ST25 cannot be trademarked in the US

The representative of the Ministry of Science and Technology affirmed that ST25 cannot be registered for trademark protection exclusively in Vietnam as well as in the US for any individual or organization.

ST25 is the best Vietnamese rice variety in the world in 2019, researched and bred by engineer Ho Quang Cua and his colleagues. Around the story of Vietnam’s ST25 rice being registered for trademark protection by 4 US enterprises, the Intellectual Property Department (Ministry of Science and Technology) said: ST25 cannot be registered for trademark protection exclusively at Vietnam as well as the US for any individual or organization. ST25 is the best Vietnamese rice variety in the world in 2019, researched and bred by engineer Ho Quang Cua. By 2020, ST25 rice will continue to win the second prize in this delicious rice competition. Mr. Nguyen Van Bay, Deputy Director of the National Office of Intellectual Property said: the rice variety named ST25 has been granted the protection certificate No. 21.VN.2020 according to Decision No. 45 / QD-TT-VPBH dated March 6, 2020. Director of Department of Crop Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The holder of the certificate of protection is a private enterprise of Ho Quang Tri and the breeder of rice varieties is Mr. / Mrs. Ho Quang Cua, Tran Tan Phuong, Nguyen Thi Thu Huong. The new ST25 rice variety is a registered product, while ST25 rice is a product with a common name, produced from ST25 rice, so it is not protected in Vietnam as well as in the US. . Mr. Nguyen Van Bay, Deputy Director of Intellectual Property Department (IP) under the Ministry of Science and Technology According to the provisions of Article 186 of the Intellectual Property Law, the plant variety protection certificate holder has the right to use or allow others to exercise the following rights regarding propagating materials (or rice seeds) of the existing variety. Protected: Production, propagation or processing for the purpose of propagation; Offer; selling or carrying out other market access activities; export… As such, the group of authors can prohibit exploitation, production or propagation; processing for propagation; to offer or market this variety. But with rice products, protection cannot be granted because when the enterprise purchases paddy which is harvested from rice grown from ST25 seed to milling and selling rice to the market, of course the product must called ST25 rice. That is why there are so many varieties of rice advertised as ST25 rice on the market. Because it is the common name of a product, anyone dealing in this product (rice) must use the same name, so Point b, Clause 2, Article 74 of the Intellectual Property Law stipulates that the common name of the goods in any language that is widely used, often known, will be considered indistinguishable and will not be registered as a trademark. “Thus, the protection of the state is for the seed rice itself, not the rice – the post-harvest processed product. In this case, not anyone, not even the private enterprise Ho Quang Tri. can be protected exclusively with the ST25 mark for rice products “, said Mr. Nguyen Van Bay. In case many enterprises also put the ST25 rice product on the market, what is the distinguishing sign for consumers to know the commercial origin of the rice product they buy? Mr. Nguyen Van Bay said: Enterprises must bring ST25 rice products to the market under their own brands. That is why we can buy ST25 rice branded “Bao Minh” or ST25 rice from other businesses with different brands … Regarding the fact that there have been a number of businesses registering for ST25 trademarks in the US, the representative of the National Office of Intellectual Property said that all such applications are currently in the process of processing. According to the laws of other countries, including the US, the generic name of the product / service will not be protected as a trademark. For the United States, according to the US Patent and Trademark Application Examination guidelines (USPTO), the assessor will deny the trademark application for the cultivar name. “This can be clearly seen in USPTO’s intentional denial of November 20, 2020 to the mark of“ VIETNAM’S ST25 RICE, DAC SAN SOC TRANG ”according to the application form No. 90151727 filed on September 1, 2020. Company Transworld Foods, Inc (USA). Accordingly, ST25 is the common name of a plant variety (rice) and cannot be registered as a trademark under the provisions of section 1202.12 of the Trademark Appraisal Regulation ”, said Mr. Bay.