Vietnam's Brands Face Identity Crisis As Affluence Grows |
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January 14, 2010
When one of the owners of Quan An Ngon, a popular restaurant group that sells upmarket street food to tourists and office workers, broke away with the group’s Hanoi outlet under the existing brand name, the other shareholders turned to their lawyer.
When one of the owners of Quan An Ngon, a popular restaurant group that sells upmarket street food to tourists and office workers, broke away with the group’s Hanoi outlet under the existing brand name, the other shareholders turned to their lawyer.
But, according to Tran Trung Kien, who has dealt with hundreds of similar disputes, they had no trademark protection under Vietnamese law because their company name – which means “delicious restaurant” – was simply a descriptive term.
So they set up a rival restaurant in Hanoi called Nha Hang Ngon – which also means “delicious restaurant” – and launched a radio advertising campaign to tell consumers that this outlet was the real deal.
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