LV Thạc sĩ_Vietnam trademark and developmental solutions in the international economic integration

INTRODUCTION In 1990, having made a survey of 50 leading advertising firms in the US on the problems of fake image of products spreading over the country, Marketing Science Institute of the United States of America received the answers on what it cared for best : “Trademark is the first Trademark is the best property of business Being a market leader is better than owning a factory and the only way to this is owning the trademarks which can take over the markets” The fact lies in that public opinion in Vietnam, recently, has been interested in building trademark and in finding a way in developing and protecting the trademark that has been constantly cultivated to gain reputation in the fierce competitiveness between “small and big fish” in streamline of business racing Truly, Vietnamese trademark is stolen, and disputed in the markets It is because that knowledge of many people, even businessmen on trademark building, trademark development and trademark protection as well remain restricted, sometimes very poor It’s clear that the Vietnamese businesses haven’t had a comprehensive look on trademark In the trend of the international economic integration and in the context of spreading overwhelming competitiveness seen nationally and globally between corporation and corporation, between company and company etc on launching products of all kinds in the markets, it’s high time the Vietnamese businessmen have paid due attention to firmly and steadily building the name of ourselves with prestige and trustworthy, and to i developing and protecting the trademarks, especially exporting products satisfactorily By a “seeing and believing” attitude, I wish to go in-depth study of the theme: “Vietnam Trademark and Developmental Solutions in the International Economic Integration”, which was suggested and supervisored by Mr Trần Anh Thơ, vice Dean of the Faculty of English, Hanoi School of Business & Technology Originating from the interest in viewing the importance and indispensability of trademark and matter of building, developing and protecting Vietnam trademark in the global markets, the Graduation Assignment particularly focuses on registering and protecting trademark in Vietnam as the troubles clearly seen, that the Vietnamese businesses are now encountering The GA includes chapters with contents as follows: ● Chapter I : Trademark and Requirements for Building and Developing ● Chapter II : Vietnam’s Regulations issued on Trademark and its Development ● Chapter III : Some Proposals to Building and Protecting Vietnam Trademark i While every endeavour has been made, it has not been possible to avoid shortcomings, errors and deficiencies The author and supervisor as well would welcome any contribution to the perfect of the GA Chapter I Trademark and Requirements for Building and Developing i I Trademark and Process of Building and Developing Trademark 1.1 Brand - Trademark - Strong Trademark Many people often confuse between brand and trademark It can be said that SONY, MERCEDES, FORD, COCA-COLA are trademarks … but “Vietnam rice” is not So what is the difference? First is concept of trademark “Trademark comprises a name, word, phrase, logo, image, term, sign, symbol, design, or the elements combined, used by manufacturers of merchants to identify their own goods and distinguish them from goods or sold by competitors” A trademark is a type of industrial property which is distinct from other forms of intellectual property In Marketing’s view, there is a large distance between brands, trademarks and strong trademark - A brand only creates a fixed awareness of products, discriminates them from their names, and increases the business’s turnover - Speaking of trademark, it is an ensuring of quality, delivery and delivery process Trademark brings loyalty of customer from products and services of business i - A strong trademark is a discrimination of quality and services, this creates characteristics for a product When they speak of that trademark, they may be image and have image of the product in Trademark also creates the strength for business in different activities Therefore, the difference between brand and trademark lies in subconsciousness of customer A name becomes a trademark when consumers think about products, attributions, and visible or invisible advantages that they received from those products HONDA really is a strong trademark because its products are endurable, economic fuel and customers have peace of mind when using its products Up to now, we could conclude that Trademark is brand that customers accept and believe etc In other way, trademark is brand that creates prestige 1.2 Meaning Levels of a Trademark If brand, basically, orients customer to attribution and use of product, so with trademark, it has many meaning levels  Present attributions A trademark represents for attributions of product These may be enduring, good, nice, expensive, cheap… Customer may connect to attributions of goods from the trademark that it represents Attributions of goods are basic for business to decide the next meaning levels  Present product’s advantages When customers buy product of trademark, they buy its advantages, not attributions The advantages that they direct to, start from attributions Vietnamese not buy endurance, they buy the advantages of using long-range, no losing for repaired expenses, less money in buying fuel i  Present producer’s value Trademark presents value of goods, buyers could estimate the value of goods that the producers owned, and through that, consumers come to decision of buying actions SONY presents as a great corporation, they have a strong ability in penetrating different markets, a talent group of staff, they always direct toward new products and new facilities  Present a fixed culture Trademark represents a nation and a culture When they read trademark, they immediately know the nation that the products belong to and what the culture’s specifications are FORD Motor makes everyone contact with active, creative and modern culture of American  Speaking of company’s personality Trademark represents owner-self It reflects their characters, life styles, thinking and work In Vietnam, FPT is known to have youthful and genial staff MICROSOFT is being spoken with billionaire BillGates  Trademark also represents the position and status of consumers A trademark let we know what social stratum, hobby and aesthetic level customers belong to When we see a man who steps out from a Mercedes car, we are sure he is a gentleman For real strong trademark, it would present all above meaning levels For any business which has not fully had those meaning levels, they need to determine their trademark strategies corresponding with each meaning level so that they can have reasonable trademark strategy 1.3 Trademark’s Value i When we speak of French, we think about champagne, with American we think about IBM, MICROSOFT, P&G And they are TOYOTA, SONY if it is Japan Most people hearing the name "UNILEVER" in Vietnam automatically remember it is a global company producing consumer goods of many notable brand names such as SUNSILK shampoo and OMO detergent, among others They would also realise that the company owns a valuable trademark COCA-COLA soft drink, one of the top ten brands in the world valued at $67 billion in 2004, which is more than the Coca Cola’s company total asset value, also makes customers remember it owns other famous brands such as FANTA, SPRITE, and JOY Notable brands and their images obviously have a strong influence on customers A company’s positive image creates company prestige; brings value to its trademark and contributes to developing it So we could said that trademark is a company’s property We still know trademark’s prestige in conduct is an invisible property is difficult to quantify But nowadays there are many business’s trademark that their value rise up billions USD According to the valuation of Integrand company, trademark’s value of COCA-COLA is 69.6 billion USD, MICROSOFT is 64.09 billion USD in 2002… And in Vietnam, recently, P/S toothpaste trademark has just been transferred to abroad business by million USD So what satisfying trademark’s value?  Firstly, due attention to be paid to quality and satisfying goods that trademark owns If trademark is not connected closely with quality and satisfaction, trademark advertising will be deceptive i  Next, it is difference The difference creates image, owned character to trademark When we decide to choose SONY television, not SAMSUNG, what make us that? Reliably, we must see to goods point The differences of SONY are high endurance and real colors etc  The most important is trademark’s prestige A company wants to buy trademark of others, actually, they want to buy trademark’s prestige The prestige creates endurable life to products The value of trademark presents in many aspects:  Knowledge levels of trademark A trademark only has value when it is known generously not only in domestic but also in international market  Acceptance of trademark Knowledge level is the condition for trademark accepting  Loyalty of trademark Loyalty element decides the value of trademark Why customers are believable, faithful to trademark? It must be a trademark which satisfies customer’s requirement Or, at least, there is not a trademark that is more satisfactory A strong trademark which creates loyalty will have strength in competitions Company will sell more products, operate more steadily and easily than when deciding to create a new product The Process of Building and Developing Trademark 2.1 The Elements Affecting the Building Process of Trademark i All the elements which affect marketing process of a business, also affect the building process of trademark However, in the thesis, I only deal with the important and direct elements - Modern consumption tendency of customers There are still many tendencies affecting the trademark decision of business However, we may generalize those consumption behaviors as follows: Nowadays customers buy products not only purely need basic advantages but also more important, there are wants that are hidden inside And companies have to look for and satisfy those wants best - Tendency of the economy directs to the knowledgeable economy that gets technology for foundation Consumers live in a modern economy with stormy development of information technology This urges us to have demands for super modern products When building trademark, businesses need to catch this to create products whose trademarks make customers emotive Motor, motorbike firms were the fastest businesses They have a series of trademark such as Super Dream, Wave Alpha, especially is @ motor, this is a small trademark of Honda which represents new products generation, bold information technology - Tendency of globalization and regionalization The international economic integration ushers an era when “the world does not have frontiers” Markets for businesses become large but encounter many challenges A few internal trademarks may make troubles for abroad markets This requires the businesses when building trademark, they must pay attention to globalization trademark strategies and reasonable decisions - Culture element of particular tradition of gold markets In each nation, each area, even each region exists long traditional cultured values It i is difficult to change these values Thus, when businesses decide to build trademark, they need to examine between global trademark building and particular elements - Competitors: Trademark building process was affected by competitors If the company is still weak, it can strive for different trademark strategies, for example, search for the market that has been not exploited yet, avoid confrontational competition If the company is strong enough to carry out with the methods which challenge competitors, it will set off the power as trademark of the company - Political elements: Political elements involve in laws and under law document system, political instruments of The State, organization apparatus and management mechanism of The Government and socialpolitical organizations Trademark decisions, though wanted or not, always obey legal regulations They affect double-faced to trademark building process In one hand, the company is bound by political limits such as brands not correspond with policy, law, or The Government establishes the office that protects consumers On the other hand, political elements are necessary They ensure that trademark of business are avoided by violation behavior of competitors as stolen trademark as well as false trademark etc So political elements, essentially affect trademark constructively and they are obstacle for businesses, that their activities are not for customers 2.2 Trademark Decisions Trademark decision is an important work, it has a meaning which decides success or failure of trademark building process It includes: i careful when correcting trademark and trying to keep things belonging to nature and tradition of trademark II Proposals make to the State Office Reconsider the Legal Elements Related to Trademark As above showed that there are many insufficiencies in the law system to protect trademark to avoid false and imitative goods phenomenon and loss prestige of trademark The office issues certificate of trademark monopoly property but not has the rights to settle infringing behavior This is really an insufficiency, the people who certify directly legal rights of businesses, best are the people that have the rights to settle trademark infringing behavior This will combine elements closely with practice So businesses hope that The State reconsiders this matter The State Should Grant Policies to Support Finance for The Businesses That Attempt Giving Trademark to World Market The most difficult for many businesses is scanty finance Businesses want to expand market but finance is limited while expense for advertisement, promotion on export market are very big In this matter, businesses propose The State to reconsider regulations about deducting according to percent rate of advertisement and marketing expenses At presents, this level is 5% , separately, some goods such as fertilizer and newspaper are 7%, should The State rise the discount rate for the businesses which make efforts to bring Vietnamese trademark to the international markets i Diplomatic Policy In the past time, we can easily find that PHU QUOC fish sauce was stolen and registered in EU by Thailand firms but we get back with assistance of The State in pledging to protect COGNAC trademark Inconstant PHU QUOC fish sauce was protected in the EU territory by France Follow this, diplomatic relation shows its big role in protecting trademark of the businesses in the international market The policy factor makes our businesses get many troubles even they have real evidences that present legal trademark property rights In that case, diplomatic relation plays an important role Support Information to Businesses It could be said that the weakness, the most deficient of Vietnamese businesses is information Even many businesses still not update the basic information of law, or regulations Further more, the information of export market is more deficient The State should have plan to support businesses through the embassy and lift the role of commerce embassy counselor as a information provider for businesses i CONCLUSION Trademark has been coming the important invisible property and sharp competition weapon of business in the markets It is the resource which impacts directly the existence and development of the whole system of a business Trademark building process is a long process which requires great, long-term investment Businesses need to know where they are standing to start owned trademark It is difficult to make a brand become a trademark, but a trademark becoming a strong trademark is more difficult So that businesses must try very hard to satisfy demands, wishes of customers best, and should carry out more effective advertising and communication programs Vietnamese businesses are facing the economic integration pressure and they should realize gradually the very important role of trademark and have had enormous efforts in building Vietnamese trademark In addition, we’ve found many weak points from businesses, insufficiencies from law system and policies of The State In the future, in order to affirm its own position, Vietnamese trademarks need greater efforts from businesses and supports from The State as well i ABSTRACT The primary method of communication between people is Trademark Trademarks are the collections of sound and symbols we have assigned to describe our soul, emotions, and ideas Trademarks are abstract labels that may be arranged and expressed to communicate a variety of meanings in a variety of ways Graduation Assignment presented here is an indication of a positive study as well as a good look by the author to the significance in building, developing and preserving a trademark, not only a company’s one but also one or more national, or transnational corporations’ ones The assignment referring to a hot matter of a company’s image building has been developed specifically to help readers enhance their overall awareness to establish a trademark with prestige and reliability through product of all kinds available in the markets domestic and overseas Covered with chapters, 51pages, the paper has brought the readers an overall view of trademark and process of building and developing, especially value, elements and meaning levels, labelling decision, decision name of trademark and trademark’s roles for business; Vietnam’s regulations on trademark and its development in the international economic integration in progress, centrally trademark registration, case file of trademark registration, exploitation and protection of the registered trademark, position of trademark in the international markets and the development of Vietnam trademark etc Last but not least, it has made some proposals to building and protecting Vietnam trademark such as proposals for business, general orientation to trademark building of business, solutions to Vietnamese business in building trademark i Taken together, the three chapters of the “Vietnam Trademark and Developmental Solutions in the International Economic Integration” provide you with the basic resources for improving virtually every area of building, developing and preserving Vietnam trademark in the period of WTO’s access i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Graduation Assignment looks into the changes in the policies of development of the main economic branches and fields, provides an appraisal of each branch’s achievements and brings forth trends of the Vietnamese business circle, particularly in process of building, protecting and developing Vietnam trademark with its consistent image, so that Vietnam trademark and its prestige will be eternal in the head of customers domestic and international as well The assignment will, to some extent, satisfy the needs of the readers who are generally interested in building, protecting and developing Vietnam trademark and value of business in the international economic integration Due to these outcomes mentioned above, it would be grateful to the supervision of professor of English- Mr TrÇn Anh Th¬, Faculty of English, Hanoi University of Business & Technology and to the comments by Prof Dr Nguyễn Trọng Đàn Finally, my greatest debt is to my beloved parents’ loving care and financial support and to my friends whose unconcerned assistance are more or less important for the completion of this assignment i CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii CONTENTS iv INTRODUCTION Chapter I: Trademark and Requirements for Building and Developing I Trademark and Process of Building and Developing Trademark 1.1 Brand - Trademark - Strong Trademark 1.2 Meaning Levels of a Trademark 1.3 Trademark’s Value The Process of Building and Developing Trademark 2.1 The Elements Affecting the Building Process of Trademark 2.2 Trademark Decisions 2.3 Create Trademark from Products and Internal Company 2.4 Advertising Trademark Abroad II Trademark’s Roles for Businesse Trademark Invisible Property of Businesses Trademark Protection for Prestige and Value of Businesses Trademark : Fame for Businesses and Effects to Different Activities of Businesses Trademark: Loyal Customers for Businesses i Trademark: Condition to Potential Export Markets Chapter II: Vietnam’s Regulations Issued on Trademark and its Development I Vietnam’s Regulations on Trademark Trademark Registration in Vietnam 1.1 Trademark Registration Office 1.2 Case File of Trademark Registration 1.3 Fees and Charges of Trademark Registration Exploitation and Protection of Registered Trademark 2.1 Rights of Business for the Registered Trademark 2.2 Validity of Trademark Registration 2.3 Protection of Registered Trademark II Development of Vietnamese Trademark Awareness about Trademark of Vietnamese Businesses Trademark’s Position of Vietnamese Businesses 2.1 Position of Trademark in Domestic Market 2.2 Position of Trademark in International Markets 2.3 The Stolen Trademarks Efforts and Opportunities of Vietnamese Businesses in Building Trademark Problems in Building and Protecting Vietnamese Trademark 4.1 False Goods Effect to Prestige of The Trademark 4.2 Weakness in Trade Promotion i 4.3 Problems in Advertising for Trademark Chapter III: Some Proposals to Building and Protecting Vietnam Trademark I Proposals for Businesses Attentions to Building Trademark General Orientation to Trademark Building of Businesses Solutions to Vietnamese Businesses in Building Trademark Solutions made to Protect Trademark of Vietnamese Businesses 4.1 Register Monopoly Trademark Follow Legality 4.2 Attention to Building Distribution System 4.3 Measures taken to Resist False Goods II Proposals made to the State Office Reconsider the Legal Elements Related to Trademark The State Should Grant Policies to Support Finance for The Businesses That Attempt Giving Trademark to World Market Diplomatic Policy Support Information to Businesses CONCLUSION REFERENCES Every chapter and illustration has been completely revised and updates from a wealth of information that have been gathered on Websites available i http://www.vneconomy.com.vn http://www.cpv.org.vn http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn http://news.vnanet.vn http://english.vietnamnet.vn http://www.vovnews.com.vn http://www.vnpt.com.vn http://www.vinaexpress.net http://ww.saigontimesweekly.saigonnet.vn 10.http://www.mot.gov.vn i ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii CONTENTS iv INTRODUCTION Chapter I: Trademark and Requirements for Building and Developing I Trademark and Process of Building and Developing 1.Trademark 1.1 Brand - Trademark - Strong Trademark 1.2 Meaning Levels of a Trademark 4 1.3 Trademark’s Value The Process of Building and Developing Trademark 2.1 The Elements Affecting the Building Process of Trademark 2.2 Trademark Decisions 10 2.3 Create Trademark from Products and Internal Company 2.4 Advertising Trademark Abroad II Trademark’s Roles for Businesse Trademark: Invisible Property of Businesses Trademark :Protection for Prestige and Value of Businesses 15 18 20 20 Trademark: Fame for Businesses and Effects to Different 22 Activities of Businesses Trademark: Loyal Customers for Businesses 23 Trademark: Condition to Potential Export Markets 23 i Chapter II: Vietnam’s Regulations Issued on Trademark and its 24 Development 25 I Vietnam’s Regulations on Trademark 25 Trademark Registration in Vietnam 25 1.1 Trademark Registration Office 26 1.2 Case File of Trademark Registration 1.3 Fees and Charges of Trademark Registration 27 27 27 Exploitation and Protection of Registered Trademark 27 2.1 Rights of Business for the Registered Trademark 27 2.2 Validity of Trademark Registration 28 2.3 Protection of Registered Trademark II Development of Vietnamese Trademark Awareness about Trademark of Vietnamese Businesses Trademark’s Position of Vietnamese Businesses 2.1 Position of Trademark in Domestic Market 28 30 30 31 32 2.2 Position of Trademark in International Markets 2.3 The Stolen Trademarks 33 Efforts and Opportunities of Vietnamese Businesses in 35 Building Trademark 35 Problems in Building and Protecting Vietnamese Trademark 4.1 False Goods Effect to Prestige of The Trademark 4.2 Weakness in Trade Promotion 4.3 Problems in Advertising for Trademark i 36 37 40 Chapter III: Some Proposals to Building and Protecting Vietnam Trademark 41 41 I Proposals for Businesses 42 Attentions to Building Trademark General Orientation to Trademark Building of Businesses Solutions to Vietnamese Businesses in Building Trademark 43 46 Solutions made to Protect Trademark of Vietnamese 46 Businesses 47 4.1 Register Monopoly Trademark Follow Legality 48 4.2 Attention to Building Distribution System 48 4.3 Measures taken to Resist False Goods II Proposals made to the State Office Reconsider the Legal Elements Related to Trademark 48 49 The State Should Grant Policies to Support Finance for The 49 Businesses That Attempt Giving Trademark to World Market 50 Diplomatic Policy 51 Support Information to Businesses 51 Vii CONCLUSION REFERENCES i i i ... Technology Originating from the interest in viewing the importance and indispensability of trademark and matter of building, developing and protecting Vietnam trademark in the global markets, the Graduation... transferred their trademark into Japan, China, Singapore, and so on In the period of international economic integration when trademark becomes the property of the business For Vietnamese businesses,... businesses have reached big result in accessing into the world market and had their prestige with their own trademark We easily find the businesses such as Biti’s penetrating into the EU, the