Vietnam Trademark Registration Guide 2026: Application Steps, Costs and Timeline

You have registered the company name, bought the domain and paid for packaging. Then a distributor asks to see your Vietnamese trademark certificate, or a search reveals that somebody else has already filed a similar name.

Many small business owners then discover that a company registration, website and social handle do not create trademark rights. We wrote a detailed guide to intellectual property law in Vietnam, which gives an overview of trademarks, copyright, patents and designs. This article focuses on the next practical question: how do you register a trademark in Vietnam in 2026?

Why the filing date matters in Vietnam

Vietnam generally follows the first-to-file principle. For confusingly similar marks covering similar goods or services, the valid application with the earliest priority or filing date normally prevails. Waiting can turn a manageable filing into a rebrand or dispute.

Protection is territorial. A foreign registration or Vietnamese enterprise name does not substitute for a Vietnamese trademark certificate.

Names, logos, combined marks, three-dimensional signs and graphically represented sounds may qualify. Generic, descriptive or misleading signs, and those conflicting with earlier rights, protected geographical indications, state symbols or protected identities, are vulnerable.

For many small businesses, a word mark deserves early attention because it protects the name independently of one logo layout. File the logo separately if the device carries commercial value.

Before filing: choose the owner, mark and territory

Choose the owner carefully. Corporate ownership is often cleaner if the brand will support investment, licensing or a sale. If you file before the company exists, document any later assignment. A mark in a founder's, designer's or distributor's name can become a due diligence problem.

Foreign applicants must also check who may file. A foreign individual who is not permanently resident in Vietnam, or a foreign organization without a production or business establishment in Vietnam, must act through a licensed industrial property representation service organization. Eligible Vietnamese applicants and foreign applicants with the required residence or establishment may file themselves or appoint a representative.

For Vietnam-only protection, file nationally with the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam, commonly called IP Viet Nam. The Madrid System may suit a multi-country strategy, but Vietnam still examines a designation under Vietnamese law.

Step 1: search before you commit to the brand

A search is not compulsory, but it is a cheap risk control. Check the IP Viet Nam trademark database and WIPO Global Brand Database. Look for similar pronunciation, appearance and meaning, including Vietnamese translations.

Search planned and related goods or services. Databases can lag and similarity is a legal judgment, so a clean result is not a guarantee. It is still better to find a conflict before printing signs or naming an app.

Step 2: classify what you actually sell

Vietnam uses the Nice Classification. Applications in 2026 should follow NCL(13-2026), the thirteenth edition, covering 45 classes of goods and services.

The class number is only the folder. The wording defines the scope. A cafe may need restaurant services in Class 43, packaged coffee in Class 30 and retail services in Class 35. One does not cover the others.

List what you use or realistically plan to use. Filing everywhere wastes money, but filing too narrowly can expose the revenue-generating business. An amendment cannot expand the scope, so an omission may require a new application and filing date.

Step 3: prepare the current 2026 application

The current national trademark declaration is Form No. 04 in Appendix I to Circular 10/2026/TT-BKHCN. Older guides may refer to Form 04-NH, Form 08, nine additional specimens or a nine-month substantive examination. Those instructions should not be used for a new 2026 filing.

A standard dossier includes:

• The completed Vietnamese-language Form No. 04, identifying the applicant, mark, description, classes and itemized goods or services
• A clear mark specimen. A paper filing requires five additional specimens. Each element must generally be between 8 mm and 80 mm, with the complete mark shown inside the 80 mm by 80 mm box on the declaration
• A power of attorney when filing through a representative
• Priority documents if priority is claimed, plus evidence of a transferred priority right where relevant
• Evidence of the right to register if that right came from another person
• Consent and identity evidence if the mark uses another person's image, subject to the population-database exception
• Regulations and approvals required for collective or certification marks, especially those containing Vietnamese place names or geographical-origin signs

Special formats need extra care. Color claims must match the specimens, while three-dimensional and sound marks need the required visual, graphical or audio materials. If the same mark was first filed abroad within six months, ask promptly whether convention priority is available.

Step 4: file, keep the receipt and pay the correct charges

File online through the Ministry's system, or on paper in person or by post. Start from IP Viet Nam's forms page and online filing portal, not an old saved form. Keep the application number, receipt, payment evidence and submitted file.

Government charges are paid in stages. For one mark in one class with up to six correctly classified goods or services:

These figures reflect the temporary 50% reduction under Circular 64/2025/TT-BTC, while Circular 29/2026/TT-BTC waives the filing and certificate levies through qualifying VNeID services until 31 December 2026. Each item above six adds VND 150,000. Priority claims, extra classes and office classification cost more. Unless extended, the base total returns to VND 1.36 million on 1 January 2027.

Using a legal firm or IP specialist costs more, but can save founders time interpreting unfamiliar rules. A representative can assess conflicts, select classes, prepare the application, monitor deadlines and handle notices. This reduces avoidable errors and simplifies the process, but cannot guarantee registration.

Published 2026 fees range from VND 1.5 million to VND 3 million or more, with broader guidance reaching VND 5 million. For straightforward one-mark, one-class filing, budget VND 3 million to VND 7 million before VAT. Ask whether the quote includes searches, official charges, classification, monitoring, office-action responses, grant payment and certificate delivery. Extra classes, objections and disputes are normally quoted separately.

Step 5: understand what happens after filing

Under the IP Law as amended from 1 April 2026, the statutory sequence for a regular application is set out below. Under the transitional clause of Law 131/2025/QH15, these shorter periods apply to applications published from 1 April 2026; applications published earlier keep the previous periods.

1. Formality examination: one month from filing.
2. Publication: within one month after the application is considered formally valid.
3. Opposition window: third parties may file a formal opposition within three months after publication. Third-party observations may be submitted until a grant decision.
4. Substantive examination: five months from publication.
5. Grant: after a favorable outcome and timely payment, the certificate decision should be issued within one month of paying the grant fees in full. The grant decision is then published within 30 days.

These are statutory periods, not a guaranteed completion date. Applicant response time is excluded, while oppositions, suspensions, amendments and workload can extend the process. A straightforward file may be planned at about eight months, but build a buffer and monitor every notice.

Vietnam also introduced a narrow three-month fast substantive examination route. It must be requested at filing and generally applies only to qualifying direct national applications tied to specified strategic technology or a legal licensing requirement. It is not a general fee-for-speed option.

Common mistakes that make a simple filing expensive

• Filing only a stylized logo and assuming the words are protected in every presentation
• Naming the wrong owner or letting a local distributor file the mark
• Copying a goods and services list from another country without checking the 2026 Nice edition and Vietnam's practice
• Treating a database search as a legal clearance opinion
• Using an obsolete form, fee table or nine-month examination timeline
• Missing a response or payment deadline because nobody monitors the official correspondence

After registration: use, monitor and renew

A certificate takes effect from grant and runs until the end of ten years from filing. It can be renewed indefinitely for ten-year periods. File during the six months before expiry. A late request may be accepted within six months after expiry with monthly charges. The renewal procedure was updated again from 1 July 2026 by Circular 20/2026/TT-BKHCN, but these six-month windows are unchanged.

Registration is not automatic market policing. Watch new applications, marketplaces and distributors. Keep dated evidence of genuine use, such as invoices, packaging, advertising, contracts and screenshots. A registration can be vulnerable if the mark is unused by the owner or an authorized user for five consecutive years without a valid reason.

The practical takeaway

Trademark registration in Vietnam is not just a form-filling exercise. The valuable decisions come earlier: who owns the mark, what version to file, which goods and services matter, whether a conflict is tolerable and who will monitor the application.

Make those decisions before the brand becomes expensive to change. If you are a foreign founder, expat or small business and need help with a search, classification or filing strategy, use the Easytiger request form to find a suitable intellectual property lawyer or licensed representative in Vietnam.

This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Procedures, fees, forms and classifications can change, and the correct strategy depends on the applicant, mark and commercial plan. Information checked to September 2026.