On 10/12, the National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Intellectual Property. This legislation focuses on enabling intellectual property rights to be valued, transacted, mortgaged, and exploited as an economic resource.

The law stipulates that owners are allowed to use intellectual property rights for civil, commercial, investment, and other activities as regulated. The State encourages the exploitation of intellectual property rights for capital contribution and as collateral for loans, in accordance with laws on investment, enterprises, credit, and relevant regulations.

The State promotes comprehensive digital transformation of intellectual property activities. This is achieved by prioritizing digital infrastructure development and establishing databases for protection and intellectual property transaction prices, ensuring safety, transparency, and user-friendliness. Business processes will be automated using big data and artificial intelligence to enhance management efficiency.

Intellectual property transactions will be conducted through innovation centers. The Government is responsible for establishing a transparent valuation system, with the law stipulating the creation of an intellectual property transaction price database to serve as a market reference.

Explaining this policy, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung stated that the law aims to transform intellectual assets into economic assets for businesses. These assets can be valued, bought, sold, recorded in financial statements, and used as collateral for loans. The focus shifts from a "rights protection" mechanism to the "assetization, commercialization, and marketization" of research outcomes.

Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung. *Photo: Hoang Phong*

The law also adds important principles concerning artificial intelligence (AI) in intellectual property. Accordingly, AI is not an intellectual property rights subject. Products autonomously generated by AI without human creative input will not be protected. However, if humans use AI as a tool and provide substantial creative contributions, they are still considered authors and inventors.

The law allows organizations and individuals to use legally published works and data for research, testing, and training AI systems, provided it does not unreasonably affect the legitimate rights and interests of rights holders. The Government will provide detailed regulations on the use of copyrighted data for AI training.

For industrial designs, the law expands the scope of protection to include non-physical products. This encompasses digital designs, digital interfaces, and products existing in the digital environment, provided they meet industrial applicability criteria.

In cases where an object gives rise to multiple intellectual property rights and conflicts occur, the law stipulates that the later-arising right must cease if it conflicts with a pre-existing right, based on a court ruling.

The law stipulates that intellectual property protection cannot be used to obstruct the use of the National Flag, National Emblem, and National Anthem in the digital environment. For computer programs, the law continues to protect them as literary works, allowing for the creation of legal backup copies and implementation according to licensing agreements when distributed via digital platforms.

For research results utilizing the state budget, organizations assigned scientific tasks have the right to register protection for inventions and industrial designs. They can also organize commercialization and profit sharing in accordance with laws on science, technology, and innovation.

A national program supporting the creation, protection, and exploitation of intellectual assets will be developed, prioritizing rural and mountainous areas and ethnic minority communities. This aims to expand the intellectual asset development space throughout the economy.

The Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Intellectual Property will take effect from 1/4/2026.