Hanoi (VNA) - The establishment of an intellectualproperty court in Vietnam is in sight but has yet to be completed, adeputy chief inspector of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has said.

Unlike in foreign countries where the court plays a major role in handlingviolations of intellectual property rights, Vietnam’s court system has notasserted its power strongly on the matter, according to Nguyen Nhu Quynh,MOST’s deputy chief inspector.

“About 98.4 percent of the violations in Vietnam in the 2012-15 period,including online infringement, were handled by inspectors from administrativeagencies,” she said.

“There needs be an intellectual property court in Vietnam, but we don’t know whenit will be established,” she said at a conference on intellectual propertyenforcement in the digital world held in Hanoi on March 12.

While the prospect of an intellectual property court seems down the road, Quynhsaid that it is essential to have a department within the country’s judicialsystem specialising in intellectual property.

The practice of electronic commerce (e-commerce) is developing rapidly in Vietnam,with total retail revenue of 5 billion USD in 2016, a drastic rise from 2billion USD in 2013 and 1 billion USD in 2012, according to MOST. Forty-ninepercent of enterprises in the country had their own websites, and 32 percent ofthem have established business partnerships with foreign counterparts via theinternet.

Online platforms play a major role in reinforcing e-commerce, including onlineshopping sites and social media platforms. A survey done by the market researchservice Q&Me in 2017 shows that 66 percent of Facebook users in Vietnamhave purchased items over the social media platform, a considerable rise from47 percent in 2016, Quynh said.

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Taking advantage of social media platforms – particularly Facebook –to do business makes it harder for inspectors to discover violators ofintellectual property rights, she said.

“Several young people are making tonnes of money out of their online businesseswithout having to have capital, just a few tricks to increase the number of‘fans’ on their Facebook pages,” she said. “But a lot of them sellfake stuff, which is considered an infringement.”

Stronger punishments are needed to regulate the virtual business environment,she said.

Speaking on domain name disputes, Quynh advised that well-known brands, whendiscovering their domain names have been taken by other businesses, shouldcontact those businesses and warn them of copyright infringement before sendinglegal documents and asking administrative agencies to get involved.

“A lot of the times when we conducted inspections, the ‘violators’ did not evenknow they had violated the regulations,” she said.

Speaking at the workshop, Tran Van Tung, Deputy Minister of Science andTechnology, said that the inadequate policy system is the most challengingaspect of intellectual property enforcement in Vietnam.

Apart from well-intentioned firms, many businesses in Vietnam are takingadvantage of the legal loopholes and major brands to sell fake goods anddeliver low-quality services. These firms should receive hefty punishments suchas being taken to court, he added.

“It is of utmost importance to strictly handle infringement and counterfeitacts in the digital environment, otherwise we will discourage innovation,” hesaid. “Intellectual property enforcement is the core of protectinginnovation and strengthening the applications of science and technology to thedevelopment of the country.”-VNA