The coronavirus outbreak is impacting ton the world of intellectual property (IP) as courts and IP offices around the world generally and Vietnamese one particularly. Applicants wishing to register or renew intellectual property rights, or that are involved in legal disputes involving those or other IP rights, such as copyright, should understand how the new approaches being taken will impact them.
In order to keep track, full details of the current situation in South-East Asian countries are listed in the table below which is updated on a regular basis in view of the rapidly evolving global pandemic.
| Country | Extension of deadlines |
| Singapore |
The registry is closed but the online filing system continues to be fully operational. All deadlines between 7 April 2020 and 7 May 2020 are extended to 8 May 2020. |
| Malaysia |
All manual filings are suspended until 15th April 2020. Responses to office actions and all deadlines related to appeals, objections, oppositions and any applicable payment are extended till 30th April 2020. Renewals of industrial designs and trademark registrations are extended to 15th and 30th April 2020 respectively. |
| Indonesia |
All manual filings are suspended and all deadlines related to formality requirements falling between 23th March 2020 and 21st April 2020 are extended until further notice. |
| Philippines |
All the deadlines due between 16th March and 14th April 2020, related to papers, payments, pleadings and documents, are now deemed extended for a period of 45-calendar days. |
| Thailand |
Any filing deadlines that are missed can be extended if it can be established that the deadlines have been missed as an effect of the COVID-19 situation and if the extension requests, along with the supporting evidence, are filed within 15 days after the COVID-19 related cause of delays has ceased. |
| Vietnam |
All deadlines between 30th March 2020 and 30th April 2020 will be automatically extended to 30th May 2020. |
| Cambodia | No change for now |
| Laos | The registry will be closed from 1st April 2020 until 19th April 2020, with all deadlines postponed until 20th April 2020. |
| Myanmar | No change for now |
| Brunei | No change for now |
If you have any questions or require any additional information, please contact Apolat Legal – An International Law Firm in Viet Nam.
This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for legal advice.
