What Are Real Estate Transaction Conditions for Buyer and Seller in Vietnam?

The real estate market is always an attractive market with a large source of potential speculative profits for investors.  Because real estate transaction is always high in value, and buying a property for most people is always a life time important decision, and many times with the financial support from the bank, therefore in developed country, real estate lawyers in Vietnam are always involved in all steps of the transaction to ensure the legitimate transfer of the property. In Vietnam, in reality, many real estate transitions are conducted by the buyer and sellers themselves without real estate lawyers and there are many disputes arisen from the transactions in regard to property deposit agreement, property sales and purchase agreement between real estate developer and buyer for a new property, or between buyer and the previous property owner for resale property.

 

Residential property is one of the common types of real estate traded, so when joining in transactions related to property, it is necessary to ensure the conditions for property transfer.  The related parties need to comply and meet the requirements of the above conditions for a successful transfer transaction.

Conditions for property transfer transaction include the following basic points: the transferred property is not in a dispute, complaint, or claim about ownership; the transferred property shall be within the property ownership period, in the case of property owners with a definite term; the transferred property is not distrained for judgment enforcement or distrained to comply  legally effective administrative decisions of competent state agencies; the transferred property is not subject to a decision on land recovery or a notice of house clearance or demolition issued by a competent agency.

For the conditions on the parties to the property transaction, the property transferor needs to meet the following conditions:

The transferor is the owner of the property or the person permitted or authorized by the owner to carry out the transaction on property according to the provisions of law;

In case of transfer of a commercial house purchase and sale contract, the transferor shall be the person who bought the house from the investor or the person who has received the transfer of the house purchase and sale contract;

If the transferor is an individual, this person shall have full civil act capacity to carry out transactions on housing under the provisions of civil law;

If the transferor is an organization, it shall have legal status, unless the organization donates a house of gratitude or charity.

At the same time, the transferee shall also meet the conditions, specifically including the following conditions:

If the transferee is a domestic individual, this person shall have full civil act capacity to conduct property transactions under civil law and it is not required to them to have permanent residence registration in the place where the housing transferred is located;

If the transferee is a foreign individual or overseas Vietnamese, this person shall have full civil act capacity to carry out transactions on housing under Vietnamese law. In addition, this person must be eligible to own houses in Vietnam according to the provisions of law and it is not required to them to have temporary residence registration or permanent residence registration at the place where the housing transferred is located;

If the transferee is an organization, it shall have legal status and not depend on the place of business registration and establishment; if it is a foreign organization, it must be eligible to own a house in Vietnam according to the provisions of law; if the organization is authorized to manage to house, it must have the function of providing real estate services and be operating in Vietnam under the law on real estate business.

Having said that, it would be more efficient for buyer and seller to engage real estate law firm specializing in real estate transaction for buying and selling property in Vietnam to avoid potential disputes and protect their best interest for seller and safeguard investment for buyer.

ANT Lawyers – Real estate law firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or services request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529

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Trademark infringement in Vietnam

Counterfeit destroys businesses, business environments, markets as well as the image of the country. Handling trademark infringement in Vietnam  has been practically challenging.

 

Handle trademark infringement in Vietnam

Vietnam government has been trying to curb the counterfeits however the results are limited. The counterfeit business generates huge profits due to the gap price anywhere in the world. Almost goods which is either popular or luxury, high or low-value of either domestic or foreign brands are being counterfeited, imitated in Vietnam. Falsification of household goods, food, cosmetics, shoes and items of higher value such as bags, watches, glasses, etc… may be found all over Vietnam. For effective anti-counterfeit, we need a close cooperation among the authority agencies in inspection, control of production, import and circulation in the market. The Southern Department of Goods Quality Control in Vietnam in one of its regular inspections when cooperating with competent agencies in Ho Chi Minh City found after checking 79 stores with 416 items including: oil, helmets, toys, electronic devices that 33.89% of goods of unsatisfactorily labeled, 14.5% unsatisfactory quality. Where the consumers buy counterfeit goods, they could and should report to State authorities, Anti-Counterfeit and Brand Protection Association as an effort to contribute to curbing counterfeit in Vietnam. The international brands being infringed could request assistance from local law firm in Vietnam.

ANT Lawyers’ Intellectual Property lawyers in Vietnam have assisted a number of clients being foreign brands in its effort to protect their intellectual property and industrial property rights in Vietnam under Intellectual Property Law through advisory, and implementation service.

 

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What Are Requirements For Sets of photos or Drawings of Industrial Design?

Set of photos or drawings is one the most important documents of the dossier for registration industrial design. According to the laws on intellectual property of Vietnam, what sets of photos or drawings of industrial designs are required to satisfy which conditions?

In details, the following conditions are required for the sets of photos or drawings of industrial design:

-Photos or drawings must be clear and well defined; drawings must be presented with unbroken lines; the background of a photo or drawing must be monochrome and contrast with the industrial design; a photo or drawing must show only the product imbued with the industrial design sought to be protected (not accompanied with another product);

 

Register Industrial Design in Vietnam

-Photos or drawings must show the industrial design on the same scale. The size of the industrial design shown in photos or drawings must neither be smaller than 90 mm x 120 mm nor larger than 190 mm x 277 mm;

-Photos and drawings must show the industrial design viewed in the same direction and in the following order: three-dimensional picture of the industrial design, front, rear, right-side-left-side, top-down and down-top shadows of the industrial design; shown shadows must be frontispieces.

-For an industrial design with symmetrical shadows, its photos or drawings are not required to show more symmetrical shadows, provided that such is clearly stated in the list of photos and drawings in the description;

-For the industrial design of an expandable product (for instance: box, package), shadows of the industrial design may be replaced with photos or drawings of the industrial design in an expandable state.

-Depending on the complexity of an industrial design, more photos or three-dimensional drawings from other angles, cross-sections or magnified pictures of parts, pictures of knocked down components of the product, etc., may be required to clearly show new and distinctive design features of the industrial design sought to be protected.

-For a product that have different usages (for example: a product with cover or foldable), there must be photos or drawings of its industrial design in different states.

-For the industrial design of a part of a complete product, there must be more photos or drawings illustrating the position for fitting or use of such part on the complete set of product.

-For each variation of the industrial design, there must be a set of photos or drawings fully presenting it according to the above conditions.

-For a set of products, there must be three- dimensional pictures of the whole set and a set of photos or drawings of each product in the set according to the above conditions.

If Client needs more information or request for legal advice regarding intellectual property matters, please contact with ANT Lawyers to be assisted.

ANT Lawyers is supported by a team of experienced IP attorneys in Vietnam with qualification and skills handling full range of legal services relating to intellectual property in Vietnam. We have specialized in the preparation and registration of patents, trademarks and industrial designs for our clients.

 

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Documentary Credit in International Commerce in Vietnam

Documentary Credit (also known as letter of credit or bankers commercial credit, or letter of undertaking) is one of the payment instruments that institutions providing non-cash payment services (banks, foreign bank branches, etc.) deal with to make a valid payment transaction at the request of the account holder. Documentary credit is the most commonly used for payment of international sales of goods.

 

Bank Guarantee in Vietnam

The supply of international payment services by institutions providing non-cash payment services shall be conducted in accordance with regulations of the law on foreign exchange management, treaties to which Vietnam is a member and commercial practices (including international commercial practices provided by the International Chamber of Commerce; and other commercial practices which are not contrary to the Vietnamese laws) which agreed upon by the parties.

According to UCP 600, credit means any arrangement, however named or described, that is irrevocable and thereby constitutes a definite undertaking of the issuing bank to honour a complying presentation. Documentary credit is an independent and separate transaction from the sales and other contracts on which it may be based. The Issuing Banks and Advising Banks are in no way concerned with or bound by contract between the Applicant (purchaser) and the Beneficiary (seller), even if any reference whatsoever to it is included in the credit. Banks deal with documents only. Goods, services or performance to which the documents may relate are not under scope of handling of the Banks. When the issuing bank determines that a presentation of documents is complying, payment shall be made.

The independence between the documentary credit and the sales contract ensures that the seller definitely receives payment if complying presentation, however, does not protect the interests of the purchaser when there is any dispute about the quality of the delivered goods or any other dispute after delivery. When the seller presents complying documents, the issuing bank is obliged to make payment without any doubt whether the goods have actually been delivered according to the specifications as specified in the contract. At the same time, the cancellation or termination of contract does not affect the effectiveness of documentary credit, payment still is made if presentation is complying.

International payment instruments play an important role in commercial transactions between parties residing in different countries. Each payment method reflects the way of receiving and paying for goods amount between the buyer and the seller. The parties participating in international commerce transaction need to understand the characteristics of each payment instrument to protect their rights and obligations, and avoid disputes in international sales of goods, or disputes in financial service using letter of credit or other forms, disputes in performance of contract and should involve lawyers in early stage if possible to avoid mishap.

ANT Lawyers - a banking and finance dispute law firm in Vietnam with international standard, local expertise and strong international network. We focus on customers’ needs and provide clients with a high quality legal advice and services. For advice or service request, please contact us via email ant@antlawyers.vn, or call us +84 24 730 86 529.

 

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How to Dealing with Trademark Infringement in Vietnam

According to Vietnam law on intellectual property, when detecting the trademark infringement act, the trademark owner has the self-protection right includes (i) apply technological measures to prevent acts of trademark infringement (ii) request organization or individual who commits an act of trademark infringement of the holder to terminate such act, make a public apology or rectification, and compensate damages; (iii) request the competent authority to handle with acts of trademark infringement in accordance with the provisions of laws.

 

Trademark Infringement in Vietnam

Firstly, to apply the technological measures to prevent acts of trademark infringement measure, infringed party may give our the information related to original of emergence, trademark certificate, protection and duration scope and other information related to the right of trademark owner in order to inform that the infringed trademark are under protection warn the infringing party not to infringe. Besides, the owner of infringed trademark may use the technical means or measures to mark, identify, distinguish and protect the infringed trademark.

Secondly, the owner could also request organization or individual who commits an act of trademark infringement of the holder to terminate such act, make a public apology or rectification, and compensate damages. In particular, the trademark owners may themselves or authorize to individual or organization, IP attorney in Vietnam to send to the infringed party to stop the the infringement by indicating the information regarding origin of infringement, trademark certificate, protection scope, protection duration and set a reasonable period of time for the infringer to terminate the act of infringement. In addition, depending on the case and level of infringement, the written request will bear different content. It can be said that this is a prior-should-use measure before taking other measures including application of technological measures. If the violating party cooperates and stops the infringement, it will save time and money of both parties when not taking other stronger measures.

Thirdly, owner of trademark could request the competent authority to deal with acts of trademark infringement in accordance with the provisions of laws. When the trademark owner sends the request as mentioned above to infringing party, and, the violated party does not cooperate and continue the infringement, infringed party may sent a request to competent authority with the information such as: date of making the request; name and address of infringed party or their legal representative; name of receiving request authority; name and address of infringing party; name and address of the suspected violator in the case of request for temporary cessation of customs clearance for exports or imports suspected of infringement; brief information of infringed trademark and infringement; proposed measures to handle infringement; documents and evidence accompanying the request. Depending on the seriousness of the infringement, the petitioner may submit a request to the relevant authorities to apply administrative, civil, criminal or customs measures. Be noted that if the request is sent to custom authority for temporary cessation of customs clearance for imports or exports suspected of infringement, it is required to provide the additional information on the mode of import or export, country of exportation, mode of packaging, the lawful importer or exporter, features of lawfully imported or exported goods for distinction from infringing goods.

Overall, it is important to protect the intellectual property rights. Further, engaging with IP attorney in Vietnam will help the process efficiently from registration, managing the intellectual properties, protecting the intellectual property from infringement, and handling the disputes against the IP violators in Vietnam through administrative measures, civil litigation or even criminal prosecution.

ANT Lawyers is a law firm in Vietnam located in the business centers of Hanoi, Danang, Ho Chi Minh city. We provide convenient access to our clients. Please contact our lawyers in Vietnam for advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call our office at +84 28 730 86 529.

 

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