What do authorities say about ST25 rice being registered in the US?

While talking to Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the Department of Processing and Market Development of Agricultural Products, has shared that the MARD is keeping track of this issue and has discussed it with technician Ho Quang Cua.

Luckily, technician Ho Quang Cua’s ST25 product has registered for variety protection. This is an important legal basis for us to stick to if there must be disputes in brand protection in the future.

According to Mr. Toan, the Department of Processing and Market Development of Agricultural Products, under the direction of Minister Le Minh Hoan upon receiving information that the ST25 rice was registered for trademark four US businesses, cooperated with the National Office of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology) to accelerate the progress of domestic registration documents completion for rice products ST25.

“Through this incident, I hope the business community will heighten awareness to protect their brands and trademarks right from the beginning. If we want to build a large commodity production, we need to get used to protecting brands, because this is a very important stage for an open economy like Vietnam. In the market economy, especially in fierce markets like the US or any other high-tier market, it is natural to get used to fights for brands, even counterfeit brands. If we do not do it well and do it systematically, it is clear that there are always competitors who will take advantage of it ", emphasized Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan.

According to Mr. Toan, Vietnam has now deeply integrated with the world economy, so exporting enterprises need to have a professional legal advisory department, including lawyers and legal experts who are knowledgeable about international laws. Specifically, in this case, it is advisable to enhance the role of the industry association in advising and protecting brands for enterprises.

Trademark protection signifies that when one enterprise has registered to own that mark, other businesses are not allowed to duplicate it. Thus, if four US businesses are successful, technician Ho Quang Cua and some other Vietnamese businesses selling ST25 rice will not be able to use phrases like “ST25, the world's best rice” in the US market.

According to the leader of the Department of Trade Promotion (Ministry of Industry and Trade), technician Ho Quang Cua is still capable of handling this problem, because the US is still in the process of reviewing, and has not yet granted a trademark license to those 4 businesses. USPTO usually takes about 6 months to review, if there is no complaint after the period ends, the agency will grant trademark protection.

Need to protect the reputation of the delectable ST25 rice

Upon receiving information that in the US market there were 4 enterprises registered for the ST25 rice brand, the product which won the best rice in the world in 2019 by Hero of Labor, technician Ho Quang Cua. Talking to Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper, as shared by technician Ho Quang Cua, the fact that ST25 rice attracts commercial enterprises in the rice industry is a good sign of consumption.

According to Mr. Ho Quang Cua, although he does not do export business, before the information above, he is investigating and consulting specialized agencies to find ways to protect his product’s copyright.

What he worries and most concerns about now is how to maintain the quality reputation of ST25 in the world’s top list. To be specific, copyright protection for rice varieties should be included when put into production. Because nowadays, the problem of using fake rice paddy varieties (meat rice paddy) as seeds has inadvertently harmed and reduced the quality and name value of Vietnam’s good rice varieties and delicious rice quality.

According to reliable sources, up to now, no enterprises have been granted the ST25 rice monopoly certificate in the US market, while there is also no registration record related to ST25 rice in the EU market.

Huu Duc