On December 8, 2009, the National Office of Intellectual Property issued the long-awaited examination guidelines for industrial designs. The guidelines gave clarity to a number of issues that had been left unclear under the Law on Intellectual Property and its regulations. This article examines the developments.

After being chased out of China and Hong Kong, Southeast Asia is seeing a marked increase in the number of unauthorized business enterprise name registrations and, as was the case in China and Hong Kong, there seems little the company registration departments can proactively do to counter such unauthorized registrations until legislation is passed to empower officials to reject applications for business names using the trademarks or trade names of others. This article examines a recent Thai Supreme Court case on the issue.

Since 2002, in addition to traditional avenues in the Thai courts, brand owners have had the option of mediation by the Dispute Prevention and Settlement of Intellectual Property Group, the Legal Department of the Department of Intellectual Property. This option allows brand owners to deal with a variety of intellectual property-related issues, including infringement of trademark, copyright, patent, and trade secret.

Following Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2007, franchising activity is on the rise. Even in the recent worldwide economic downturn, major franchises have been attracted by the consumer buying potential of Vietnam’s 86-million strong population, half of whom are under 25 years of age. In recent years, several major franchises have registered to conduct franchising activities in Vietnam, including franchises in the restaurant, apparel, education, car rental, real estate, fitness, eyewear, and other fields.

The franchise business model is widespread in Thailand, especially in the wake of the recent recession. This level of popularity can be attributed to the fact that franchising allows the franchisor to promote a successful business model or product to another geographical area, while many of the risks are borne by the franchisee. At the same time, franchising is attractive to franchisees because it authorizes the franchisee to use this successful business model or product while deriving greater benefits from the business than a company-owned outlet.

Intellectual property acquisitions are becoming commonplace in Asia with the move to knowledge-based economies. Agricultural and manufacturing economies may not have been prolific creators of IP, but these are often key territories for global or regional deals. In many cases, acquiring companies are Asian, looking to fast-track the design / invention / branding process and acquire IP as going concerns, complete with marketable products.

Lamps, pet food, medicines, auto parts, mobile phones, toothpaste, sunglasses, T-shirts, bearings, shampoo, luxury bags, pencils, glue, chocolate, and motorbikes: At first view, these products have little in common. In fact, what unites them is that they have all been seized by the Royal Thai Police, the Department of Special Investigation, the Thai Customs Department, or their counterparts in the past couple of years, all for forging or imitating a trademark. This article provides an introduction to the scope of the problem.

On May 13, 2009, the Vietnamese Government promulgated Decree No. 472009ND-CP Providing Regulations for Penalties for Administrative Violations in Copyright and Related Rights, with an effective date of June 30, 2009. The issuance of this decree provides a more complete set of harsher penalties on administrative violations in copyright and related rights and sets forth an improved mechanism for enforcement of these rights. These new measures are expected to give another push in the Vietnamese government’s fight against copyright infringement in the country.