JICA enforces intellectual property rights

This marks the third project in the field of intellectual property that the Japanese government has granted to Vietnam so far.

The newly-signed project focuses on three main areas, including supporting capacity enhancement of the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) and of enforcement authorities of intellectual property in Vietnam, strengthening the coordination between NOIP and the other enforcement authorities, including the establishment of information gathering and sharing systems between NOIP and the enforcement authorities and enhancing public awareness on intellectual property.

The issue of intellectual property rights protection has become more crucial as Vietnam is accelerating the shifting from its current growth model of investment-led growth to knowledge-based economy, particularly after Vietnam joined WTO.

At the same time, Japan-Vietnam Joint Initiative and Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement list the protection of intellectual property rights as priority.

“Under the circumstances, it is necessary to strengthen the capacity of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights especially in NOIP,” said the release.

According to Motonori Tsuno, chief representative of JICA Vietnam office, it was getting more difficult to adequately and timely protect intellectual property rights in Vietnam due to the increased volume of trade and complexity in business areas.

“We believe that this project will contribute addressing the issues of intellectual property rights for creating better environment for business and investment in Vietnam” said Tsuno.

Previously, the NoIP and JICA cooperated in two projects. They are the project for “Modernisation of Industrial Property Administration” during 2000-2004 and the project for “Utilisation of Intellectual Property Information” until March 2009.

Under these two projects, NOIP were equipped with information technology for efficient administration of intellectual property rights protection.