Yes. One or more divisional applications can voluntarily be filed at any time during the prosecution, i.e. prior to grant of the parent application.
The separation of an invention registrant’s application must comply with the provisions of Clause 16, Article 1 of Circular 16/2016/TT-BKHCN.
In Vietnam, divisional practice is rather flexible. Specifically, one or more divisional applications can be filed: (1) in response to a lack of unity rejection; and/or (2) at any time for any reason (e.g., voluntary division is permitted). The specification of a divisional application must not go beyond the original specification of the parent application.
One or more divisional applications can voluntarily be filed at any time during the prosecution, i.e. prior to grant of the parent application.
Divisional applications will have a new application number but will still get the filing date or priority date of the first application.
The applicant is required to pay an application fee and all charges and fees for the proceedings conducted independently of the original application, but no claim fees are payable.
The fees for a divisional patent application are similar to those for a parent application except that the payment of fees for a priority claim are not required in a divisional application.
The term of a patent issuing off of a divisional application is twenty years from the filing date of the parent application.
