Soviet Legacy of Vietnam's Intellectual Property Law: Big Brother is (No Longer) Watching You

Le, Van Anh

doi:10.1017/asjcl.2023.31

Soviet Legacy of Vietnam's Intellectual Property Law: Big Brother is (No Longer) Watching You

Le, Van Anh

Authors

Dr Van Anh Le van.a.le@durham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor

Abstract

How did intellectual property (IP), a private right born out of European Enlightenment ideals, take root in Vietnam's socialist legal framework, and what influence does Vietnam's Soviet legacy still have on its IP law? The clandestine triumph of IP rights in Vietnam is remarkable, given the system's former propensity for collective ownership and limited private property rights. Vietnam's approach to IP rights has changed with economic liberalisation: while external pressure prompted the initial adoption of IP laws, national interest and global reputation enhancement are now driving the effort. At the height of communism in the 1980s and under Soviet domination, IP laws reflected socialist ideology and the characteristics of a command economy. Amid Vietnam's quest for technological advancement, the importance of patents has grown. However, public perceptions of the unreliability of the legal system to resolve IP disputes persist, pushing civil disputes towards the government rather than the judiciary. As Vietnam opened economically, its IP regime moved away from overt communism, but communist values are still implicitly incorporated in general principles. Today, adherence to free trade agreements, which require robust IP protection, is driving the modernisation of Vietnam's IP infrastructure.

Citation

Le, V. A. (2023). Soviet Legacy of Vietnam's Intellectual Property Law: Big Brother is (No Longer) Watching You. Asian Journal of Comparative Law, https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2023.31

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jun 6, 2023
Online Publication Date	Oct 23, 2023
Publication Date	2023
Deposit Date	Oct 23, 2023
Publicly Available Date	Oct 24, 2023
Journal	Asian Journal of Comparative Law
Print ISSN	2194-6078
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2023.31
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1814936

Files

Published Journal Article (Advance Online Version) (533 Kb)
PDF

Licence
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.