Female business owners care about intellectual property

Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Hue, Director of Thanh Hue Perfect Health Company Limited (Tu Ky) researches the extraction of essential oils from natural plants and fruits.

Proactive

While working at a hospital, Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Hue, Director of Thanh Hue Perfect Health Company Limited in Tu Ky town, had a dream of producing health care and beauty products from natural ingredients. In 2018, she quit her job, went abroad and to many provinces and cities in the country to learn from experience. After that, she researched and extracted many types of essential oils from natural plants and fruits. When she made this product, in addition to testing the ingredients and registering the quality, Ms. Hue registered for intellectual property.

"At that time, I didn't know where to go, so I went to the Department of Health to ask and was introduced to the Department of Science and Technology. The staff there advised me and supported me with quick and easy procedures," said Ms. Hue.

To date, Ms. Hue has owned trademarks and industrial designs for essential oils of grapefruit, betel, lemongrass, lemon, cinnamon, five-color, perilla, avocado, and cereals. With the products protected, she no longer worries about counterfeiting and fake products, and at the same time affirms the quality of the products she makes.

Previously, Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan on Tran Hung Dao Street (Hai Duong City) sold sticky rice cakes under the name Ba Toi, which was the family's common brand. With the desire to build their own brand, in early 2021, Ms. Xuan and her husband completed the protection procedures for the sticky rice cake product under the name Giang Toi. "The Giang Toi sticky rice cake brand has been present in many provinces and cities across the country, tourist destinations. We are moving towards establishing a barcode and building it into an OCOP product," Ms. Xuan said.

Compared to before, the establishment of intellectual property rights for products has been focused on by female business owners. In addition to the above two units, there are also Van Giang Confectionery Production Facility, Hung Long Food Processing Company Limited (Hai Duong City), Thanh Ha Safe Vegetables and Fruits One Member Co., Ltd. (Thanh Ha)... owned by women who have paid attention to registering intellectual property, thereby contributing to affirming the value of goods in the market.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan in Hai Duong city has built a product brand called Giang Toi sticky rice cake.

Easy to do

In recent years, the Department of Science and Technology has conducted many consulting and support activities to help organizations, businesses, individuals, especially female entrepreneurs, realize the importance of intellectual property. Departments, branches, and district-level People's Committees have increased propaganda in response to World Innovation Day and World Intellectual Property Day by hanging billboards, posters, banners, slogans, and propaganda on mass media. The Department of Science and Technology has coordinated to organize training courses on brand building instructions; marketing skills and agricultural product branding, state management of advertising, and OCOP product development. Regularly advise entities in need of industrial property registration for logos, trademarks, industrial designs, inventions, and utility solutions. By the end of November 2022, the whole province had 388 organizations and individuals granted intellectual property certificates. The work of inspecting, checking, and handling counterfeit goods, counterfeit goods, and intellectual property infringements is focused on. In 2022, functional units administratively handled 37 cases of intellectual property infringements.

Mr. Pham Thanh Hai, Head of the Department of Technology Management and Intellectual Property (Department of Science and Technology) said: "In addition to going to the Department of Science and Technology for advice and support in establishing intellectual property rights, people in general, and women who are business owners and production establishments in particular, can submit documents directly or through intermediaries to the Department of Intellectual Property. This is necessary to avoid counterfeiting and imitation of goods. When legal disputes arise, the authorities will base on the time of establishing intellectual property rights to make decisions."

Establishing intellectual property rights is important, so all levels and sectors need to promote propaganda and raise awareness for women in particular and businesses and production facilities in general so that the products they make are protected.

THANH HA