In the August 2015 edition of Informed Counsel, we discussed Thailand’s Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program (PPH Pilot Program), in which the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) and the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) collaborated to accelerate the patent examination process of Thai applications based on prior Japanese applications.

On January 29, 2016, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha issued a statement on Thailand’s national agenda and the subject of intellectual property (IP). He emphasized the importance of IP rights and the role of Thai authorities in enforcing these rights, saying:

In order to receive royalties, a trademark owner may license out its trademark rights to another party. To license trademark rights, a trademark license agreement must be made in writing and registered at the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP), in accordance with Section 68 of the Thai Trademark Act. If a trademark license agreement is not registered, it will be void, according to Section 152 of the Civil and Commercial Code and the support of various Supreme Court judgments (Decisions 7770/2547, 6436/2543, and 6190/2550).

Amendments to Thailand’s Trademark Act were published in the Royal Gazette on April 29, 2016. The amendments will become effective on July 28, 90 days after the publication date. Among the amendments is a new chapter on trademark registration which introduces a number of changes that set the stage for Thailand to accede to the Madrid Protocol in 2016.

The Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) has released draft Notifications—applicable to both life and non-life insurance companies—which introduce provisions on internal risk management in insurance companies.Under these provisions, life and non-life insurance companies must:

On June 1, the fees to register a company and other related corporate documents will be revised in Myanmar. If you already have a registered company, or you are contemplating establishing one, you should be fully aware of the revised registration fees.

Under the ASEAN IPR Action Plan—a plan to harmonize intellectual property (IP) systems in the region—member countries such as Thailand are expected to join the Hague Agreement, which allows applicants to register a design in any number of participating countries by filing a single application. This saves applicants time and costs, compared with filing a separate application in each country where they want to register their design.

Under Vietnam’s new Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13 (“new code”) coming into force on July 1, 2016, the dismissal of an employee will become more challenging because managers of companies will be exposed to greater risks of criminal liability than under the existing Penal Code No. 15/1999/QH10 as amended by Law No. 37/2009/QH12 (“old code”). This criminal liability would be imposed in addition to any civil liability that might be imposed under Vietnamese labor laws.