Trademark registration is always considered the “birth certificate” for agricultural products, ensuring the conditions for traceability, competitiveness in the market and participation in the export market. Although there are nearly 200 agricultural products being produced in the province with large output, many enterprises, cooperatives and farmers are still subjective and have not paid attention to learning about trademark registration for their products, leading to production value not being as expected.
Thanh Hoa province has advantages and potential in agricultural production, favorable for producing high-quality, diverse agricultural products, typical of each region. However, bringing Thanh Hoa agricultural products to the market is facing many challenges. Among them, many products that are strengths of the province, such as: oranges, grapefruits, rice, seafood... have not been registered for trademark protection, so they are not competitive in the market.
Having participated in the market for many years, but in the past, Mr. Truong Huu Hoa, Director of Thang Long Rice Vermicelli Production Service Cooperative (Nong Cong) was still vague about registering for product trademark protection. He said: “In the past, I thought that when products were released to the market, they only needed to ensure quality and be certified for food safety and hygiene to be competitive. However, Thang Long rice vermicelli products at that time could only be consumed in the free market, and it was very difficult to penetrate supermarkets and modern consumer systems. As soon as the province implemented the OCOP Program, in order to standardize the conditions for participation, the Cooperative focused on protecting product trademarks. Thanks to that, the product was certified with 3-star OCOP at the provincial level, with a consumption increase of 2.5 times compared to before. At the same time, the product has an advantage in competing in the market.”
According to statistics from the Department of Science and Technology, as of April 2023, the whole province had 62 agricultural and craft village products granted trademark protection certificates. Of which, geographical indication protection certificates associated with local place names were granted to 5 products, including: Hau Loc shrimp paste, Nga Son sedge, Luan Van grapefruit, Thuong Xuan cinnamon, Co Lung Ba Thuoc duck; 15 local products were granted protection certificates for collective trademarks and certification trademarks, including: Do Xuyen - Ba Lang fish sauce, Phu Quang lam tea, Ha Yen shrimp paste, Ai village soy sauce, Quang Xa wine, Tu Tru sticky rice cake, Truong Giang conical hat, Hong Do silk, Khuc Phu fish sauce, Thang Long rice vermicelli, Lang Chanh longan candy, Sam Son dried squid, Sam Son fish sauce, Xuan Thanh orange, Xuan Lap ragged leaf cake. In addition, the whole province also has more than 200 products of agricultural, forestry and fishery production and processing enterprises certified with trademarks.
In addition to promoting production, building and managing product brands, in recent times, Thanh Hoa province has also paid attention to implementing a project to support the development of intellectual property for the agricultural product system, creating, managing and developing collective brands such as Lang Ai soy sauce (Yen Dinh), Phu Quang Lam tea (Vinh Loc), Khuc Phu fish sauce (Hoang Hoa), Ha Yen shrimp paste (Ha Trung), Xuan Thanh oranges (Tho Xuan)... Currently, the Department of Science and Technology has been and is continuing to guide and urge the units in charge of implementing projects to build and develop brands for a number of specialties, such as: collective brands "Sam Son fish sauce", "Sam Son dried squid", Dien Yen Ninh grapefruit (Yen Dinh)... The good news is that after being granted protection certificates, the products have initially affirmed their value in the market and are known by many consumers. Some products have geographical indication certificates or collective trademarks that meet international quality standards and are being exported to some "demanding" markets in the world.
In fact, choosing products to register for trademark protection is also one of the important steps to promote the advantages of products after protection. In localities, there is still a situation of choosing inappropriate registered products, not linked to reality and market demand. For example, many places only register for protection of fresh products, raw materials, these products are rarely processed, and have a short preservation time. Many collective trademark owners have not been proactive in terms of resources to manage and develop geographical indications, collective trademarks, and have poor trade promotion skills...
In order to effectively build brand protection, contributing to enhancing the value and competitiveness of agricultural products in the market, relevant departments and branches need to guide localities in developing brands and trademarks based on intellectual property rights for geographical names used for specific agricultural products. Along with that, it is necessary to enhance the role of State management in controlling the use of trademarks in the market. In addition, localities should focus on forming value chains of products with collective brands; certification, geographical indications to bring final products to the market.
Article and photos: Le Thanh
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