Intellectual Property laws of Thailand

In today’s time when thousands of start-up companies are fast emerging and competition is getting tougher, it has become essential for business owners to have a plan of success ready starting with safeguarding their intellectual property (IP) and assets first, be it on a large or small scale. Your exclusive ideas, newness and products and services are solely yours and you should protect them from imitators from copying.

If you are setting up a business overseas like in Thailand, you should be well aware of their rules and regulations designed for business owners to effectively protect their IP assets.

Synopses of Thai laws:

According to some historical records, it was more than 100 years ago when the Intellectual Property Law (IP Law) was first brought in Thailand. It was started to provide Copyright protection, especially for literary works and with passing years, the protection of IP works was further developed and so today it includes the protection for various types of innovations.

The current existing law laid down by the Thai government is in accordance with the international IP standards set up by World Trade Organization’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Agreement (TRIPS). Also, they are a member of other key IP conventions which aims to create a fair and uniform IP protection system throughout the world. Hence, they consider the violation of Intellectual Property Rights as a serious criminal offense.

Thailand Intellectual Property Rights recognize the following three main categories:

• Marks: Trademarks, service marks, certification marks and collective marks.
• Patents: Inventions, product designs and utility patents.
• Copyrights: Literary works, artistic works, musical works, etc.

In addition to the above-mentioned main IP types, Thailand also includes other areas of IP like geographical indications, plant varieties, etc; which may be used to protect innovators and encourage Thai people to create more innovative works.

Your responsibility:

• Identify your valuable IP assets
• Keep your important IP assets, such as trade secrets, personal
• Get in touch with the Department of Intellectual Property of Thailand to register your IP
• Assess how your IP is related to your business
• While signing mergers or any other agreements, make sure to include IP clauses, terms, and reimbursement for IP violations
• Know your IP related rights
• Take a legal action if you catch someone breaching those rights.

To put in a nutshell:

To maintain a strong profile of your business and be in the competition for a long period, it is vital to protect your IP assets. Say, for example, the Coca-Cola Company has preferred to keep their trade secret (i.e. the recipe of their famous drink) strictly personal and has also safeguard their trademarks and brand designs by registering the IP’s. This way, they have a unique image in the market and people buy their products because they are different and exclusive.