Chief of the National Office of Intellectual Property, Tran Viet Hung, talked with Vietnam Business Forum on this issue.
What are the significant improvements in implementing regulations on intellectual property protection after Vietnam joined the WTO?
There was no dramatic and sudden change, because Vietnam had already prepared for the event 10 years before that. During the past 10 years, Vietnam adopted the Intellectual Property Law. However, Vietnam still had to implement its WTO accession commitments, which cover a standardised legal document system and entitlement.
In terms of the legal document system, Vietnam has made significant progress. Last year, Vietnam issued and completed guiding documents on rights implementation, and administrative penalties. This is an issue of interest for foreign organisations. They have carried out a lot of surveys and examined the law implementation of Vietnam by quarter. International public opinion has highly appreciated the fact that seven Vietnamese ministries have joined hands in preventing violations of intellectual property rights, more than 10,000 cases of violating copyrights of tape, disc, publication, and software have been penalised.
Do you think that the rate of intellectual property violations, especially software copyright violations in Vietnam currently is low?
Although the rate is still high, Vietnam has obtained initial achievements in controlling the rate. According to the assessment of the International Software Union, the rate of software copyright violations in Vietnam has been well controlled, reduced to 88 per cent in 2006. The rate is reduced by 2 per cent each year. This is a great effort and I think that the rate will be better improved this year. Vietnam is no longer considered the country with the highest rate of intellectual property violations in the world.
Although the rate is still high, Vietnam has obtained initial achievements in controlling the rate. According to the assessment of the International Software Union, the rate of software copyright violations in Vietnam has been well controlled, reduced to 88 per cent in 2006. The rate is reduced by 2 per cent each year. This is a great effort and I think that the rate will be better improved this year. Vietnam is no longer considered the country with the highest rate of intellectual property violations in the world.
Vietnam has not only prevented violations of software copyrights, but has also negotiated prices with software sellers to encourage consumers, especially big companies, ministries, departments and banks, to use legal, copyrighted software.
Do you think international integration and WTO accession will put more pressure on Vietnam to carry out intellectual property protection in the coming time?
Each period of time has different pressure. Previously, we were forced to issue laws and regulations, and implement solutions. Now, after the legal regulations are issued, we are forced to adopt specific and strict implementation measures to realise those commitments. For example, Vietnam has pledged to apply strict penalties for goods violating intellectual property rights on a commercial scale, but Vietnam still has not carried out the commitment. To my knowledge, the EU and the U.S. are complaining about that issue. However, WTO members have agreed that Vietnam has made great progress in this sector, and they removed Vietnam from the list of supervision on intellectual property protection in 2006.
Giang Tu
Each period of time has different pressure. Previously, we were forced to issue laws and regulations, and implement solutions. Now, after the legal regulations are issued, we are forced to adopt specific and strict implementation measures to realise those commitments. For example, Vietnam has pledged to apply strict penalties for goods violating intellectual property rights on a commercial scale, but Vietnam still has not carried out the commitment. To my knowledge, the EU and the U.S. are complaining about that issue. However, WTO members have agreed that Vietnam has made great progress in this sector, and they removed Vietnam from the list of supervision on intellectual property protection in 2006. Giang Tu
Vietnamese
