VietNamNet Bridge - Vinataba lost the legal battle to register JET and Hero trademarks. The trademarks still belong to Indonesian Sumatra.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has released a document requesting the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) to instruct agencies to learn from the unreasonable posting of information about tobacco smuggling.

Prior to that, Vinataba, reasoning ‘protection over national economic interest and Vietnamese consumers’, filed a dossier to the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) to register JET and Hero trademarks, and called on to terminate the protection over trademarks granted before to Sumatra.

The Vietnamese tobacco manufacturer said that cigarettes with JET and Hero trademarks have been smuggled to Vietnam in the last many years, causing the State to fail to collect tax and harming the economy.

Vinataba said Sumatra sells products through duty-free shops so as to maintain its trademark rights, thus lending a hand to Jet and Hero products to be smuggled into Vietnam.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) also voiced its concern about the increased tobacco smuggling through the southwest border line. 

Vinataba lost the legal battle to register JET and Hero trademarks. The trademarks still belong to Indonesian Sumatra.

The ministry said smugglers have been using many methods and sophisticated tricks to bring JET and Hero cigarettes into Vietnam

Sumatra registered for trademark protection for JET and Hero, but it has not carried out business activities in Vietnam.

Phuc, in the document, showed his agreement with the Ministry of Science and Technology’s (MST) viewpoint on the issue.

The ministry affirmed that Vinataba cannot show evidence to prove the involvement of Sumatra to the activities of smuggling JET and Hero cigarette to Vietnam. It also pointed out that the smuggling must not be the legal basis to invalidate JET and Hero trademarks. Therefore, NOIP won’t accept Vinataba’s proposal. 

Invenmark, a legal firm, on behalf of Sumatra, sent a document to the Prime Minister in a reaction to Vinataba’s behaviors of denouncing Sumatra of illegally using the trademarks JET and HERO.

Sumatra affirmed its ownership over the two trademarks JET and HERO, both of which are well known. Sumatra has patents for the two trademarks in 108 countries. It also received 67 certificates on trademark registrations for the two trademarks from NOIP in Vietnam in 1990.

MST confirmed that Sumatra filed for the registration of the trademarks in 1989. However, for many reasons, the trademarks still have not been used in Vietnam though they are protected by law.

Sumatra admitted that it registered the trademarks but has not used them over the last five years. It said it wants to invest in Vietnam, but under Decree No 119, Vietnam now restricts tobacco manufacturing.

The Indonesian group also denied involvement in the smuggling of JET and Hero cigarettes into Vietnam.


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