Joint Efforts to Protect Hoi An Lantern Trademark

It is simple, easy and profitable to make the Hoi An lantern. That is the reason why many regions across Vietnam have used the name of the Hoi An lantern to attract tourists although it is not a product made by the Hoianian.

According to Do Dinh Pho, Deputy Director of the Economic Department in Hoi An city, as soon as lantern product became the trademark of Hoi An ancient city, the city thought of how to protect the monopoly for the product. It is not only the trademark of a product which is associated with the image of the world heritage - Hoi An ancient city - but also the product’s prestige and quality.

 

The city currently has 43 households with over 170 labourers making and trading lanterns compared to a few figure in the past. Each of the household is estimated to earn over VND4 billion from 150,000 lanterns a year.

 

Seeing benefit and opportunities from protecting the trademark of the Hoi An lantern, the city Economic Department popularised regulations to protect the product. 

That the Hoi An lantern awarded with the trademark registration certificate for a collective product by the National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam is an important step in efforts to protect the trademark which is used to consider as the soul of the ancient city. 

 

Since awarding with the trademark registration certificate for a collective product, the Hoi An lantern has been bringing professionally onto the market when it is enclosed with the trademark, standards, origin of production, address of makers, and the working life. The figure of 20,000-30,000 lanterns made monthly shows the nonstop growth of the Hoi An lantern making sector.

 

Apart from researching to protect the lantern from woodworm, Hoi An city also organises lantern making contests every year in a bid to enrich the city product.

 

Together with the protection certificate for Kim Bong wooden products of the Kim Bong craft village granted by the National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam on December 18, 2008, traders shows their high awareness in owning and protecting products made by themselves and their communities.

 

However, not every traders can see benefit from protecting the trademark of the Hoi An lantern. To date, only 25 households have participated in the project to protect the Hoi An lantern since the product was registered for protection two years ago. The remaining households think they are small makers and do not see the necessity of business registration, it means their products will not be protected.

 

It is not easy to ensure the quality of those households’ products because their lanterns have not got any constraints as well as specific regulations on ensuring the quality for the Hoi An lantern.

 

“We hope these households will spontaneously join the project to protect the Hoi An lantern in the near future. We are depending on lanterns, so we should joint hands with one another to protect and improve them. The quality and prestige of the Hoi An lantern depend much on consciousness of makers. We will try utmost to persuade makers of the importance and necessity of registering for protecting their products. Striving to protect the trademark of the Hoi An lantern is being considered as the focus task of the city. The city relevant agencies have advanced their attentions to this task”, Pho concerned.