How to Select a Patent Attorney?

Could you use a little help protecting your invention? If so, an attorney skilled in patent law is your best bet.

As you can imagine, conveying your invention to someone who knows nothing about it will be difficult.  Therefore, it is best if you are in direct contact with your patent attorney. You can meet in person and show the patent attorney any prototypes or drawings you may have to help illustrate your invention.  As you can probably guess, the process will go more smoothly if you work with a patent attorney near you.  Although it can be done, a long distance relationship will only strain the process.   

Probably the best way to select a patent attorney in your city is through word of mouth.  To help find referrals (and to associate with others who have interests similar to yours), you may want to join a local inventors club.  You can also search through the USPTO’s list of registered patent attorneys or even just use their database to check your potential patent attorney’s credentials.

When you are seeking out a suitable patent attorney, you need to ask about their experience and background. Ask them what degrees they hold, the number of years they’ve spent writing and prosecuting patents, and the number of patents granted.  Get references from previous clients and call them to ask about their experience with the patent attorney.

When selecting a patent attorney, it’s also important to find someone who specializes in the field your invention is related to.  Patent attorneys are not equal in all areas.  For starters, what is their degree(s) in?  This is very important.  Some patent attorneys will have a degree in engineering.  Other patent attorneys will be skilled in the field of biology, others physics and yet others, computer science.  You don’t want to take your newly invented cell line (yes you can patent such things) to a patent attorney with a background in electrical engineering.  You would want a patent attorney with a background in biology to help you with this type of invention. 

If you have a basic invention, going with a patent attorney with a general mechanical engineering background will probably save you some money.  Specialized professionals usually charge more.

You want their background and your invention type to match as closely as possible.  Writing patent applications is a bit of an art.  Obviously, a patent attorney will come in handy to help you through the legalese, but there is also a great deal of knowledge and specific technical detail that must go along with it.  This is why patent attorneys must have technical backgrounds.

How ANT Lawyers Could Help Your Business?

Please click here to learn more about ANT Lawyers IP Practice or contact our IP lawyers in Vietnam for advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call our office at (+84) 24 32 23 27 71

Author:Lisa Parmley

Source: Articlecitydate

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Procedures to Apply for Temporary Residence Card in Vietnam

Temporary Residence Card in Vietnam

For foreigners wishing to reside in Vietnam, they must belong to the subjects to be granted temporary residence card.  For most of the case, the temporary residence card holder are investors whom invest to establish company in Vietnam, or employee being employed and sponsored by an organization in Vietnam.

The following shall details the procedures to be implemented for applying for temporary residence card in Vietnam.

I. Subjects to be Granted Temporary Residence Card

• Issued to members of diplomatic missions, consular offices, representative offices of international organizations affiliated to the UN, representative offices of intergovernmental organizations and their spouses, children under 18 years of age, and housemaids during their term of office. (NG3)
• Issued to people who come to work with units affiliated to Vietnam’s Communist Party; the National Assembly, the government, Central Committee of Vietnamese Fatherland Front, the People’s Supreme Court, the People’s Supreme Procuracy, State Audit Agency, Ministries, ministerial agencies, Governmental agencies, the People’s Councils, the People’s Committees of provinces. (LV1)
• Issued to people who come to work with socio-political organizations, social organizations, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (LV2)
• Issued to foreign investors in Vietnam and foreign lawyers practicing in Vietnam. (DT)
• Issued to Managers of representative offices or projects of international organizations and foreign non-governmental organizations in Vietnam. (NN1)
• Issued to heads of representative offices, branches of foreign traders, representative offices of other foreign economic, cultural, professional organizations in Vietnam. (NN2)
• Issued to people who come to study or serve internship. (DH)
• Issued to journalists who have permanent residences in Vietnam. (PV1)
• Issued to people who come to work. (LD)
• Issued to foreigners that are parents, spouse, and children under 18 years of age of the foreigners issued with LV1, LV2, DT, NN1, NN2, UNIVERSITY, PV1, LD visas, or foreigners that are parents, spouse, and children of Vietnamese citizens. (TT)

II. Conditions for Implementation

• Time to stay in Vietnam more than 01 year;
• Valid passport more than 01 year;
• In case of having a work permit, the work permit of the foreigner must be valid for 01 year from the date of the application for a temporary residence card. For investors, there must be written documents proving that foreigners contribute capital to, or invest in, enterprises in Vietnam (business registration certificates, investment licenses …).

III. Required Documents to Apply Temporary Residence Card

• A written request of agencies, organizations and individuals offering, guarantee and propose for temporary residence card (form NA7)
• 01 declaration of information of foreigners who apply for temporary residence, with photos and sealed by the agency or organization: A written request for temporary residence card (Form NA8); a declaration about Foreigners applying for temporary resident card (Form N7B)
• Two 3 x4 cm size photographs;
• Passport, valid visa, immigration cards (bring original for comparison);
• Notice of use of the seal of the enterprise
• 01 copies or photo (bring the original for comparison) proof of purpose to stay in Vietnam.

Depending on situations, the following documents would be required: investment licenses, permits the establishment of enterprises, work permit in Vietnam, certificate of board members and permits the establishment of representative offices, marriage/birth registration.

IV. Implementing Agencies to Apply Temporary Residence Card:

Immigration management Department, Police provinces and cities directly under the Central Government.

V. Duration to Obtain Temporary Residence Card in Vietnam: 05 to 07 days;

How ANT Lawyers Could Help Your Business?

Please click here to learn more about ANT Lawyers IP Practice or contact our IP lawyers in Vietnam for advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call our office at (+84) 24 32 23 27 71

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Conditions of Foreigner on Adoption in Vietnam

Nowadays, foreigners from other countries wish to adopt children in Vietnam and bring them up to his/her country for custody.  Vietnam in the meantime encourages the adoption for the better conditions on life environment, education system which would bring to the children when living with the new family.  However, the adoption conditions are still regulated strictly and its acceptance procedures are considered and controlled stringently by competent authorities of the Government.

ANT Lawyers will provide to you the regulated conditions of the adoptive parents need to be met as below:

I. GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE ADOPTIVE PARENT:

The adoptive parent has to meet fully conditions as below for adoption:

• Having full civil act capacity;
• Being 20 years or more older than the adopted person;
• Having health, financial and accommodation conditions for assuring the care for and nurture and education of the adopted child.
• Having good ethical qualities.

And not being one these following cases:

• Having some of the parental rights over a minor child restricted:
• Currently serving an administrative handling decision at an educational institution or medical treatment establishment;
• Currently serving an imprisonment penalty:
• Having a criminal record of commission of any of the crimes: intentionally infringing upon another’s life, health, dignity and honor; maltreating or persecuting one’s grandparents, parents, spouse, children, grandchildren or caretaker; enticing or compelling a minor to violate the law or harboring a minor violator; trafficking in. fraudulently swapping or appropriating children, which has not been remitted yet.

II. CONDITIONS OF THE FOREIGNER ADOPTIVE PARENTS:

After meeting fully conditions above, Vietnamese living abroad, foreigners permanently living abroad will be entitled to adopt identified Vietnamese children if they fall into the following cases:

• Being the step father or step mother of the to-be-adopted child;
• Being natural aunt or uncle of the to-be-adopted child;
• Having adopted a child who is a sibling of the to-be-adopted child;
• Adopting a child who is disabled or infected with HIV/AIDS or another dangerous disease, including: children with cleft lip and cleft palate, children who are blinded with one or two eyes; mutism, deaf; dumb; children with curved arms or legs, children with missing fingers, hands, foot (feet), toes, children infected with HIV; children with heart diseases; children with navel, groin, belly hernia; children without an anus or sexual organ; children with blood disease; children with diseases requiring life-long treatment; children with other disabilities or dangerous disease which restricting the chances of adoption;
• Being foreigners currently working or studying in Vietnam for at least 1 year.

How ANT Lawyers Could Help Your Business?

Please click here to learn more about ANT Lawyers IP Practice or contact our IP lawyers in Vietnam for advice via email ant@antlawyers.vn or call our office at (+84) 24 32 23 27 71

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Patent Filing India

Patent Act 1970

What is Patentable?

Any Invention which is not obvious and is novel and not previously published in any country.

Any new and useful:

art, process, or method of manufacture;

Machine apparatus or other article;

Substance produced by manufacture.

What is Not Patentable?

1. Inventions contrary to law, morality and public health;

2. Which is Frivolous or claims which is obviously contrary to well established natural laws;

3. Mere new use or mere discovery of new property or new use of known substance or property;

4. Mere admixture resulting only in aggregation of properties;

5. Mere arrangement and rearrangement of known integers functioning independently;

6. Method for agriculture/horticulture;

7. Process for treatment on human beings, plants or animals.

8. A presentation of information;

9. A mathematical or business method or a computer program per se or algorithms.

Filing Requirements for Patent Application

1. Specification (Provisional or complete), Claims and Drawings; Name, address and nationality of the applicant;

2. Name, address and nationality of the inventor(s);

3. Details of the basic application in case any priority is claimed;

4. Authority/Power of Attorney.

Various Stages up to Grant

1. Examination - Patent applications are now not examined automatically. One has to file a request for examination within the period of 48 months from the date of the application.;

2. Grant of Patent in case there is no opposition.

Opposition to Grant

Opposition may be filed by any interested person within 4 months of notification of acceptance in the Gazette

Term of Patent

Patent is granted for the period of 20 years from the date of application.

Revocation of a Patent

Validity of a patent granted under the Act, may be challenged only in a High Court in revocation proceedings Under Section 64. The revocation petition cannot be filed before the Controller of Patents.

Rectification of Register of Patent

1. An application for the rectification of patent can be filed by any person aggrieved, before the Appellate Board on any one or more of the following grounds:

2. On account of absence or omission from the register of any entry; or

3. On account of any entry made in the register without sufficient cause; or

4. On account of any entry wrongly remaining on the register; or

5. On account of any error or defect in any entry in the register.

Infringement Action

Unauthorized making, using, selling or distributing of a patented product/process amounts to an infringement. Action against infringement may be instituted in a District Court or High Court having jurisdiction. Criminal action does not lie unlike in Trade marks and Copyright. In case of any infringement of pending patent, no action can be taken unless the complete specification has been advertised as accepted.

Source: jotwani.com

Author:Jotwani Associates

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Seven Ways To Keep You From The Wolves

You have an invention or an idea for an invention. The first people you may hear about - or even may contact you - are from an invention development company. They advertise on radio and TV, and in magazines that cater to the inventive mind - and even some newspapers.

Invention development companies are private and public research companies that purport to help inventors develop, patent, and promote their ideas so they can be commercially licensed or sold. While many of these organizations are legitimate, some are not.

I state my stand on the use of such companies on my website - www.gadgets-gizmos-inventions,com. But, you may want to go that way anyway to develop your patent or invention. If that’s the case, here are seven helpful tips for you to make smart patent and invention development decisions:

?1. Learn About the PatentProcess.

?When you understand the basics of how to get a patent, you will know when invention marketers are making promises they, or the patent system, can't deliver. Knowing the steps to do a patent search, and what is required, as well as knowing what happens in the patenting process can only help you in making the right decision. You will have a better idea about whether the company you are talking to knows what they are doing for you - and not just their pocketbook.??2. Do Your Homework.

?Check the organization's references, ask for credentials, and then check them. Ask them for statistics on how many successes they have had compared to how many total clients. They are required by law to offer you this type of information. In fact, the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 gives you the following rights when dealing with invention promoters.

Before an invention promoter can enter into a contract with you, it must disclose the following information about its business practices during the past five years:

•             how many inventions it has evaluated,

•             how many of those inventions got positive or negative evaluations,

•             its total number of customers,

•             how many of those customers received a net profit from the promoter's services, and

•             how many of those customers have licensed their inventions due to the promoter's services.

This information can help you determine whether the promoter has been selective in deciding which inventions it promotes, and how successful the promoter has been. Ask for names of “successful” clients, and talk to them.

Invention promoters also must give you the names and addresses of all invention promotion companies they have been affiliated with over the past 10 years.

This information can help to determine whether the company you're considering doing business with has been subject to complaints or legal action.

You can call the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) at 1-866-767-3848, and the Better Business Bureau, the consumer protection agency, and the Attorney General in your state or city, and in the state or city where the company is headquartered to check them out.??3. Be Realistic.

?Not every invention is patentable. Know that very few ideas - even the good ones - become commercially successful. Be wary of any developer willing to promote virtually any invention. If you are presented with the phrase - "We think your idea has great market potential" - beware, and take it for what it is - in a lot of cases, just a sales pitch. ??4. Know Where Your Money Is Going.

?Ask the organization how your money will be spent. Be on guard against large up-front fees and find out exactly how the money is spent. If the company gives you something like - "Our company has evaluated your idea, and now wants to prepare a more in-depth research report. It'll be several hundred dollars" - ask them if the idea is good enough for more research why don’t they foot the bill. ??5. Protect Your Rights.

DO NOT disclose your invention to a developer over the phone (or at any time) before first having them sign a confidentiality agreement. You could forfeit valuable patent rights. A sample confidentiality agreement is available on my website. ??6. Track Your Invention's Progress.

?If you decide to use an invention development organization, deal directly with the agent or patent attorney who will be handling your patent application. A lot of these type of firms outsource the work which is not good for you.

Many invention promotion firms also may claim to perform patent searches on your idea. Fraudulent invention promotion firms usually do patent searches that are are incomplete, conducted in the wrong category, or unaccompanied by a legal opinion on the results of the search from a registered patent attorney.

Because unscrupulous firms promote virtually any idea or invention without regard to its patentability - they may go ahead and market an idea for which someone already has a valid, unexpired patent. In that case, you may be the one subjected to a patent infringement lawsuit - even if the promotional efforts on your invention are successful. Most probably, the way the infringement suit is attracted is through a successful product.??7. Don't Get Discouraged! ??The patent process can be very complicated, so you will probably need professional help. There are many good patent agents and attorneys that can help you. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office maintains a nationwide register of attorneys and agents who meet the legal, scientific and technical requirements of the office.

The first step should be a patent search done by a reputable searcher. Your patent attorney can help with this, and should review the search for a package price, depending on the complexity of the invention.

Hang in there. It is a long and complicated process. But if your idea passes the initial search test and evaluation, there is a good chance you can receive a patent - in two or so years.

 Source: Articlecity.com

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Copyright and related Right

Copyright/ related Rights Registration

Copyright is stipulated in particularly in Civil Code, Law on Intellectual Property 2005, amended and supplemented in 2009 and  Decree No. 100/2006/ND-CP: Detailing And Guiding The Implementation Of A Number Of Articles Of The Civil Code And The Intellectual Property Law Regarding The Copyright And Related Rights

Copyright means rights of an organization or individual to works which such organization or individual created or owns. Copyright shall arise automatically at the moment a work is created and fixed in a certain material form; irrespective of its content, quality, form, mode and language and irrespective of whether or not such work has been published or registered

As stipulations of Law on Intellectual Property in 2005, amended and supplemented in 2009, Copyright in works shall comprise moral rights and economic rights. Moral rights (except publication rights) shall be protected all whole life of authors and from 50 to 75 years since the author or the final co-author dies.

Copyright-related rightsor related rights means rights of organizations and individuals to performances, phonograms, video recordings, broadcasts and encrypted program-carrying satellite signals. The rights of performers shall be protected for fifty (50) years, which starts from the year following the year in which the performance is turn into a fixed form. The rights of producers of audio and video recordings shall be protected for fifty (50) years which starts from the year following the year of publication, or fifty (50) years which starts from the year following the year in which any unpublished audio and video recording is turned into a fixed form. The rights of broadcasting organizations shall be protected for fifty (50) years which starts from the year following the year in which a broadcast is made.

Like the Trademark registration, Copyright registration shall be the important legal bases to resist actions of appropriating copyright, impersonating authors, counterfeiting, infringing on copyright which lead to damage on reputation of authors.

ANT Lawyers supplies service on copyright/ related right consultant as follows:

·         Advise in grounds for the generation and establishment of Copyrights; basic limitation of Copyrights/ related rights;

·         Consult and implement procedures relating to copyright/ related rights registration;

·         Consult, represent Clients negotiating  and drafting using agreement, assignment agreement and other contracts relating to  copyright/ related rights registration;

·         Complaint decision relating to issuing copyright/ related rights certificate;

·         Consult, collaborate with competent authorities in solving copyright/ related rights infringement.

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Why Client Should Retain Real Estate Lawyers in Vietnam?

Benefits of retaining a Real Estate Lawyer in Vietnam

Due to changes in law attracting foreigners to come to live, and invest in Vietnam, foreigners have growing interest in investment and acquiring real estate.  However, as real estate is valuable assets, the law on real estate ownership and real estate transactions are complicated, especially for foreigners.

Under the land ownership regime in Vietnam, land belongs to the entire people with the State acting as the owner’s representative and uniformly managing land.  Hence, in Vietnam, the land users will have the land use right without the private ownership of the land.  Land law 2013 does not allow foreigner to have land use rights in Vietnam. It only allows foreign invested enterprises to be permitted to use land through the form of land allocation or lease.

Although foreigner do not have land use rights in Vietnam, they are allowed to own houses in Vietnam under the Law on Housing. In addition, the Law on Real Estate Business has certain limitations for foreign investors to conduct real estate business in Vietnam and must meet the legal requirements.

Foreign investors investing in Vietnam wish to use the land to conduct business activities, or intend to conduct real estate business in Vietnam, or simply a foreigner wishing to purchase and own real estate in Vietnam should be aware of the legal provisions on conditions of implementation, orders and procedures to of the transactions to minimize risks.  The assistance of the lawyers on real estate in Vietnam shall be worthwhile.

Real estate lawyers in Vietnam would have in-depth knowledge of the Land Law, Law on Housing, Law on Real Estate Business and related regulations. In addition, they would have practical experience in implementing legal procedures, handling disputes, and supporting real estate transactions in Vietnam. The real estate lawyers could explain the restrictions on land use rights of foreign organizations and individuals in Vietnam and the conditions for conducting business in real estate in Vietnam.  The lawyers at request could assist the foreigners with the process and procedures to work with state agencies to obtain land use rights for enterprise and home ownership rights for individual more effectively.

When conducting transactions related to real estate such as buying, selling, transferring, renting, leasing, real estate lawyers could also provide assistance in in legal due diligence of the real estate to minimize legal risk to clients. It is important to evaluate the legal status of the property, the owner of property, whether property is in dispute, or subject to additional requirements of government before being sold by the developer and the people eligible for entering into the transaction. In addition, the lawyers in Vietnam can advise clients to draft or review the agreements, sales contract as well as the process to legalize the process to comply with the law in Vietnam.

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