The possibility of invalidating a patent is clearly set out in Vietnam's intellectual property laws. Historically, however, although thousands of patents are granted each year in Vietnam, the number of requests for invalidation has been extremely small. Nearly all of these cases have occurred in the context of patent disputes where the sanctioned party (in administrative measures) or defendant (in judicial measures) has been accused of patent infringement, and has attempted to invalidate the patent in question as a defence mechanism, with the argument that if a patent is not valid, it cannot be infringed.
