When you may use a work without permission
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Vietnam has no US-style fair use — it has an enumerated list plus three overarching conditions. Confusing the two causes a great deal of trouble.
This is where Vietnamese law differs fundamentally from the United States, and where content users most often invoke the wrong rule.
Vietnam has no "fair use"
The US applies fair use — an open standard with four factors weighed case by case. Vietnam follows the continental European model: the law enumerates permitted free uses, and anything not on the list is not permitted.
The direct consequence: "my video is fair use because it is commentary and transformative" is not a valid legal argument in Vietnam. You must point to the specific statutory case your conduct falls within.
Three conditions apply to every exception
Even if your use is on the list, it must also: not conflict with normal exploitation of the work; not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author or owner; and credit the author and the source.
That third condition matters: attribution is a mandatory add-on, not a substitute for permission. Many people have it backwards, assuming that crediting the source makes any use acceptable.
Uses requiring neither permission nor payment
Article 25 covers, among others: making one copy for your own non-commercial research or study (all three conditions required); reasonable quotation for comment, introduction or illustration in your own work; quotation in journalism, periodicals, broadcasts and documentaries; use in teaching for non-commercial purposes; library copying for research; performance at cultural or public-information events where nothing is charged in any form; photographing or filming works of art, architecture or photography displayed in public places in order to present them; and converting works into braille or accessible formats for the visually impaired — a group broadened after Vietnam joined the Marrakesh Treaty, in force from 6 March 2023.
Article 26 separately covers uses requiring no permission but payment of royalties, mainly by broadcasters using published works.
How much is "reasonable quotation"?
The law gives no figure. There is no "under 10% is fine" or "under 30 seconds is fine" rule — those numbers circulate online but have no basis in Vietnamese law.
Test it against the three conditions instead. The core question: does your extract substitute for the original? Quoting a passage to comment on it does not. Quoting the heart of the work so nobody needs the original does — and that conflicts with normal exploitation.
A note on software
The Article 25 exceptions do not extend to computer programs in the way they do to other works. Copying software "for personal research" is not the shield it is for a book.
When unsure
Three safe options in ascending cost: use public domain works; use works under a clear open licence and keep evidence of it; or ask for written permission. The cost of asking is almost always lower than the cost of a dispute.