ABC Chemical Co., Ltd (“ABC”) complained to Vietnamese competent authorities for the trademark infringement acts of An Sinh Company (“An Sinh”) located in Ho Chi Minh City. ABC registered and used the mark "TEAM" in many years for the goods of “washing powder and detergent" in class 03 according to the Nice Classification in Vietnam and also being recognized as widely used on the market. Recently, An Sinh put into the market washing powder products branded "TIMY". ABC claimed that, though "TIMY" was not identical to “TEAM” in structure, however, it was a confusing similarity in sound [ti:m]. Hence, the relevant public might be confused to the protected mark “TEAM” when receiving information via oral advertising or communication. So, ABC complained that the act of using “TIMY” for the goods of washing power constituted a trademark infringement under the Intellectual Property Law. Having reviewed the case, the authorities initially agreed with the complaints of ABC. However, An Sinh, in his motion, provided the authorities with the evidences and arguments to prove the legitimate uses of its trademark. Accordingly, An Sinh previously produced and sold the products under the trademarks "TIM–AN SINH” and then "TIMY NEW”. Both of the marks were also obtained Trademark Registrations from the National Office of Intellectual Property (“NOIP”). An Sinh believed that these marks were conferred the exclusive rights by the NOIP proved that the act of using “TIMY” would not infringe on the rights of the earlier mark “TEAM”. Furthermore, the registered marks put into the market previously contained elements of “TIM” & “TIMY” so much so that they would be familiar with the consumer. Therefore, An Sinh put into the market the products "TIMY" were just a continuation of using the previous marks (TIMY-NEW) by removing a weak element of "NEW". Also, the sign "TIMY" was not identical to “TEAM” in structure as having 2 syllables. With all the evidences, An Sinh argued that "TIMY" was not confusingly similar to “TEAM” of ABC, thus, not infringed on trademark rights of ABC. For the above reasons, the authorities were perplexed by the arguments of An Sinh.