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At-a-glance: Department of Intellectual Property 44/100 Nonthaburi 1 Road, Bangkrasor, Muang, Nonthaburi, Thailand 11000 Tel: +66 2547 4621-5, Fax: +66 2547 4696 Email: pajchimat@moc.go.th or webmaster@moc.go.th or dipadmin@moc.go.th Website: www.ipthailand.go.th Practitioners... [more]

Practitioners say the continuing presence of counterfeit goods in Thailand is stunting the growth of IP owners and violating their rights. It is this issue that acts as the driving force to revising the main IP laws. The copyright, trade mark and patent acts are all undergoing amendments.

In the first half of 2012, the Royal Thai Police reported 6,342 cases of IP violation with approximately 4 million counterfeit products seized. The amount is slightly less compared to 2011, though this is attributed in part to the floods in late 2011 that inhibited trade, rather than improved enforcement and respect for IP rights.

Consequently, the IP laws under review are generally concerned with expanding the scope of protection and enforcement to further promote IP rights in Thailand.

Landlord liability is an area that practitioners are optimistic about. The introduction of landlord liability would further the government's effort to crack down on existing wide spread counterfeit practices. "The topic has been discussed for many years, and the proposal is coming up again," says Rutorn Nopakun from Domnern Somgiat & Boonma.

If landlord liability is incorporated into the trade mark and copyright act, the landlord would be liable for a fine between Bt50,000 ($1,700) and Bt200,000 ($6,800) for collaborating with sellers trading in counterfeit goods.

The trade mark law is under revision to bring it in line with the Madrid Protocol, with the draft now under consideration by Parliament. Practitioners are hopeful to have the revised trade mark law come into force during 2013.

"It should come into force soon," notes one practitioner. "The director of the IP office will be retiring in 2013 and one of her goals was to see the trade mark law come into force before then, and I would be surprised if she doesn't complete her task. Thailand is also committed to acceding to the Madrid Protocol by 2015, so the law must come into force soon in order to prepare for that."

Perhaps out of frustration due to the delay in acceding to the Madrid Protocol, some practitioners have begun to voice concerns of the disadvantages of joining. Firms with a heavy prosecution practice express concern that it will be bring the number of filings down.

"Very few domestic clients file internationally and many companies that do tend to file directly in countries where they want their trade marks registered," says Nopakun. "So I am not sure that the Madrid Protocol will be useful for them; I expect we may benefit from this maybe in 10 years but not at the moment."