On June 6, Minh Khang Trading Service Company Ltd held a press conference where it released the legal documents of the ‘Hoa hau hoa binh Viet Nam 2022’ (Miss Peace Vietnam 2022).

According to Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, director of Minh Khang, the action aims to protect the brand, avoid copyright infringement and ensure the professionalism of the beauty contest.

The legal documents comprise two certificates of copyright on the program script related to the pageant granted by the Copyright Office of Vietnam (COV); five applications for registration of intellectual property of trademarks of the pageant and four decisions on valid applications granted by the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) under the Ministry of Science and Technology; and a document allowing the company to organize the semi-finals and finals of ‘Hoa hau hoa binh Viet Nam 2022’ granted by the Da Nang People’s Committee.

Thuy also showed six decisions released by NOIP from January 2021 to early May 2022 recognizing the intellectual property rights with respect to six trademarks with images (logos), including ‘Miss Peace Vietnam’ (2 decisions), ‘Miss Peace International’, ‘Hoa hau hoa binh Viet Nam’, ‘Hoa hau hoa binh quoc te’ and ‘Hoa khoi hoa binh Viet Nam’.

She said that Da Nang approved the plan to organize the semi-finals and finals of ‘Hoa hau hoa binh Viet Nam 2022’ on September 3, 2022 and September 11, 2022 in the city.

At the press conference, Thuy said she knows that Golden Lotus Advertising Commercial JSC also organizes ‘Hoa hau hoa binh Vietnam’ beauty pageant (the English name is Miss Grand Vietnam). As such, the two pageants have different English names, but the same Vietnamese name.

Thuy in early May sent a document to the HCM City Department of Culture and Sports, inspectors of the Department of Culture and Sports, inspectors of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thanh Hoa province, Chair of Thanh Hoa People’s Committee and NOIP, stating that if Golden Lotus also organizes a beauty pageant with 'Hoa hau hoa binh Viet Nam’ name, it will commit infringement of intellectual property rights owned by Minh Khang Company.

Prior to that, right after Minh Khang organized a press conference in Da Nang in April 2022 to announce the organization of ‘Hoa hau hoa binh Viet Nam’ (Miss Peace Vietnam), on May 9, the law office representing Sen Vang (Golden Lotus), sent a document to Minh Khang Company, requesting to change the Vietnamese name to avoid misunderstanding.

According to Golden Lotus, Miss Grand International, known in Vietnam as ‘Hoa hau hoa binh quoc te’, was organized for the first time in 2013 and has become one of the biggest annual international beauty contests on the planet. The pageant was founded and is managed by Miss Grand International Co Ltd, headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand.

Golden Lotus contacted the owner of the brand, the organization and production of Miss Grand International to obtain the right to organize the contest in Vietnam.

On April 9, 2021, Miss Grand International Co Ltd granted a license to Golden Lotus, allowing Golden Lotus to use ‘Miss Grand International’ brand (Brand registration certificate No 384154). The company is allowed to organize Miss Grand Vietnam – Hoa hau hoa binh Viet Nam to choose the women to represent Vietnam at Miss Grand International from 2022 to 2025.

Golden Lotus affirmed that ‘Miss Grand Vietnam – Hoa hau Hoa binh Viet Nam’ organized by Golden Lotus is the only official contest in Vietnam within the framework of Miss Grand International.

Golden Lotus was granted a copyright registration certificate by the Copyright of Vietnam (2768/2022/QTG dated April 8, 2022) for the script of the beauty contest "Miss Grand Vietnam – Hoa hau hoa binh Viet Nam", and copyright registration certificate (No. 3386/2022/QTG dated May 10, 2022) for the logo Miss Grand Vietnam – Hoa Hau Hoa Binh Viet Nam.

Therefore, the organization of 'Miss Grand Vietnam – Hoa hau hoa binh Viet Nam', as well as the use of the name and logo of 'Miss Grand Viet Nam – Hoa hau hoa binh Viet Nam' by Golden Lotus is legal.

Pham Kim Dung, a representative for Golden Lotus, said the company will use legal measures to protect its rights and legal benefits.

Tinh Le