Vietnam has been among the world’s top three rice exporters, together with Thailand and India, for years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said in a report sent to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on October 19.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam Rice has become a Generic Trademark in 19 countries, including Indonesia, Russia and 17 member states of the African Intellectual Property Organisation. It has also been registered as a Certification Trademark in three countries, namely China, Brunei and Norway. The ministry holds the ownership of the trademark in these countries.
Vietnam must also urgently grant the right to use the trademark to Vietnamese producers and exporters as the trademark will be probably revoked if it is not used by the owner for 3 – 5 years in accordance to regulations of the World Intellectual Property Organisation and laws of some Madrid System member states, it noted.
The ministry proposed the PM to permit it to develop a decree providing a set of procedures for administering the use of Vietnam Rice./.
