NA reviews draft on intellectual property

NA reviews draft on intellectual property

(16-03-2005)

HA NOI — The National Assembly's Science, Technology and Environment Committee yesterday reviewed the draft Law on Intellectual Property in Ha Noi. The draft Law is expected to be ratified later this year as Viet Nam moves closer to what deputies hope will be World Trade Organisation (WTO) accession.

The new legislation marks a giant step in Viet Nam's economic adaptation to WTO legal rules, with the Government vowing to push hard for the law's ratification and protection of IP rights.

“Viet Nam is clearly facing a number of challenges in its accession to the WTO, one of which is to ensure full protection and implementation of IP regulations,” said Bui Manh Hai, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology.

“Legal issues on IP will be addressed in only one legal document – the Law on Intellectual Property.”

The draft law has 14 chapters with 497 articles that articulate various aspects of IP protection, such as copyrights, patents, industrial design, trade secrets and antitrust provisions.

Yesterday's discussion topics focused on whether IP provisions will be included in the Civil Code's Part VI; how to avoid an overlap between the Civil Code and the new IP Law; whether provisions on antitrust and business secrets should be included; and the importance of national protective measures and protection of innovation.

Hai's ministry submitted to the Government last year two proposed plans to perfect Viet Nam's IP laws and the enforcement of IP rights, he said yesterday.

Under these laws and with the help of the draft Law now pending NA approval, Viet Nam will also work hard to enhance the role of its court system in the protection of IP rights.

“In the future, we will move towards a system where all IP-related disputes will be resolved in court,” he said.

Mass media campaigns and seminars will raise awareness of the new regulations, while IP agencies will see a shake-up to improve the law's enforcement, he added.

International support

Jeffrey J Hardee, vice president and regional director of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in the Asia Pacific, hailed the draft IP law yesterday as a necessary development for Viet Nam's legal system.

“The new IP law is necessary because the Civil Code and Criminal Code both have provisions on IP but have failed to work well with each other,” he said before a major conference held today in Ha Noi between the BSA and the ministries of Science and Technology and Culture and Information.

The conference discusses future enforcement of IP rights for software and its economic impact on the economy.

Hardee is optimistic about Viet Nam's future, with the country joining the Bernes Convention, agreeing to implement the WTO's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, joining the Viet Nam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement and drafting a separate law on IP.

“It is important for the Government to recognise that there's an economic cost for piracy,” Hardee said. “If you can bring down the piracy rate, the Information Technology will benefit greatly from growing much more rapidly than before.”

Hardee said Viet Nam, with the smallest IT sector in the region, stands to see some of the biggest gains from software piracy reductions.

Viet Nam's IT sector, which earned only $400 million in 2002, could grow to $1 billion by 2006 with the help of a 10-point drop in piracy over four years, according to recent BSA research.

Christophe Desriac, chief representative of software giant Microsoft in Viet Nam, said he was pleased to see some encouraging progress on IP protection and enforcement in the country over the last several years.

“I believe the Government will do its job well in ensuring laws on IP rights protection, particularly for the software and IT sector,” Desriac said adding that Microsoft has been working closely with the Government to increase awareness of IP rights. — VNS