Intellectual Property remains a big challenge for Vietnam under CPTPP

At an informal meeting of representatives from 11 countries (without US) taking place on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) dated on November 10th, 2017, the parties agreed to change from Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) to the Comprehensive and Progressive Partnership for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Accordingly, the CPTPP contains 8,000 pages of documents, but only 20 articles of the TPP agreement, including 10 articles related to intellectual property (IP) and 4 points are reserved for the parties to negotiate in next time. Each member will list its delimited list of restrictions of their country.

According to the Vietnam Minister of Industry and Trade, CPTPP still guarantees a quality agreement like TPP-12, while ensuring new equilibria for member countries. The content of the CPTPP is not only about trade, investment, but also on intellectual property (albeit temporarily postponed) and other broad areas.

With CPTPP, Vietnam may not be the most beneficiary country like the proposed TPP, but it is still very important, because it brings together many of the criteria associated with reform, particularly institutional reform, improving the investment climate, business.

Vietnam law on Intellectual Properties will need to be amended because the legal system of Vietnam’s IP is not consistent with the legal system of developed countries.  The Law on Intellectual Property of Vietnam, after many proposals, has not yet been approved by the National Assembly. Meanwhile, the amended Law on Technology Transfer, though approved in June 2017, still lacks specific guidelines on technology transfer.

Intellectual property rights in the TPP not only contain general provisions and requirements relating to areas of cooperation, patents, test data, designs, trademarks, geographical indications or copyright but also focuses on the legal enforcement of this right by nations.

The CPTPP is based on agreed commitments at the TPP, which are particularly important in paving the way for Vietnamese goods to penetrate into the members’ markets.