There are few areas of employment law which differ as significantly between countries as the laws relating to post-termination restrictions. The increasing trend for key employees to have international responsibilities, be globally mobile, and for post-termination restrictions to apply across many different jurisdictions is a challenge. In reality, when enforcement issues arise, the decisions taken in the early stages of action may determine the outcome weeks or months later.

Business operators in Thailand should be familiar with the many administrative agencies that have regulatory and investigative authority. For example, under the Customs Act B.E. 2469, the Customs Department has the right to investigate any customs transaction that might not comply with the customs law.

Agricultural expansion through farmland has been a key driver of growth in several parts of the world to cope with the increasing needs for food. In many jurisdictions, the ownership and possession of farmland by foreigners has been subject to restrictions and incentives.

It is very common for copyright owners to take action against those who are violating their rights by creating or distributing pirated works. In almost all cases, though, prosecutions of violators are carried out by companies, as opposed to individual artists, who are seemingly left powerless to pursue legal action. But a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Thailand provides a reminder that individual artists can and should enforce their rights. In August 2013, the Supreme Court rendered a judgment in favor of an individual artist, Ms.

In Thailand, patents applications can often remain pending for quite a long time, and this is causing great concern to both Thai and foreign patent applicants. The average time required to obtain a patent in Thailand, from application to grant, is seven-and-a-half years. For pharmaceutical patent applications, the process from requesting substantive examination to granting can take anywhere from 4 to 13 years.

Vietnam has one of the world’s top growth rates in pharmaceutical spending, with Thanh Nien newspaper estimating that spending for 2013 would exceed USD 3.3 billion, an increase of 17% from 2012. Vietnamese consumers have additionally demonstrated that they are willing to pay more for the reliability of a foreign brand. However, connecting foreign supply to domestic demand continues to pose challenges, despite restrictions being relaxed in recent years.

Patents are engines of growth and are critical to the vitality of the pharmaceutical industry. They create the incentive for pharmaceutical companies to maintain their investments to find new and better cures for global health issues, and to improve the health of people around the world. From an economic perspective, patents also give their holders an upper hand over other competitors. For this reason, many generic pharmaceutical companies try to illegally use others’ patented inventions in their own products, in order to gain an unfair advantage and compete with the patentees’ drugs.

The key legislation governing intellectual property issues in Laos is the Law on Intellectual Property (Law No. 01/NA of December 20, 2011, as amended), which covers industrial property, new plant varieties, copyright, and related rights. Although this law is now entering its third year of implementation, the country’s IP officers remain relatively inexperienced, especially with regard to handling IP infringement cases and verifying whether products are genuine or counterfeit.