Vincom sues Vincon for imitating brand

Vincom Joint Stock Corporation has officially announced it will take legal proceedings against the Vincon Land and Finance Corporation to the Hanoi People’s Court, accusing Vincon of imitating its famous brand. Vincom has also lodged an appeal to the inspectors of the Ministry of Science and Technology, requesting to settle the case which it calls a “serious violation of the intellectual property”.

According to Vincom, the commercial name of Vincon is similar to the commercial name of Vincom. Meanwhile, the name “Vincom” was registered for brand protection a long time ago, and the name has become well known in the real estate sector.

Vincom believes that the name “Vincon” has led to misunderstanding. People have mistaken Vincom for Vincon, thus causing negative impacts on the image and prestige of Vincom.

Citing the current regulations on protecting intellectual property protection, Vincom affirmed that “Vincon” is mistakenfor the brand “Vincom”, now under protection of the law.

The problem is that in “Vincom” and “Vincon” names, the only difference is the last letter in every word. Meanwhile, “n” and “m” are the similar consonants and look alike. The difference between “n” and “m” is not big enough to differentiate the two brands.

In fact, the co-existence of the two brands has caused misunderstanding in many cases.

Le Khac Hiep, Chair of the Board of Directors of Vincom, said that Vincon was established a long time later than Vincom, and that Vincon deliberately uses the name “Vincon” in order to get benefits associated with the prestige and fame of Vincom.

“We once gave warning to Vincon about its behavior of imitating Vincom brand in early 2009, when Vincon announced the project on bio-tourism project in Chan May – Lang Co.

Recently, local newspapers reported that Deputy General Director of Vincon gambled in the meeting room. However, people misunderstood that the gambler was Deputy General Director of Vincom. “We think that we need to take further actions to protect our prestige and brand,” Hiep said.

Hiep went on to say that Vincom has sent a letter to the leadership of Vincon, requesting to rename the enterprise in order to avoid misunderstanding. However, Vincon has not given reasonable answers.

Meanwhile, Pham Hong Quat, Deputy Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Science and Technology, noted that the two brands/commercial names can make people confused. He said if Vincom appeals to the ministry, the ministry’s inspectors will take investigation to tackle the violations.

“The use of names which are the same as the names of other enterprises, or names similar to the names of other enterprises protected by the law, which can lead to confusion, is considered a violation of intellectual property protection laws,” he said, adding that in this case, other people or businesses may abuse Vincom brand or do harm to Vincom brand.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thanh Hong, a senior official from the National Office for Intellectual Property (NOIP) under the Ministry of Science and Technology, has confirmed that Vincom sent a document on the issue to the office.

The file by Vincom has been accepted as lawful, and NOIP is considering the case in order to give a final decision on the issue. – Vietnamnet

Tags: Vincom, Vincon