VietNamNet Bridge – The Enterprise Law and relating laws stipulate that enterprises must not use the same names registered before by other enterprises. However, it does not mention how to punish the violators.

Name disputes on the rise

The HCM City People’s Court has decided that the Phuc Sinh Farm Produce Import-Export Trade JSC in Tan Phu district in HCM City, the defendant in the lawsuit on the “Phuc Sinh” name dispute, must not use “Phuc Sinh” when naming its enterprise and pay the fine of VND23 million for using the name in the past.

The plaintiff was Phuc Sinh JSC in district 4, which successfully proved that the name “Phuc Sinh” had been registered by it before.

In another case, the court decided that Se Com Ltd must stop using the name “Se Com Ltd” and the abbreviated name “Secom Co.,Ltd,” and compensate VND100 million to Secom Vietnam, because Se Com was established later than Secom Vietnam and registered the business name later.

Prior to that, local newspapers reported the name dispute of “ Nam Tien Real Estate Trading Floor,” between the Nam Tien Real Estate and Construction Services Company in district 7, HCM City, and the Nam Tien JSC in district 1.

The National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) decided that the words “Nam Tien” the former company used to name its trading floor may cause the misunderstanding, because it coincides with a part of the name of Nam Tien Company.

The brand “Binh Minh,” well known for plastics pipes, was once the reason in the name dispute between the two companies in HCM City which operated in the same business field and used the brand for the same kind of products.

If typing “co phan Thanh Binh” (Thanh Binh JSC) on dangkykinhdoanh.gov.vn, the official website of the business registration agency, one would see that 31 businesses have the same name. And if typing “thuong mai Thanh Binh” (Thanh Binh Trade), one would see 51 results.

The same situation would be found with the popular names such as Thang Long, Huy Hoang, Hoan My or Thinh Phat – the names which show the owners’ aspiration for prosperity.

In Hanoi alone, a report of the city Planning and Investment Department showed that 722 businesses out of the 70,000 operational businesses have been found as having the names coinciding with others.

There’s a big problem now that the court’s decisions have not been respected. The business registration agencies would be powerless, if the enterprises deliberately continue using the old names, because the laws do not stipulate how to punish them.

What to do?

When asked why there are so many coincided names, Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Van from the HCM City Bar Association, said under the current laws, the trademarks must be registered at NOIP, the business names must be registered at the business registration offices belonging to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

However, Nguyen Dinh Cung, Deputy Head of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), has confirmed that the problem has been eased since the day the national business registration system was put into operation.

Prior to that, since provincial computing systems did not connect, there existed the companies with the same names in different provinces. Many “Thanh Binh JSC” were found in different localities.

Compiled by C. V