Proposal for protecting the scent trademark in Vietnam

The scent trademark, which is one of two trademarks that are protected by the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), is still a relatively new issue for Vietnam’s intellectual property law. Since the beginning, Vietnam’s intellectual property law has limited the scope of its trademark protection to “visible signs”, resulting in a huge legal gap in the protection for “invisible signs”. This paper analyzes the protection mechanism for the scent trademark which is considered a non-traditional trademark. This paper also points out the advantages and challenges in the protection of the scent trademark in Vietnam, and proposes some solutions to improve the effectiveness of related legal regulations.