Vietnam Weighs a Standalone Copyright Law as IP Amendments Reach the National Assembly
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Vietnam may move copyright out of its general Intellectual Property Law and into a law of its own. At a national conference on 15 October 2026, the newly renamed Cultural Industries and Copyright Office under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism reviewed how the copyright provisions have worked from 2021 to mid-2026 and proposed a standalone Copyright Law, according to a Baker McKenzie briefing published on 23 October.
The review reported 61,003 registration certificates issued in the period (60,622 for copyright and 381 for related rights), 159 administrative cases with fines above VND 3.8 billion, 7,332 infringing websites removed or blocked, and 25 criminal cases. It also flagged the VND 1 billion cap on statutory damages, which applies when actual loss cannot be quantified, as possibly inadequate for large-scale online and cross-border infringement.
AI is at the centre of the proposed direction. The reform is expected to address authorship of AI-assisted works, including how much human input is needed, and the use of copyrighted works and data for AI research and training. Licensing, collective management, rights databases and online enforcement are also on the list.
Separately, on 24 October the National Assembly heard the government's draft law amending several articles of the current IP Law, together with a new draft Law on Cultural Industries Development of eight chapters and 39 articles, VietnamPlus reported. The IP amendments include easier recordal of holder and goods or services changes after a transfer of industrial property rights, and moving plant variety administration to the Ministry of Science and Technology.
What a separate law would change
Vietnam's current approach puts copyright, industrial property and plant varieties in one statute. Splitting copyright out would let lawmakers deal with digital questions in more detail than a chapter of a general IP law allows. The items the copyright office listed, from licensing and collective management to rights databases and online enforcement, are the areas where a general law tends to stay at the level of principle.
The damages point is the clearest practical gap. A VND 1 billion ceiling on statutory damages was set for cases where loss cannot be proven, and the review itself questioned whether it is enough for infringement at platform scale or across borders. Any new law that raises or restructures that cap would change how rights holders value enforcement in Vietnam.
The AI questions
The two AI issues named in the briefing are the ones most jurisdictions are still working through: how much human input makes an AI-assisted work protectable, and whether using works and data to train AI needs permission. Vietnam has not published a draft answer to either. What matters for now is the decision to treat them as legislative questions rather than leaving them to case law.
Why it matters for Indonesia
Indonesia's Copyright Law of 2014 does not deal expressly with AI authorship or AI training, and we are not aware of an Indonesian court decision that has ruled on either point. If Vietnam writes those rules into statute first, it would give ASEAN rights holders and AI developers a regional reference point, and it may add to the discussion around Indonesia's own copyright framework.
What to watch
The standalone copyright law is still a proposal with no draft text published. The nearer step is the National Assembly's review of the IP Law amendments and the Cultural Industries Development draft. A published copyright bill, with its AI provisions and any change to the damages cap, is the document to look for next.
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