domain names to protect Vietnamese brands will also help businesses avoid losses right at home and affirm the value of Vietnamese brands from .VN domain names in the international environment,” said Mr. Tan.

According to infonet