The National Assembly discussed online the draft Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Intellectual Property

Thanh Duy• October 26, 2021 17:54

(Baonghean.vn) - On the afternoon of October 26, under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh, the National Assembly discussed online the draft Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Intellectual Property.

Over the 16 years of implementation since its promulgation in 2005, the Law on Intellectual Property has played a role in regulating legal relations regarding this special type of property.

Panorama of the meeting at Dien Hong Hall, National Assembly on October 26. Photo: Quochoi.vn

However, the current development context has changed a lot compared to 2005. Vietnam is no longer purely a country "using intellectual property" but is strongly shifting to being a country that creates this property to serve the in-depth growth model.

Along with that, the amendments and supplements to the Intellectual Property Law in 2009 and 2019 were insignificant, did not create a strong driving force for research and innovation, and did not ensure a complete and effective legal corridor for the protection, exploitation and protection of intellectual property.

Therefore, this amendment and supplement to the Law on Intellectual Property is an urgent requirement for Vietnam's socio-economic development; at the same time, it fulfills international commitments on improving the level of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.

The Draft Law amends and supplements 92 articles (including 12 additional articles and 80 amended articles) and abolishes 02 articles, bringing the total number of articles of the Intellectual Property Law after amendment to 232 articles, belonging to 7 policy groups.

National Assembly Delegates of Nghe An attend the 2nd Session of the 15th National Assembly at Nghe An bridge. Photo: Thanh Duy

At the discussion session, there were 26 opinions expressed, many of which agreed on the plan that the organization in charge of the research has the right to register inventions, industrial designs, and layout designs (as a result of science and technology tasks using the state budget) and has the right to own inventions, industrial designs, and layout designs when granted a protection certificate, except for subjects in the fields of national defense and security, which are still registered by state agencies.

Many delegates were also concerned about administrative sanctions for violations of intellectual property rights. Accordingly, there were opinions in favor of administrative sanctions only being applied to violations of copyright, related rights, trademarks, geographical indications, and plant varieties.

Acts of infringement of rights to inventions, industrial designs, layout designs, trade names, trade secrets and acts of unfair competition will not be subject to administrative penalties but only handled by civil measures.

Because this option ensures the effectiveness and feasibility of legal regulations and does not significantly affect the practice of protecting intellectual property rights of intellectual property rights holders. However, some delegates believe that the regulation of not applying administrative sanctions to the above violations is inappropriate.

National Assembly Delegates of Nghe An attend the 2nd Session of the 15th National Assembly at Nghe An bridge. Photo: Thanh Duy

Regarding disputes over copyright and determining the status of co-authors, some delegates said that the current draft law has not yet clarified how to implement the personal and property rights of co-authors and how it is different from the implementation of the rights of a collective of authors.

Since a joint work cannot be exploited separately in each part, the copyright in the work is the common property of the co-authors. Therefore, the exercise of the personal or property rights of each co-author will be related to or bound by the co-authors.

Therefore, to have a specific basis, the delegate proposed to study and supplement the provisions on the implementation of personal and property rights to common property on the basis of agreement and consensus of co-authors, except in cases where there are other agreements or other provisions of law in case one of the co-authors wants to transfer, allow another entity to copy, publish, distribute, make copies, etc.

Delegates also proposed amending a number of regulations on trademark registration rights; quality, procedures, and methods of using geographical indications... Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat spoke to explain and clarify a number of issues raised by National Assembly delegates.

Thanh Duy