INTA IP Workshops in Vietnam: IP, Pho, and Salted Coffee

Following up on the interest communicated by the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IP Vietnam) and the Vietnam IP Association (VIPA) during INTA’s delegation to Vietnam in September 2025, the Association returned to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City during the week of December 8 to host three workshops on intellectual property (IP) for different stakeholder groups.

In Hanoi, Hanoi Law University through its Vice Rector Associate Professor Nguyen Ba Binh, warmly welcomed INTA representatives Iris Gunther and Walter Chia, along with invited speakers Shwetasree Majumder (Fidus Law Chambers) and Justice Anish Dayal from the Delhi High Court to open the full-day program on IP enforcement for judges and academics. The program focused on judicial enforcement measures as well as current topics such as online violations and the IP issues associated with the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI).

Additional speakers included Lord Justice Arnold from the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Gaurav Miglani (Worldwide Intellec), Dean Meghan Carpenter from the University of New Hampshire, and additional speakers from the Vietnamese trademark office, the Vietnamese National Institute of IP, the National Arbitration Center, and local Vietnamese law firms, who provided insights into Vietnamese processes and practices.

Given the intended changes to Vietnamese IP laws and regulations—which will modernize procedures, expand protection to digital assets, clarify rules for AI-related IP and ownership, and strengthen enforcement both offline and online—interest in the topics was great. Local experts were keen to engage with the speakers on international best practices and share the Vietnamese approach to IP enforcement strategies. The workshop was rounded off by a dinner with speakers Ms. Majumder, Justice Anish Dayal, and Associate Professor Thi Hai Yen Vu and her team of younger academics, which continued the discussions about current IP issues over pho and the specialty drink popular in Vietnam, salted coffee.

INTA’s Iris Gunther and Walter Chia with members of the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam during a delegation to the country in December.

On December 9, INTA, in cooperation with Rouse Vietnam, hosted 17 examiners from IP Vietnam to discuss trademark prosecution, including bad-faith filings, nontraditional trademarks, and conflicts between trade names and trademarks. Speakers from different Asian law firms, as well as a corporate member, provided the examiners with international perspectives on these important issues at the Rouse offices in Hanoi. Particular interest was given to the discussion of China’s recent policy changes to address the problem of bad-faith filings, especially increased scrutiny by examiners on mass applications and significant penalties across all actors involved in bad-faith filings. The program discussed some options to reduce the occurrence and impact of these filings using tools available to examiners and during prosecution. The program was scheduled to end at 4 p.m., but the interactive discussions between examiners and speakers lasted well past 7 p.m. A special thanks to Theresa Mak and Vu Yen from Rouse Vietnam for the coordination, hosting, and simultaneous interpretation during this valuable workshop.

The INTA team then headed straight from the IP Vietnam workshop to the airport and on to a dinner hosted by VIPA, to prepare for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) workshop scheduled for December 10, with discussions about local economic development and IP accompanied by beautiful food and more salted coffee. The SME workshop, co-hosted by VIPA and INTA, aimed to promote the significant value of IP and IP protection to SMEs and their representatives. Topics centered around different types of IP rights and their enforcement, counterfeiting and customs procedures (including violations), and tools to combat counterfeits in the online environment, all from the perspective of SMEs as affected rights holders.

Speakers represented Lego, Ralph Lauren, Alibaba Group, Shopee, TikTok, IP Vietnam, Vietnam Anti-Counterfeiting Technology JSC, and Vietnam Anticounterfeiting and IP Protection of Foreign Invested Enterprises Association (VACIP), while Walter Chia and Iris Gunther presented INTA’s policy positions on the subjects discussed. Representatives of local law firms also joined the discussions to add their perspective on protecting clients’ IP in the online marketplace. Presenters, organizers, and guests agreed that continued outreach to SMEs to encourage protection and enforcement of their IP rights should be prioritized as crucial for the development of local economies, and that workshops such as this one should be held regularly.

INTA thanks all our partners in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as all speakers—both in-person and virtual—who contributed to our workshop series. The conclusion of the workshop series is the mutual promise to continue our cooperation to advance awareness of the importance of IP protection, and the taste we developed for the ultimate Vietnamese creation: salted coffee.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest. 

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