Vietnamese and South Korean counterparts work during a ministerial meeting, discussing about cooperation in intellectual property. Photos courtesy of MOIP

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam has proposed three priorities for intellectual property cooperation with South Korea to strengthen bilateral ties in the coming years.

The opinion was raised during a talk within a ministerial meeting between Việt Nam's Minister of Science and Technology Vũ Hải Quân and South Korea's Minister of Intellectual Property Kim Yong-sun on September 29 in Seoul.

Minister Quân named three areas: the intellectual property financial system, a local brand development programme entitled 'One Village, One Brand', and an intellectual property database.

He added that both sides promptly develop an action plan to put the Memorandum of Understanding on intellectual property cooperation, signed on April 22, into practical implementation.

Minister Kim agreed with the Vietnamese counterpart and said Ministry of Intellectual Property would submit an action plan of the 2026-28 period to flesh out the details of the cooperation.

He praised Việt Nam’s efforts to enforce intellectual property rights and acknowledged the Intellectual Property Office of Việt Nam for its cooperation and prompt sharing of information on bad-faith trademark applications targeting South Korean brands.

Minister Kim expressed his desire for both sides to continue working closely together to address this issue.

During the talk, Minister Kim also introduced K-Brand Government Certification System which was scheduled to officially run by the end of this year.

Minister of Science and Technology Vũ Hải Quân of Việt Nam (left) and Minster of the Intellectual Property Kim Yong-sun of South Korea.

Accordingly, businesses who meet specified criteria will be granted a certification mark for their products, allowing consumers to verify authenticity using their smartphone cameras.

The South Korean leader expressed his readiness to share the experience in implementing the "K-Brand" initiative with Việt Nam.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Science and Technology, a total of 4,989 administrative cases were handled nationwide between May 7 and August 29, an increase of 242.73 per cent compared to the 1,456 cases recorded during the same period in 2025. Of these, 43 cases concerned copyright and related rights, compared to just one case during the same period the previous year.

There were 211 criminal prosecutions, an increase from the 14 cases recorded during the same period last year. Of these, 30 cases involved copyright and related rights, compared to just one case during the same period of 2025.

Authorities also identified and blocked 3,731 websites containing content that infringed upon intellectual property rights. This total includes 2,877 sites streaming football matches, 506 sites showing films, 300 sites hosting literary works (such as stories or comics), and 48 e-commerce sites that violated industrial property rights. — VNS