July 4- The two-day workshop, “The Cross Cutting Issues of WTO Accession” jointly held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the World Bank discussed Vietnam's improving legal system on the protection of intellectual property rights.

Since the new IP laws were introduced 2 years ago, Vietnam has built a legal corridor for its implementation based on the Law on Intellectual Property Rights.

IP protection is considered a vital part of national policy if a country wants to foster local innovation and creativity. Companies and individuals are not likely to invest time and energy in creating original work if the product can be easily copied and sold.

U.S. lawyer Thomas J. Treutler told VNA that the country should further strengthen the enforcement of the law, especially in the business community.

Prof. David A. Gantz from the University of Arizona added that that Vietnam could launch an anti-piracy campaign and implement criminal penalties for infringement in commercial quantities.

He added that the country could also consider creating a special court with exclusive jurisdiction over intellectual property cases.

In 2007, the fifth annual Bussiness Software Alliance and IDC Global Software Piracy Study named Vietnam as one the top Asia-Pacific nations with the largest drop in software piracy rate.