Regular seminars on IP under the framework of Vietnam - Japan cooperation: benefits and positive impacts on the Vietnam’s IP system.

Japan is one of the long-standing and important partners with Vietnam in the field of intellectual property (IP) development. Especially from the early 2000s to present, the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) has assisted the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP)  to carry out a number of major projects to strengthen the capacity of the IP system of Vietnam, namely the Industrial Property Applications Management System Project (IPAS, period 2000-2004); Project on Using Industrial Property Information in Vietnam (UTIPINFO, period 2005 - 2009) and  Project of Strengthening the enforcement of IP rights in Vietnam (period 2012 - 2017).

In the framework of bilateral cooperation, the JPO has received and trained IP knowledge/skills for nearly 700 Vietnamese trainees, including both public and private sectors (for example, industrial property representation organizations). In addition to the technical assistance and in-depth IP training for NOIP’s examiners, an activity that is recognized to be very effective and has an impact on many subjects in society is a series of an IP  workshop implemented every two years, starting in 2005.

The theme of each workshop is proposed by the NOIP based on the principle of prioritizing issues that Vietnam is interested in and eager to learn and that is a strong area of Japan.. Based on the contents proposed by Vietnam, the Japanese side sent experts with deep expertise to best share useful experiences for Vietnam. Since 2005, the two sides have successfully organized 8 workshops, each held two days in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with nearly 1,500 attendees.