Non-traditional trademarks in the digital economy: Enforcement gaps and policy priorities for Vietnam

The growth of digital commerce has increased the use of sound, motion, and multimedia expressions as tools of commercial identification. Vietnam has taken an important step by recognizing sound marks, but the effectiveness of this reform depends on the capacity for examination, search, publication, and enforcement. This study employs doctrinal legal research and comparative analysis of the TRIPS Agreement, the CPTPP, WIPO materials, and Vietnamese law. The findings distinguish three separate issues: legal recognition of a category of sign, the registrability of a specific sign, and the scope of exclusive rights. In Vietnam, the main implementation gaps currently concern distinctiveness criteria, evidence of use and acquired distinctiveness, digital file standards, similarity searches, and online enforcement. The study proposes a cautious, phased approach: consolidating the legal and administrative framework for sound marks; preparing infrastructure for motion and multimedia marks; and considering the extension of protection to smell, taste, or tactile marks only when sufficiently reliable methods of representation and administration are available.