Criminalization of IP Infringements by Enterprises a Necessity in Vietnam

摘要

The Vietnamese Government has proposed a draft of an Amended Penal Code ("the Draft Code") for review by the National Assembly. Among other proposed amendments, the Draft Code introduces the applicability of criminal liability, in conjunction with enforceable penalties, to legal entities. These penalties, if adopted by the National Assembly, would mark one of the most substantial developments in Vietnamese criminal law, given that for the first time in the history of the country, an enterprise could be held subject to criminal liability. By contrast, the current Penal Code, which was passed in 1999 and amended in 2009, along with all of its previous versions, have only imposed criminal penalties on natural persons for criminal offenses.