Brand Name Copying Plagues Businesses

The stealing of brand names and geographical indications unregistered for protection appeared decades ago but many Vietnamese enterprises still have to deal with this problem. They lack awareness of importance of registering their brand names for protection in overseas markets and feel panicked when their brand names and geographical indications are in used by other companies.

 

“Nha Trang fish sauce” is a very costly lesson. The owning company did not registered copyrights and brand names in foreign markets and its brand name was used by another firm. As a result, it could not claim the legal ownership of products carrying that brand name. Then, “Phu Quoc fish sauce” brand name was registered by US-based Viet Huong Company in US, Europe and Australia. Brand image that Viet Huong Company registered for protection exactly consisted of the word "Phu Quoc" with an anchovy and the map of Vietnam (with signs directing to Phu Quoc island district in the province of Kien Giang). Clearly, the trademarking confused consumers.

Trung Nguyen Coffee was registered by Rice Field Company for protection in the US and WIPO (World Intellectual Protection Organisation) in the 2000s. Then, the website Trungnguyen.com.au became an official website for promoting and transacting Highlands coffee. When Trung Nguyen Coffee Company registered this domain name in Australia, it discovered that The Trustee for Hinchliffe Trust Company had already done this and used it as a trading website. Worse, the company lost its weasel coffee brand in the US market. After the Legendeecoffee domain was taken by another company, the road for Trung Nguyen Coffee Company’s Legendee Coffee in the US market gets rougher.

 

Not only big companies but also less famous companies also have their brand names stolen by using similar naming. Well-known hospitals’ brand names are also abused. Particularly, Thong Nhat Optic Glass Shop actually has no relation with Thong Nhat Hospital; and Cho Ray Dentistry and Cho Ray Beauty brand names are identified unrelated to well-known Cho Ray Hospital.

 

Currently, newly famed companies usually have their brand names taken by others by using identical or similar names. If a famous company name is searched in the website of the Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Planning and Investment, a series of companies with similar names will be found as well. For example, if the names of property companies, Hung Thinh or Thinh Phat, are typed, many companies with identical or similar names will be searched out. Some clashes for brand names have appeared.

 

Needing strong sanctions

Although Article 32 of the Law on Enterprises prohibits companies from using identical names or confusing names with those registered earlier. The Article 34 provides that the identical names are read exactly the same in Vietnamese language as the name registered by another company earlier while a confusing name is read or written similarly to registered ones. A company name added symbol “&”, natural numbers, ordinal numbers, word “New”, “north", "south", "central", " western" and "eastern" to the name registered by other companies is considered misleading.

But, in fact, many companies dodge the naming regulations by adding some words into the target company name. For instance, instead of using Nam Thanh Co., Ltd, they add “Trade” or “Trading Services” behind Nam Thanh to be legally registered with the Department of Planning and Investment. Even, companies in different provinces using the same name are not considered using the same name at local levels while the naming provisions in the Law on Enterprises are effective nationwide.

 

A company owner has said that he has prepared a litigation against another company for using a similar brand name, just by adding the word “Services" to it. After being licensed, that company does the same businesses as his company has spent tremendous effort to build up. This confuses customers. Some customers went to his company to claim losses for items his company did not provide.

 

Many companies have to protect their brand names, logos and marks by registering with the National Office for Intellectual Property (NoIP). However, this seems not to be a long-term solution. Indeed, Vietnam needs stronger sanctions for violating naming regulations and brand name stealing to protect true companies. Recently, a limited liability company registered to change his name by replacing the determiner “limited liability company” with “joint stock company” after it started operating in the latter form but it was rejected because the name had been registered for use by another one. “We have built and develop our brand names for decades but they are now stolen by a newly established one. Does it mean we can never become a public company or privatised company or make an equity offering on the stock market?”.