VietNamNet Bridge – The US, Germany, the UK, Canada, South Korea and Japan have refused the trademark protection registration for the Vietnamese “Buon Ma Thuot” coffee brand.

Buon Ma Thuot, a well-known coffee brand in Vietnam, which is also the geographical indicator for the high quality coffee products, is now in the danger of getting lost.

The Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association has discovered that “Buonmathuot Coffee” had been registered by some institutions and individuals for the trademark protection before.

Six countries refuse to protect Buon Ma Thuot

In October 2005, the National Office of Intellectual Property NOIP granted the registration for “Buonmathuot Coffee” as an appellation of origin of goods, or the geographical indicator.

Some years ago, when the Dak Lak provincial authorities discovered that “Buonmathuot Coffee” was registered for the trademark protection by a Chinese enterprise in China; they assigned the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association come forward and take legal proceedings for claiming back the brand.

The association has also been asked to register the “Buonmathuot Coffee”  trademark in other countries as the collective trademark.

The association, in cooperation with the Pham & Associates law office have applied for the collective trademark protection registration in 17 countries so far.

To date, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembour and Singapore have released the decision to protect the collective trademark. Meanwhile, the six above said countries have refused the proposed protection.

Especially, the UK has refused the protection for the second time, after Vietnam lodged a petition protesting the first refusal.

The Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association has also found out that “Café Ban Me Thuot” (different in letters and spelling, but the same in meaning) was applied for the trademark protection on August 4, 2003, by Rice Field Corporation in the US, and Starbucks Corporation on March 4, 1998 in Canada.

Meanwhile, in South Korean, Lee Mi Hyang, an individual registered a trademark which comprised of “Buon” for the group of 30 coffee products on January 6, 2005.

The brand owner may be sued for brand stealing

According to the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association, in order to claim back the “Buonmathuot coffee” brand, Vietnam has to provide the proofs showing that the Vietnamese coffee products bearing Buon Ma Thuot brand were available in the US, Canada and South Korea before the days the foreign individuals and institutions registered the trademark in the countries.

However, an official of the association said that since Vietnam still has not gathered convincing evidences, it may have to negotiate with the foreign individuals and institutions and buy the trademark back.

Trinh Van Minh, Deputy Chair of the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association, said the domestic coffee industry has not been affected seriously when the Buonmathuot coffee brand was registered by the unreal owners, because Vietnam has not exported coffee products with Buon Ma Thuot trademark to the countries so far.

However, Minh said that this would bring serious consequences in the long term, because this would lead to the misunderstanding about Buon Ma Thuot coffee. Besides, Vietnam, the real owner of the coffee brand, may be sued for using Buon Ma Thuot trademark for its export products.

NLD