Is a copyright like a trademark?

Copyright protects creative works. In modern law, copyright is automatic, but registering your copyright with the government may give additional benefits. Copyright includes the right to control who makes copies (thus the name), but also the right to make derivative works — new works that are not identical to the original, but are based on it.

Copyright in Vietnam 

Copyright lasts for the life of the author + 50 years or more, depending on country. If the author is a corporation, it lasts 50 years (again, or more, depending on country). In the US, these are life + 75 years and 95 years, respectively.

Copyright does not apply to individual words, names, titles, or short phrases; it’s considered that if these could be copyrighted, it would be too restrictive. Being able to keep anyone else from using a certain word, for example, could stifle speech to far too great a degree.

That’s where trademarks come in. A trademark is something that identifies a product, company, or brand in trade. You can trademark a word, name, title, or phrase… but trademark rights are much more limited than copyrights. First off, trademarks only apply in a limited field. For example, if I trademark “The Big Beef” for my hypothetical restaurant, I have to specify what areas I’m trademarking it in. Food services, of course, but I might also trademark it for apparel, if I’m planning on selling t-shirts with that on them.

Trademarks can also be geographically limited. That’s why there can be a “Joe’s Garage” in one town, and a different “Joe’s Garage” in another. Each can hold the trademark in the area where they engage in trade.

Engagement in trade is a big part of having a trademark. In the US, even if you register your trademark, if six years go by and you haven’t actually used it in trade, it lapses. If you do use it, your registration lasts for 10 years, but can be renewed as long as you keep using the mark.

So, trademarks can last longer than copyrights… but if you stop using them, then they go away fairly quickly.

Lastly, you can lose a trademark for failing to defend it. If other people use your trademark, and you don’t tell them to stop, you can be assumed to have given up the trademark. You can’t lose copyrights in this way.

Source:https://www.quora.com/Is-a-copyright-like-a-trademark/answer/Travis-Casey-4

Read More

How to Close a Business in Vietnam?

All corporations, companies, partnerships, branch offices, representative offices and other business entities are legal entities in Vietnam which can only be dissolved through formal procedures.

1. What are the major challenges with closing a business in Vietnam?

The main thing to remember throughout the process is that the dissolving company, a branch office or a representative office, one  should pay close attention to the involvement of all key stakeholders, i.e. the employees, customers, creditors, business partners and relevant authorities.

The following are key information to gather for thorough analysis

- Company size in terms of capital and number of employees?

-Enterprise’s business sector?

-Tax invoice usage declaration?

-Annual profit?

-Compliance with tax procedures?

-Administrative violations in the field of taxation?

-Any outstanding tax?

-Tax document filing records?

-Other tax matters?

2. What does the dissolution process involve?

Once an analysis has been through, the next procedures mostly deal with reporting and submitting the relevant documents to the various regulatories and tax authorities at each step of the process, terminating contracts, liquidating assets and settling liabilities, and general administrative work such as returning the corporate seal, registration certificates, and having the company’s name removed from the system of the license authorities.

3. How to prepare document to close a business in Vietnam?

Documents submitted to the licensing authority in Vietnam:

-Liquidation notice of enterprise;

-Minutes of the meeting of Management Board / Board of Directors decided on the dissolution of enterprises;

-The company’s decision on liquidation;

-Report on enterprise asset liquidation;

-The list of creditors and the paid debt;

-Documents evidencing that enterprise has fulfilled all of its tax;

-Confirmation on social insurance for employees after the dissolution decision;

-The seal and certificate of seal sample registration.

Documents submitted to the tax authority in Vietnam:

-Liquidation notice of enterprise;

-Minutes of the meeting of Management Board/Board of Directors decided on the dissolution of enterprises;

-The company’s decision on dissolution;

-Audit reports and tax settlements;

-The financial statements for the year to date the decision on dissolution;

-The company’s tax liabilities audited by tax authority;

-Verification of tax obligations of the enterprise.

Closing a business in Vietnam might be a lengthy process and more complicated than setting up a company in Vietnam.  Sometimes, it is important to make a decision to exit and start a new venture.  As a law firm in Vietnam, we do assist clients to close the business, exit the investment and deal with pending issues with licensing authorities including department of planning and investment, department of labour, tax bureau and others.

Read More

What is cybersecurity?

We depend on technology heavily, which also translates to a rise in online hackers. The bigger the corporation is, the higher the risk of cyber attacks. This is when cybersecurity comes into the picture.

Cybersecurity law in Vietnam

What is cybersecurity: Cybersecurity is the condition of being guarded against criminal and illegal activities that comprise of activities related to computer, information technology, and virtual reality. It also means the measures taken to acquire this condition. One must know the risks, threats, and consequences of cyber attacks.

- Who are the attackers: The attacker could be an external source like a hacker who gets into the system and steals files. The imposter could even be someone from the company itself, like an employee who has an access to confidential information.

- How are the attacks carried out: The attackers through viruses or botnets invade systems. It is even done by using a USB drive or clicking on an unknown link.

- When is the attack carried out: Cyber attacks mostly occur when your systems or the internal staff are vulnerable. There is no specific vulnerability and the attack can occur at any time.

- Which area is hit: Cyberspace is a limitless stretch so the attack can occur in any area.

- Why do these attacks occur: The external agents strike to leak or held captive crucial company data for earning ransom. And the internal sources like the employees do it for competitors in exchange for money. Some even do it as a revenge due to past unpleasant experiences.

- How to tackle cyber attacks: There are three ways of securing your website:

1) SSL Certificate: This certificate validates your website's identity and encrypts the information visitors send or receive from your site.

2) CodeGuard: It is a service that does an automatic backup of your website.

3) SiteLock: It scans your website for any threat and when it is detected, it works effectively to repair it. Also, you would be instantly notified about any attack.

Source : Quora - Jenny Webber, Web hosting expert

ANT Lawyers, a Law Firm in Vietnam with International Standard

As a single, fully integrated, global partnership, we pride ourselves on our approachable, collegiate and team-based way of working.  ANT Lawyers is a member of Vietnam Bar Federation, Hanoi Bar Association, an exclusive Vietnam law firm member of Prae Legal, a global law firm network spanning 5 continents and 150 countries.  

Send us request via email at ant@antlawyers.vn or call us at +84 28 730 86 529 

Read More

Handling Labour Matters in Post M&A Transaction

While undertaking M&A transaction, the buyer may face legal risks regarding license, assets, compliance, including labor matters. One of the challenges of the buyer post M&A is the integration of the labour force into the new structure while ensuring rights and interests of their existing employee complying with the laws.

When negotiating a deal, the buyer and target company may try to retain the advantage combining the strengths of both side. However, it’s challenging to just merely add personnel of the existing of departments with same functions together and group them under i.e. administration departments, sales department, accounting department…Further, one of the benefits of M&A is to improve the effectiveness of the operation through managing the similar scale of the combined business with less resources. Therefore, the re-arrangement of personnel is required and therefore conflicts will have to be managed between employees and employer.

Pursuant to Article 45 of Labor Code: in case of merging, consolidating, splitting or separating an enterprise, the successive employer shall continue employing the existing workforce and modify and supplement their labor contracts; if the existing workforce cannot be fully employed, the successive employer shall prepare a suitable labour plan and implement a labor utilization plan. In case of transferring asset ownership or use rights of an enterprise, the preceding employer shall have to prepare a labor utilization plan.

The labor utilization plan shall have the following contents: the lists and numbers of workforce to be continued employment and workforce to be re-trained for continued employment; the list and number of employees to be retired; the lists and numbers of employees to be assigned part-time jobs and those to terminate their labor contracts; measures and financial sources for implementing the plan. This is responsibility of the employer when the business arise change which greatly affects employee.

Regarding dismissed employee, the employer shall pay a job-loss allowance to the employee who has worked regularly for the employer for 12 months or longer. The job-loss allowance is equal to 1 month of salary for each working year, but must not be lower than 2 months of salary. The working period used for the calculation of job-loss allowance is the total time during which the employee actually works for the employer minus the time during which the employee benefits from unemployment insurance in accordance with the Law of Social Insurance and the working period for which the employer has paid a severance allowance to the employee.

It is important that the seller to retain M&A law firm to assist with the post M&A process to ensure the labour compliance is followed during the integration of labour resources.

If you need some help finding a Law firm in Vietnam, check out our website at ANT Lawyers.vn. As a single, fully integrated, global partnership, we pride ourselves on our approachable, collegiate and team-based way of working.  ANT Lawyers is a member of Vietnam Bar Federation, Hanoi Bar Association, an exclusive Vietnam law firm member of Prae Legal, a global law firm network spanning 5 continents and 150 countries. 

Let ANT Lawyers help your business in Vietnam.

Read More

Should intellectual property be abolished?

I am assuming your intended question was directed at the legal protections over intellectual property rights (i.e. patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets), and not the literal interpretation that we should stop creating and innovating.

The “value to society of intellectual property as a legally protected right” is an opinion with many views.

IP Services in Vietnam 

My view is that it would reduce the incentive for one to innovate and create. As an inventor, I would no longer share my thoughts and ideas with society so that others could grow them.

Individuals would be at a major disadvantage against larger companies who have more funds to test and revise quickly. An individual would need to protect all secrets until ready to build a final product and hit the market all as once. Because as soon as an innovation was released to the market, hoards of knock-offs would follow, quickly reducing the price, and quality.

As a writer, I would charge much more for my work, since it is free to be copied and sold by others, and value initially diminishes as a work becomes more commonly known.

Artist, Singers, Writers, etc. would be severely limited in what they could gain from their efforts and therefor would have incentive to prevent publishing, recording, and distribution to wider audiences. Inventors would spend time obfuscating their works, and refuse to explain new discoveries or improvement in the arts.

Read More