(promulgated by Government Decree no. 31 CP of January 23, 1981, as amended on May 30, 1988)
Chapter II
13.-(1) The subject matter of an invention may be a new device, process or substance or a new use for a previously
known device, process or substance.
Inventions
(2) The following shall be protected as inventions:
(a) new plant varieties and animal breeds;
(b) new processes for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases in human beings, animals and plants.
1. Solutions that are contrary to Socialist morality and those not susceptible of application shall not be recognized as inventions.
B. Legal Protection of Inventions 15.-(1) Inventors' certificates alone shall be granted for:
(a) inventions that are made by the inventor in the course of his work within an organization or unit, or inventions for the making of which the inventor has received material assistance from the organization or unit (hereinafter referred to as "service inventions");
(b) inventions relating to national defense and security;
(c) inventions concerning devices and processes for preventing, diagnosing and treating disease in human beings, animals and plants;
(d) inventions relating to:
-substances obtained by a chemical process;
-medicines and substances for the prevention and treatment of disease in human beings, animals and plants;
-foodstuffs intended for human beings and fodder intended for animals.
(2) Patents may also be granted for processes for the production of the subject matter specified in paragraph (1)(d) of this Section.
23. Where particularly important inventions are not utilized by the owner of the patent or where their utilization does not meet the requirements of the national economy, and the organizations or enterprises that need them have been unable to secure the agreement of the owner of the patent to the transfer of the right to utilize the invention, the President of the Council of Ministers of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam may, on a proposal by the State Committee for Science and Technology, decide to purchase the patents in those inventions, or to authorize the aforesaid organizations or enterprises to utilize them. The organizations or enterprises so authorized shall pay the owner of the patent a royalty by way of indemnification, according to the decision of the State Committee for Science and Technology.