English 
Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh City – 24 November 2014, a Seminar on Unfair Competition Enforcement in the United States, Supply Chain and Cyber security Issues was co-organised successfully by the US Patent and Trademark Office, the US Consulate General Ho Chi Minh City and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). At this seminar, attendees were updated clearly on information relating to legal recourse when exporting to the USA.
As Peter N. Fowler, Regional Intellectual Property Attaché for Southeast Asia, US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), gave examples of lawsuits against violations of unfair competition by suppliers to the US market. The examples showed that US companies expect fair business competition and thus using legal software and machines which do not violate intellectual property rights is a must. Exporters to USA will obviously face difficulties and obstacles in the US and other markets if they try to ignore these fair business practices that are expected.
Vietnamese businesses ship products to foreign countries
Michael Mudd, Chief Representative of the Open Computing Alliance, shared various business risks and cyber risks in the supply chain, such as: loss of facilities, people, data, equipment; intellectual property losses/theft, denial of use and damage to business relationships. Also, there appears that malware risks from infected software; legal risk from enhanced trade and IP laws, non-action is a reputational risk.
Being a major exporter to the US with agricultural and IT products, Vietnamese suppliers should take into account the above mentioned issues, especially in network safety and security to avoid risks. At the seminar, local firms expressed their cooperation by comparing notes with US experts on legal issues and experience to minimize risks in the supply chain overseas. In addition, James Fitzsimmons has shared his viewpoint that to mitigate the above risks, a confidential, integrity, available Cybersecurity Framework is developed together with the model of identifying and mitigating risks.
It is suggested that Service Providers or Data Owners and Exporters are recommended to consider adopting a Cybersecurity Framework to ensure the safety and integrity of the supply chain to avoid risks so the businesses can ensure sustainable development.
Rick Yvanovich, Founder & CEO TRG International, Chairman of AmCham ICT HCMC Group and one of the panel speakers at the seminar said “it is really important that Vietnamese exporters to the USA fully understand the fair business practices that USA based businesses expect, the downside for ignoring this is a huge risk.”
To learn more about regulation on legal business competition to US
To learn more about business risks in supply chain and cybersecurity in Vietnam
