Opportunities and challenges of intellectual property when Vietnam participates in international trade

The workshop was attended by scientists and managers from universities, research institutes, state management agencies on intellectual property, businesses and intellectual property representatives...

In the opening session, the conference listened to the conference introduction report presented by Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Van Hai (Head of the Department of Intellectual Property, Faculty of Management Science, University of Social Sciences and Humanities).

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Nam - Head of Law Faculty, National Economics University spoke at the conference

The report said: Vietnam joined the WTO in 2007, but up to now, the pace of reform and integration of the Vietnamese economy has been quite slow. With the event of joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) on October 4, 2015, Vietnam can hope to take a new step on the path of reform, establishing a true market economy, creating a truly competitive economy.

With the scale of member economies and the trade liberalization provisions of the Agreement, joining the TPP creates great advantages for enhancing Vietnam's economic position, at least in the Southeast Asian region, in terms of economic growth, trade and FDI bridging. However, Vietnam faces significant challenges, including challenges from the TPP's intellectual property protection requirements that are much more stringent than those of the WTO, such as: requirements to increase the level of intellectual property protection for inventions, copyrights, and trademarks can increase drug prices, creating a medical burden for a developing economy like Vietnam. Not only that, intellectual property protection measures related to biology also affect agriculture, causing prices of agricultural chemicals such as veterinary drugs, fertilizers, etc. to increase significantly, leading to increased costs and reduced efficiency of agricultural production in general.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Van Hai (second from left), Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Cao Dam (third from left) and delegates at the conference

The report emphasized: in terms of both the need for economic reform and promoting economic growth, the process of deeper integration into the world economy cannot be slower. The issue is what Vietnam needs to do in the face of challenges and opportunities in intellectual property so that Vietnam's roadmap to participate in international trade in the coming time can achieve many positive results. That is also the main content and objective of the workshop "Opportunities and challenges of intellectual property when Vietnam participates in international trade".

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Kim and Dr. Dao Thanh Truong at the conference

At the workshop, the presentations focused on specific contents:

- Theory of intellectual property in international trade;

- Experience in protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights of developed countries;

- Current status of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in Vietnam in the context of international economic integration;

- Analyze opportunities and challenges of intellectual property for Vietnam in international trade;

- Proposing solutions to take advantage of opportunities and overcome intellectual property challenges in the context of Vietnam's international economic integration;

- Other issues on protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.

Dr. Vu Tuan Hung (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences) spoke at the conference.

Typical presentations at the conference are:Impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement on Patent Protection in Vietnam(Dr. Vu Thi Hai Yen, Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law, Faculty of Civil Law, Hanoi Law University);Proposing a model for geographical indication management in current international economic integration in Vietnam(Dr. Vu Tuan Hung, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences);Intellectual Property Rights and the Development of FTAs(Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Thanh Nam, Deputy Head of the Faculty of International Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities);Opportunities and challenges for Vietnam's intellectual property sector in the context of international integration(Dr. Pham Hong Quat, Director of the Department of Science and Technology Enterprise and Market Development, Ministry of Science and Technology);Big Data Protection – Opportunities and Challenges for Intellectual Property as Vietnam Participates in International Trade(MSc. Nguyen Nhu Ha, Deputy Head of Faculty of Management Science, University of Social Sciences and Humanities);Finding effective methods to strengthen copyright protection for book publishing activities in Vietnam in the context of integration(Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Nam, Head of Law Faculty, National Economics University)...

Dr. Pham Phi Anh - former Deputy Director of the Department of Intellectual Property spoke at the Workshop