As business activities continue to expand and competition grows increasingly intense, establishing and safeguarding a company’s identifiers has become critically important. Among these identifiers, the trade name is a core element of a business’s commercial identity. It is protected as an industrial property object through lawful use.
This legal update provides an overview of the definition, protection requirements, and rules governing the use of trade names under the 2025 Consolidated Version of the Law on Intellectual Property (“IP Law”) and related regulations.
1. What is a trade name?
According to Clause 21 Article 4 of the 2025 Consolidated IP Law, a trade name is the designation of an organisation or individual used in business activities to distinguish the business entity bearing that name from other business entities operating in the same field and geographical area.
A geographical area of business refers to the location where the business has partners, clients, or a reputation.
2. Conditions for protection of trade names
Under Point b Clause 3 Article 6 of the 2025 Consolidated IP Law, industrial property rights over a trade name are established based on the lawful use of that trade name.
Articles 76 and 78 of the consolidated law set out the following protection requirements:
- A trade name is protected if it is capable of distinguishing the business entity bearing that name from other businesses operating in the same field and geographical area.
- A trade name is deemed distinctive if it satisfies all of the following conditions:
- It contains a distinct element, unless such an element has already become widely known through use;It is not identical or confusingly similar to a trade name previously used by another entity in the same business field and geographical area;
- It is not identical or confusingly similar to a trademark of another party or to a protected geographical indication that predates the use of the trade name.
Note: Under Article 77 of the Consolidated IP Law, the following are not eligible for protection as trade names:
- Names of state agencies;
- Names of political organisations, socio-political organisations, socio-political–professional organisations, social organisations, or socio-professional organisations;
- Names of entities unrelated to business activities.
3. Rules governing the use of trade names
- According to Clause 6 Article 124 of the 2025 Consolidated IP Law, the use of a trade name for commercial purposes includes:
- Using the trade name for self-identification in business activities;
- Displaying the trade name on transactional documents, signage, products, goods, packaging, service delivery means, and advertising materials.
- The scope of rights relating to a trade name, as provided in Clause 2 Article 34 of Decree 65/2023/ND-CP, is determined based on the protection scope of the trade name, including the name itself, the business field, and the territory in which the trade name is lawfully used.
Registration of a business name in administrative procedures does not constitute use of the trade name; it merely serves as a condition for the lawful use of that name.
- Clause 2 Article 129 of the 2025 Consolidated IP Law states that any act of using a commercial indication identical or confusingly similar to another party’s previously used trade name for identical or similar goods or services—causing confusion about the business entity, business establishment, or business activities under that trade name—shall be considered an infringement of trade name rights.
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