How much time, money and effort will Dak Lak have to spend to regain the Buon Ma Thuot coffee trademark from Chinese and French businesses?

The trademark of Buon Ma Thuot coffee from the Central Highland province of Dak Lak has been registered in China for monopoly protection for 10 years while the Dak Lak coffee trademark has also been registered by a French company for in more than 10 different countries since 1997.

This is not the first time Vietnamese businesses have lost their trademarks.

Delaying registering for trademark protection abroad has put many Vietnamese businesses at the risk of losing the name of their products.

Two trademarks, “Buon Me Thuot" (in Chinese characters)” and “Buon Ma Thuot Coffee 1896”, along with a logo, have been attached to many coffee products, including coffee from the Guangzhou Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Company in Guangdong province, China  that was granted monopoly protection in November 2010 and in June 2011.

According lawyer Le Quang Vinh, Director of the Intellectual Property Rights section of Bross & Partners Legal Service Company, there are different regulations for registering trademarks in different countries but the main rule of thumb is to give priority to the first applicants, which means that whoever applies first, will be granted the necessary certificates.

Some Vietnamese businesses have lost their trademarks because they delayed to register for trademark protection abroad and they will find it very difficult to take back their trademarks under foreign laws. However, Vinh said Vietnamese businesses still can abolish these trademarks successfully based on foreign regulations.

Vinh gave two reasons. First, Buon Ma Thuot is a national geographic region in Vietnam and its name has been protected since 2005. The trademark is well-known in Vietnam and around the world. Vietnam is one of the biggest coffee exporters in the world and Buon Ma Thuot is considered the capital of Vietnamese coffee. Vietnam exports coffee to 50-60 countries, so the Chinese know the name Buon Ma Thuot.

Second, judging from foundation to prove the intention of the register- Guangzhou Buon Me Thuot Coffee Company in Guangdong province, China has used legal tools for registering trademarks as unhealthy competition. Obviously, they have used the trademark of Buon Ma Thuot for their products to confuse people about its origins.

Lawyer Le Xuan Loc from the Pham & Lien Danh Law Office said the trademark name is associated with Vietnam’s geography is the State’s property.

The foreign trademark indicates that the Vietnamese State's property has fallen into others’ hands. This will adversely affect Vietnam’s exports because they could possibly be sued or be prevented from being exported at border gates for infringing on trademark rights.

Foreign customers’ trust in Vietnamese products will be at risk if they fail to determine which one is real and which one is fake, resulting in Vietnam’s competitive edge being lost or badly affected.

Loc underlined the need to properly evaluate the importance of protecting intellectual property rights and devise strategies to protect intellectual property. This should be the first step in the process of doing business and penetrating foreign markets.

In a recent talks with a VOV reporter about this issue, Deputy Head of the Intellectual Property Department under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Tran Huu Nam, said this is not first time for Vietnamese trademarks have been registered by foreign businesses for trademark monopoly protection. Previously, Ben Tre coconut candy, Trung Nguyen coffee, and Hai Duong green pea cakes have also faced the same situation.

We have succeeded in regaining some of our trademarks but failed in other cases. The Vinataba trademark of the Vietnam Tobacco Corporation was taken by an Indonesian business in 2002.

Therefore, Vietnamese producers must pay more attention to protecting their intellectual property aboard in different ways.

If our trademarks are not registered according to the international registration system, foreign companies that have registered Vietnamese trademarks will continue obtaining monopoly protection for these brand names in other countries.

This will lead to a waste of time and money dealing with more complex cases, Nam added.

Dak Lak accounts for more than 50 percent of the country’s coffee output, which has made Vietnam the world's second biggest exporter of "robusta" coffee. Dak Lak possesses the world renowned trademark of Buon Ma Thuot but has lost the two trademarks to Chinese and French businesses.

Dak Lak will have to spend a lot of time, money and effort to regain its trademarks. This is a major lesson not only for the Central Highland province, but for all Vietnamese businesses.

Trademarks are not just names; they symbolize the quality of a product and they earn consumer's trust. Building and protecting trademarks is essential for Vietnamese businesses in the context of international economic integration.

Source: VOV