NEW PROVISIONS OF THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW EFFECTIVE AFTER APRIL 1, 2026

In the context of the rapid growth of the digital economy and the increasingly widespread presence of artificial intelligence in daily life, intellectual property assets are becoming one of the core resources for businesses and individuals. Recognizing this importance, the National Assembly passed the amended Intellectual Property Law in late 2025, which officially took effect on April 1, 2026. The law brings significant changes to the establishment, protection, and exploitation of intellectual property rights, better aligning with the developmental trends of the current era.

1. Reducing Patent Registration Time

The most obvious change in the law is the shortening of the processing time for industrial property applications and the simplification of procedures for establishing and registering intellectual property rights. The timelines at each stage have been reduced.

Additionally, the application publication period has been reduced from 2 months to 1 month. To accommodate this, the law sets a requirement for comprehensive digital transformation in intellectual property activities. The application processing procedure is simplified, emphasizing post-inspection, and applying new technologies and AI to improve efficiency.

2. Intellectual Property Assets Can Be Used for Capital Contribution and Mortgages

In the era of promoting the comprehensive development of the private economy, capital formation related to a business's operations is crucial and noteworthy. Accordingly, the amended and supplemented Intellectual Property Law of 2025 adds Clause 3, Article 8a, stating that the State encourages the exploitation and use of intellectual property rights by allowing them to be mortgaged for bank loans; furthermore, the owners of these rights can use the intellectual property assets themselves for capital contribution. The introduction of this provision is an important milestone that helps boost business operations.

In addition, to support and ensure this provision is implemented smoothly and transparently, intermediary organizations such as valuation and brokerage firms must also step up to catch the trend of this regulation in order to cooperate, develop, and promote a more comprehensive economic growth.

3. New Protected Subjects

The law expands protection to several new subjects, specifically: - Adding a mechanism to protect industrial designs for inseparable parts of a product (partial industrial design protection) and expanding industrial design protection to non-physical products (e.g., graphical user interfaces (GUIs), icons, etc.). - Protecting copyrights and related rights for encrypted program-carrying cable signals.

The law currently expands the scope of protection. Industrial design protection now applies to inseparable parts of a product and non-physical products, such as graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and icons. Copyright and related rights are also protected for encrypted program-carrying cable signals.

Concurrently, the law supplements sanctions and civil measures to address intellectual property infringements in the digital environment. The responsibilities of digital platforms in implementing measures to protect intellectual property rights are also more clearly defined. Statutory damages have been increased to enhance deterrence and align with reality.

4. AI Training Mechanism

A new provision added to Clause 3, Article 7 of the amended and supplemented Intellectual Property Law stipulates permission to use intellectual property rights for research and AI training purposes. However, it must be clarified that: using intellectual property assets is allowed if and only if consented to by the right holder, and such use does not affect the rights and interests of the owner. This provision is introduced to address issues arising from the development of new technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI).

5. Tightening the Quality of Intellectual Property Assets and Excluding AI Products

The majority of intellectual property experts and lawmakers worldwide believe that most IP laws globally do not yet recognize artificial intelligence as a subject of intellectual property protection; in other words, products generated by AI are not protected by intellectual property rights.

Similar to Vietnam, the United States Copyright Office will reject all copyright registration applications upon determining that the works were not created by a human. With this approach, any work created by AI will not be recognized by US copyright law, which means these works will be in the "public domain".

As expected, the amended and supplemented Intellectual Property Law of 2025 adds a provision in Clause 1, Article 10a, stating that individuals who use artificial intelligence as a tool to create products or industrial designs will still be recognized as the copyright authors. This regulation negates all views that AI can be the subject of copyright.

It can be seen that the amended and supplemented Intellectual Property Law of 2025 is a crucial step forward in the journey of perfecting Vietnam's legal system, meeting the demands of the digital economy and the trend of international integration. From shortening registration times and expanding protected subjects to creating more flexible mechanisms for exploiting intellectual property assets — everything is aimed at turning intellectual property into a true driving force for the development of businesses and the digitized economy.

DL PINNACLE LAW FIRM LLC