This article first appeared on WTR Daily, part of World Trademark Review, in May 2012. For further information, please go to www.worldtrademarkreview.com.Brand owners and Thailand’s Trademark Office frequently disagree as to how to distinguish between a suggestive mark and a descriptive mark.

This article appeared in the 2012 edition of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Pharmaceutical Advertising; published by Global Legal Group Ltd., London. www.iclg.co.uk

Approximately half of all patented inventions are never commercially exploited. This can be attributed to the several difficulties faced by companies that rely heavily on research and innovation, particularly in devising strategic patent management schemes, and in identifying business opportunities.Moreover, research-driven companies, such as those focusing on technology or medicine, must consider the legal aspect of patents and protect them in order to avoid intellectual property infringement—a serious issue in Thailand.

Medien & Recht Publishing has published the first edition of Software Protection: A Comparative Perspective, which gives insight into the field of ICT law in 24 different jurisdictions. For an in-depth chapter on Thailand, James Evans, Suebsiri Taweepon, and Hassana Chira-Aphakul, of the Tilleke & Gibbins intellectual property team, have provided their expertise and answered fundamental questions on software protection covering the following:

A substantial number of private limited companies in Thailand are run by foreign managing directors, who often prefer to leave the task of dealing with the legal formalities of Thai corporate law to their accountants or to outsource it to legal service providers and accounting offices.

The Corporate Governance Review has recently published its second edition covering the field of corporate governance law in 32 different jurisdictions. The Thailand chapter was written by Santhapat Periera and Charunun Sathitsuksomboon of the Tilleke & Gibbins corporate and commercial group.

With the 10 nations of ASEAN committing to full implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015, Thailand will likely see an increase in inbound technology transfer to the country, both by fellow AEC member state companies as well as by foreign companies. Since Thailand joined the Patent Cooperation Treaty in 2009, there has been a significant increase in the number of patent applications filed with the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP).

Many employers are unaware that terminations of employees, if not carefully considered and conducted, could not only lead to claims of civil liability for unfair termination but also potentially impose criminal liability on the company and its directors as an unfair act. It is extremely important to clearly understand what constitutes unfair termination and an unfair act, and their differences.