Bloomberg Law  published an article on October 14, leaning on the expertise of Alec Wheatley and Ploynapa Julagasigorn, a consultant and attorney-at-law respectively in Tilleke & Gibbins’ intellectual property department, to discuss Thailand’s push for strengthened copyright law. The article gives an overview of the existing Copyright Act (1994) and the changes that are being sought to the regime, based on the input of some of Thailand’s leading intellectual property practitioners.

Alec noted that some of the proposed revisions are influenced by the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, with one focus for change honing in on internet service providers (ISPs) setting and enforcing policies that would prevent repeated infringers from posting stolen property. Additionally, lobbyists have pushed for changes that would permit faster removal of stolen content without a fixed time frame set by the court. Ploynapa stated that these changes “are designed to ensure that ISPs are not intentionally reproducing or distributing pirated content on their systems before they are granted limited liability.”

In discussing the possible effects of an updated copyright law, Alec is quoted as saying “[i]deally this limited liability will encourage more entities to enter the market to offer online services for the benefit of all.”

To read the full article, please visit the Bloomberg Law  website.