Let K be a field, \(I\subset R=K[x_1,\dots ,x_n]\) and \(J\subset T=K[y_1,\dots ,y_m]\) be graded ideals. Set \(S=R\otimes _KT\) and let \(L=IS+JS\) . The behavior of the \(v \) -function \(v (L^k)\) in terms of the \(v \) -functions \(v (I^k)\) and \(v (J^k)\) is investigated. When I and J are monomial ideals, we describe \(v (L^k)\) , giving an explicit formula involving the local \(v \) -numbers \(v _{\mathfrak {p}}(I^k)\) and \(v _{\mathfrak {q}}(J^k)\) .