[Research Contribution] Patent Protection in Defense Industry and National Economy Development

17 May, 2025

Keywords: Patent protection; Defense industry; National economy

Patent is one of the objects of intellectual property. Patent protection plays an important role in the development of the defense industry and the economy. For the defense industry, patent protection protects military technologies and techniques, and minimizes infringement. For the national economy, patent protection encourages innovation, promotes economic development, and enhances the competitiveness of defense industry products in the international market.

The role of patent protection in defense industry and economy development

In the context of globalization and international economic integration, intellectual property plays an increasingly important role in the development of each country. The subject of intellectual property protection is often copyright and related rights of copyright, inventions, utility solutions, and industrial designs. In the field of national security and defense, inventions are considered one of the important factors determining national strength. Regulations on patent protection are considered the legal basis for protecting technical solutions in the form of products or processes created by human intelligence.

Patent protection is crucial to protecting the rights of patent owners, encouraging creativity and innovation, and promoting socio-economic development. First, patent protection encourages individuals and organizations to research and to develop new and creative technologies in the field of defense. Second, patent protection helps patent owners enjoy legal rights, motivating them to invest, research, and develop the defense industry. Third, patent protection prevents infringement of registered patented products in the defense sector, contributing to protecting national security.

More specifically, in the defense industry, patents are used to create modern weapons, equipment, and technical means. For example, military weapons, equipment, and technical means such as missiles, aircraft, warships, tanks, etc. are all protected in the form of patents or utility solutions. Patent protection in the defense helps ensure the intellectual property rights of creators, encourages them to continue researching and developing new products, and strengthens the country’s defense capacity. In terms of economics and defense, patent protection protects intellectual products created in the process of production and business in the defense industry, contributing to increasing the value of products and services, as well as increasing competitiveness in the market. Patent protection also creates trust and attracts exports of defense industrial products abroad, thereby promoting international trade activities.

Regulations on patent protection for defense industrial products

Throughout many Resolutions of the Party, the viewpoints and policies on strengthening the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights are consistently expressed. In particular, it is encouraging the commercialization and transfer of intellectual property, especially for inventions in Vietnam on the foundation of compliance with domestic laws and ensuring national security.

The current Intellectual Property Law has separate provisions on patent protection for defense industrial products. According to Clause 3, Article 86a, in the case of scientific and technological tasks in the field of national defense and security invested by the state budget, the right to register patents is divided as follows: If the task uses the entire state budget, the right to register patents belongs to the Government. If the task uses a part of the state budget, the patent registration right corresponds to the proportion of the state budget belonging to the Government. In certain cases in Clause 3, Article 7, the Government shall limit the intellectual property rights of the right holder to ensure the goals of national defense, security, people’s livelihood and other interests of the Government and society. In addition, according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 89a, to ensure national security, inventions in technical fields that impact national defense and security, created in Vietnam and under the registration rights of Vietnamese individuals or organizations can only be filed for patent registration abroad after having filed for patent registration in Vietnam to carry out security control procedures. In addition, it is worth noting that, unlike ordinary inventions, patented products related to national defense and security must be registered as scientific and technological research results at the Department of Military Science and registered for patents at the General Department of Defense Industry.

Vietnam’s Need for Patent Protection for Defense and Economic Inventions

In recent years, defense factories, enterprises, and scientific and technological research facilities have made important contributions to the construction and the development of Vietnam’s defense industry. At defense factories and enterprises, many types of modern weapons and military technical equipment are produced and manufactured to meet the requirements, training tasks, and combat readiness of the Vietnam People’s Army. These include defense factories and enterprises of various sizes, from large factories like Factory Z125 (manufacturing tools), Factory Z131 (manufacturing weapons and ammunition), Factory Z133 (comprehensive repair of guns, artillery, and rockets), Factory Z153 (manufacturing tanks), Factory Z173 and Z189 (Shipbuilding factories), Factory Z195 (manufacturing explosives), to medium and small factories such as Factory Z111 (manufacturing small arms), Factory Z121 (manufacturing firearms), Factory Z127 (manufacturing metal supplies), Factory Z159 (manufacturing explosives), Factory Z183 (manufacturing ammunition), Factory Z179 (manufacturing spare parts) and so on.

At scientific and technological research institutes, research and development activities have achieved certain successes. Many new and advanced technologies have been invented, contributing to improving the production capacity of defense factories and enterprises. Some of Vietnam’s leading scientific and technological research institutions include: Military Technical Academy, Military Science and Technology Institute, Air Defense – Air Force Academy, etc. However, defense industrial products are often rarely registered or not accepted because they are related to information security issues for state secrets and national security. For civil defense products, some equipment and machinery that are allowed to be popularized and have the potential for commercialization will be considered for intellectual property protection in the form of industrial designs or inventions. These include dual-use products (military and civilian) of defense factories that are highly competitive and contribute to socio-economic development, such as satellites, industrial explosives, drones, ships, etc.

Looking up the Patents page of the Intellectual Property Office (Ministry of Science and Technology) linked to the WIPO Publish tool, the number of registered protections for inventions on military weapons is quite small. For example, Patent application No. 1-2002-00907 on the recoil control mechanism of weapons by Richard Giza (Australia) in 2001; Patent application No. 1-2012-01005 on the multi-firepower weapon system by Karakookly, Yuva (Israel) in 2010; Patent application No. 2-2021-00557 on the process of manufacturing durable UV coatings based on fluoropolymer film-forming agents to protect weapons, technical equipment and steel structures of the Institute of Tropical Environment (under the Vietnam Military Science and Technology Institute) in 2021.

Recently, Vietnam has made more open moves towards the exchange of defense products. A number of domestic conferences and exhibitions have boldly introduced defense research products. Typically, the Vietnam International Defense Exhibition 2022 organized by the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam for the first time, gathered 170 units from 30 countries and territories, displaying 303 military and civilian research and manufacturing products serving national defense and security, including army weapon groups; new generation guns and ammunition; optical equipment; types of warships; types of logistics and technical supplies and equipment; equipment for soldiers in the 4.0 era; radars, communication devices; electronic warfare equipment, command and control, unmanned aerial vehicles. In November 2023, Viettel High-Tech Industry Corporation of the Military Industry – Telecommunications Group (Viettel) represented our country to participate in the Defense and Security Exhibition at the IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Center in Bangkok, Thailand. This is the first time that Vietnamese weapons and military equipment products have been presented at an international military exhibition in the Top 15 in the world, the largest in Southeast Asia. The International Defense Exhibition at the end of 2024 in Vietnam on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam People’s Army has also contributed to affirming the values and achievements on the journey of developing defense products.

Recommendations

The defense industry is a special field, playing a huge role in protecting national security and sovereignty. In conjunction with the economy, for the defense industry to develop sustainably, patent protection is of paramount importance. Below are some recommendations to promote patent protection to develop the defense industry and the economy of Vietnam:

First, our country needs to issue policies to encourage domestic authors to proactively register for patent protection on defense industry products. According to the statistics from the Vietnam Intellectual Property Office, 85-90% of patent applications are from foreign entities. This indicates that expanding the number of patent applications on defense industry products is an issue that needs more attention.

According to Circular 48/2016/TT-BQP of the Ministry of National Defense, up to the current time, there has been no regulations on considering the payment of costs in the case of transfer of patent ownership for defense industrial products. Therefore, to ensure material benefits for authors and owners of inventions, the Government, the Ministry of National Defense and relevant agencies and sectors must develop a policy to protect inventions in particular and intellectual property in general for civil defense products and military weapons. Second, access to patent protection in the defense industry and economy is a premise for long-term and sustainable development. At the Vietnam International Defense Exhibition 2022, Viettel Group set a goal that by 2025, our country will have an enterprise in the list of the world’s top 80 defense enterprises in terms of revenue and export of defense products. To achieve this goal, patent protection will be a solid shield for Vietnam’s defense industry products to enter the international arena, creating a foundation for the increase in our country’s export demand in the upcoming time.

The article was published in the Journal of Industry and Defense, Ministry of National Defense. The full-text research article on Patent Protection in Defense Industry and National Economy Development can be accessed HERE.

Author: Nguyen Hoang Nam – UEH College of Economics, Law and Government, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City

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News, photos: The author, UEH Department of Communications and Partnerships