The director-general of Myanmar’s Intellectual Property Department (IPD) has written a newspaper article stating that the country’s trademark registration will come into full effect with the “grand opening” of the IPD on April 26, 2023. This announcement comes days after the IPD issued the Trademark Rules and other related notifications in conjunction with the Trademark Law coming into force. While an official notification confirming the date is still pending, the anticipated grand opening means that as of April 26, marks filed during the IPD’s current “soft opening” period—and for which all fees have been fully paid—will be officially accorded the first filing date, which is the date of the IPD’s grand opening. Accordingly, mark owners who submitted marks during the soft opening period need to pay the official filing fees before April 26 in order to secure the earliest possible filing date (i.e., April 26) under the Trademark Law’s new first-to-file system. Mark owners also need to submit a notarized Appointment of Representative (TM-2) form to the IPD to enable their trademark representative in Myanmar to carry out this step. Moreover, the trademark system coming into full effect with the IPD’s grand opening will enable mark owners to file registration applications for new marks—which has not been permitted during the soft opening. To expedite this process, these mark owners should now start preparing all necessary documents for filing their new trademark applications. For assistance ensuring that your existing mark secures the earliest possible filing date, or for assistance in processing new trademark applications, please contact Tilleke & Gibbins at [email protected].

As Myanmar’s long-awaited Trademark Law came into force on April 1, 2023, the government issued several pieces of implementing legislation, including the Trademark Rules. Together, this legislation gives shape to Myanmar’s new trademark system and paves the way for the eventual “grand opening” under the Trademark Law. The first piece of legislation, Notification 17/2023 of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), set out the Trademark Rules. The rules contain detailed provisions on the registration and examination of marks, opposition to registration, priority claims, and criteria for well-known marks. The rules allow for substantive examination of trademark registration applications to begin. The second piece of legislation (MOC Notification 1/2023) established the Intellectual Property Agency (IP Agency). Made up of senior government figures, IP experts, and representatives of civil society, the IP Agency is responsible for implementing trademark policy and hearing administrative appeals against decisions by the trademark registrar. The IP Agency’s first notification set the official fees for requests and applications to the Intellectual Property Department (IPD), including a fee of MMK 150,000 (approx. USD 72) per class for filing a trademark application. Finally, the IPD issued two procedural announcements. Announcement No. 1/2023 confirmed that the second phase of the “soft opening” will commence on April 3, 2023. As explained in our previous update, during the second phase of the soft opening, mark owners who have already filed trademark applications with the IPD must pay the official filing fees. Announcement No. 2/2023 specified the ways in which these fees can be paid. Now that the Trademark Law has come into force and implementing legislation has been issued, mark owners should prepare to pay the necessary filing fees and submit their notarized Appointment of Representative (TM-2) forms to the IPD. We will continue to monitor developments related to the new trademark system. For more

Myanmar’s State Administration Council has specified the enforcement date of the country’s 2019 Trademark Law as April 1, 2023—confirming a recent announcement from Myanmar’s Intellectual Property Department (IPD) to certified trademark representatives in the country. The official public announcement came in Notification No. 82/2023, which was dated March 10, 2023, and published in the government-owned daily newspaper the following day. The planned next step is the promulgation of the Trademark Rules to establish substantive procedures on trademark-related matters for trademark applications under the new system. The rules, which are necessary to establish procedures for collecting official fees, are expected to be issued in March 2023. Once the Trademark Rules are established and the Trademark Law comes into force, the second phase of the IPD’s “soft opening” period will commence—expected to occur on April 3, 2023, if there are no further changes. In this second phase, mark owners can pay the official fees for trademark applications filed within the first phase of the soft opening. According to IPD officials, marks recorded under Myanmar’s old system or used in the country can still be filed together with payment during the soft opening’s second phase, either in person by the mark owner or through a certified representative via the online system. Even if such a previously recorded mark is registered after April 1, 2023, the application during the second phase can still reserve the earliest possible filing date under the new first-to-file system. This second phase will continue until the “grand opening” of the IPD commences, unless officials make further announcements to the contrary. IPD officials have confirmed that the earliest possible filing date of the new system will be the date of the IPD’s grand opening. In light of the ongoing and planned developments, the grand opening is expected to occur

Vietnam’s Law on Intellectual Property was comprehensively amended in 2022 (“2022 IP Law”), and the amended law came into effect (with the exception of a few provisions) on 1 January 2023. Along with amendments of substantive matters, the revised version also touches upon the requirements for providing IP representation (agent) services, at both the organizational and individual level. Requirements for Organizations Article 154 of the previous IP Law provided the following conditions for organizations to act as IP representation service organizations: The organization is a lawfully established and operating law-practicing enterprise, cooperative or organization, or a scientific and technological service organization, except for foreign law-practicing organizations operating in Vietnam. The organization has the function of providing IP representation services stated in its business registration certificate or operation registration certificate. The head(s) of the organization or a person(s) authorized by the head(s) of the organization has a certificate for practicing IP representation services. While the first requirement remains unchanged, the 2022 IP Law has removed the second requirement, and revised the third requirement to be more relaxed. Specifically, the amended provision only requires that there must be at least one individual holding a certificate for practicing IP representation services in each IP representation service organization. (Regarding the second requirement, while it is no longer stated in the IP Law, this does not mean that any organization can practice IP representation services, because this is a conditional business line and only organizations who meet the conditions for providing such services, provided in other legislation, can do business in this field.) Requirements for Individuals At the individual level, the law both tightens and loosens the requirements. Under the former law, to be granted a certificate for practicing IP representation services, the individual must: Be a Vietnamese citizen with full capacity for civil