In recent years, the Thai government has attempted to strike a balance between attracting investment and protecting consumer interests. On the one hand, it has tried to liberalize foreign investment, eradicate bureaucratic red tape, and introduce investment promotion and investor-friendly policies through tax and non-tax incentives. On the other hand, it has enacted a number of laws and regulations to enhance consumer protection.

Intellectual property (IP) linkage refers to connecting an IP office, through open communication lines and complementary processes, to other government agencies that work on IP. This generally includes agencies tasked with regulating food, drugs, and agricultural products, in order to ensure not only that there is proper communication between the officials of both agencies, but also that each agency’s regulations are in line with one another, and the agencies do not promulgate conflicting requirements.

Over the past decade, investors have shown a considerable amount of interest in Cambodia. Last year, foreign direct investment in Cambodia was estimated at USD 1.8 billion, or 10 percent of GDP, according to the World Bank. This interest has largely been spurred on by the government, which offers an investment scheme that has some of the most attractive incentives in the region.

Recent amendments to Thailand’s criminal law make it harder for convicted criminals who do not appear for sentencing to appeal their cases. Under the current law, defendants who are on the run are able to file higher court appeals through a lawyer. The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) has now closed this loophole, and the amendments are awaiting final signature to become effective. 

In Thailand, plant varieties are protected under the Plant Varieties Protection Act B.E. 2542 (1999) (Act), which is administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (Ministry). The Act aims to incentivize plant breeding and the conservation of plants and germplasm.The Act classifies plant varieties into four groups, including local domestic plant variety, wild plant variety, general domestic plant variety, and new plant variety. This article discusses how a new plant variety can be protected under the law.

Take a walk along Bogyoke Aung San Road in downtown Yangon, and you will see longyi-clad men and teenagers in school uniforms with thanaka-painted faces digging their fingers into golden pieces of fried chicken in Myanmar’s first KFC outlet. Across the street from KFC, patrons of Yakun Coffee & Toast, a popular Singaporean chain, can be seen devouring their kaya and butter toast as the sweet aroma of Hainanese coffee lingers in the afternoon air.

Last year’s amendments to the Thai Copyright Act gave copyright owners broader and more advanced tools to tackle copyright infringement in the digital age. Among these amendments, the one which has garnered the most attention is Section 32/3, which provides preliminary injunctive relief for copyright infringement on computer systems. This feature has been of particular interest to IP practitioners and scholars, who have attempted to determine how best to utilize this section in order to enforce against copyright infringement on the Internet.