What Is an Industrial Design in Vietnam? Conditions and Term

An industrial design protects the external appearance of a product — its shape, lines, contours, and colours — rather than how the product works technically. In Vietnam, industrial designs are registered under the Law on Intellectual Property and give the owner exclusive rights over the registered appearance. For consumer-goods and manufacturing businesses, design protection is often as commercially important as trademarks and patents.

What an industrial design protects

Protection covers the aesthetic appearance of a product expressed through visual features. It does not extend to:

• Features dictated solely by the technical function of the product.
• The internal structure that is not visible during normal use.
• Shapes of civil or industrial construction works.

Conditions for registration

To be registrable, an industrial design generally must meet three conditions:

• Novelty — it differs significantly from designs already publicly disclosed anywhere in the world.
• Creativity — it is not easily created by a person with average knowledge of the field.
• Industrial applicability — it can be used as a template to mass-produce the product.

Term of protection

A registered industrial design is protected for 5 years from the filing date and can be renewed for two further consecutive 5-year periods, giving a maximum term of 15 years. As with all industrial property rights, protection is territorial and applies only within Vietnam. Because novelty is assessed against worldwide disclosures, filing before any public launch is strongly advisable.

Frequently asked questions

Can I protect the same design as both a design and a trademark?

Sometimes a product shape or packaging may qualify for both regimes. They protect different things and can be complementary, but each has its own conditions and must be assessed separately.

Does showing my product at a trade fair affect novelty?

Public display can affect novelty, though a limited grace period may apply in specific circumstances. Filing before any disclosure is the safer approach.

How many designs can one application cover?

An application may cover a set of related design variants of the same product under certain conditions. The permissible scope should be checked before filing.

How LTV Law helps

LTV Law evaluates design registrability, prepares drawings and applications, and manages renewals for industrial designs in Vietnam — contact our team.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice.