Vietnam Events Highlight Progress and Priorities in IP Enforcement

Hanoi Law University hosted two consecutive events from September 23 to 25, 2026: the Forum on IP Enforcement in Vietnam, followed by the Judicial Roundtable on Adjudication of Intellectual Property Enforcement Cases in Vietnam. Both were organized by Hanoi Law University, the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), and INTA, with support from U.S. government partners and coordination by BMVN International LLC, in strategic alliance with Baker McKenzie Vietnam.

Border, Market, and Online Enforcement

Opening the Forum, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Jennifer Wicks acknowledged significant recent progress while encouraging further action, describing effective IP enforcement as foundational to innovation and a trusted business environment. Associate Professor To Van Hoa, Rector of Hanoi Law University, stressed dialogue among Vietnamese authorities, the United States, INTA, and other stakeholders. Pham Thi Kim Oanh, Deputy Head of the Copyright Office of Vietnam, pointed to the cross-border nature of online infringement, reforms in 2025 and 2026 to strengthen online protection, and continuing work on Penal Code provisions on intellectual property (IP) offenses.

Representatives of market surveillance, public security, Vietnam Customs, and the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IP Vietnam) described reforms in place and under development. Participants noted that IP Vietnam cleared its examination backlog in 2025 and reduced trademark processing time from nine months to five. Speakers stressed intelligence sharing and data-driven enforcement, in line with Directive 02/CT-TTg of January 30, 2026, which calls for a national IP enforcement database to be operational in 2026.

The growth of small-parcel shipments is straining traditional enforcement models, and short seizure deadlines leave little time to identify suspected counterfeits. Participants observed that customs action can stall when rights holders do not engage promptly in product identification. Iris Gunther, INTA’s Director of Brand Enforcement and Sustainability, spoke on customs and e-commerce enforcement, and Walter Chia, INTA’s Chief Representative Officer for Asia Pacific, spoke on the evolving role of market surveillance. Officials also described plans, still under consideration, to centralize market surveillance vertically. The forum concluded with a discussion of online content enforcement and digital piracy.

Judicial Roundtable

The roundtable, themed “Strengthening Judicial Responses to Digital Piracy and Counterfeiting,” opened with remarks from Ben Embury, Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi; Associate Professor Vu Thi Hai Yen, Deputy Head of the Faculty of Civil Law at Hanoi Law University; and Matthew Kohner, Regional Intellectual Property Attaché for Southeast Asia at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Speakers welcomed the specialized IP courts in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, operational since July 2025.

Across 12 sessions, the program addressed issues such as evidence and expert opinions, interim measures and injunctions, damages, trade secrets, trademark confusion, trade dress and unfair competition, criminal enforcement, content piracy, artificial intelligence tools, and procedural efficiency. International participants included U.S. District Judges Richard E. Boulware II and Edmond E. Chang, Presiding Judge Kim Young Gi of the Intellectual Property High Court of Korea, and Edward Veronda of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Exchanges with judges highlighted the difficulty of obtaining reliable expert evidence in technically complex disputes, limited technical resources for courts, the limited use of preliminary injunctions, and the challenge of assessing damages. Effective remedies were seen as both providing compensation for rights holders and serving as a deterrent to repeat infringement. On September 24, the Supreme People’s Court’s Council of Judges adopted a resolution guiding courts on IP disputes and complaints, along with three IP case precedents. A June draft of the resolution addressed damages, among other issues. As of October 1, however, the resolution had not yet been issued following further refinement requested by the Chief Justice.

Mr. Chia spoke on the importance of IP to society, consumers, and the economy, and on what rights holders need from the courts: written reasoning others can follow, procedures proportionate to the value in dispute, clarity on how administrative findings carry into civil proceedings, and consistency between the specialized and appellate courts. Ms. Gunther spoke on likelihood of confusion, trade dress, and unfair competition.

Priorities for Cooperation

Participating Vietnamese judges were open to international exchange, best-practice recommendations, and further technical support. Both events reflected the progress Vietnam has made and pointed to priorities for further cooperation: practical judicial resources for complex cases, stronger approaches to expert evidence, more effective use of interim relief and damages, deeper rights-holder engagement with customs, and sustained intelligence sharing across agencies and borders.

INTA thanks Hanoi Law University, the MPA, ACE, the USPTO, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, and BMVN International for co-hosting and supporting these events.

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. The opinions expressed in this feature are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of INTA or its members.

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