As part of its membership in Lex Mundi, Tilleke & Gibbins has published an updated edition of its Guide to Doing Business in Thailand for 2023. This guide outlines the key factors for starting and operating a business in the Thai market. Issues covered include: Investment incentives Financial facilities Exchange controls Import and export regulations Structures for doing business Requirements for the Establishment of a Business Operation of the Business Cessation or Termination of the Business Labor legislation, relations, and supply Tax Immigration requirements This publication is part of Lex Mundi’s Country Guides series prepared by member firms in more than 100 jurisdictions worldwide. The guides serve as a useful resource for planning international business strategy and researching new markets. The full Guide to Doing Business in Thailand is available through the button below.

On November 30, 2023, Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology issued Circular No. 23/2023/TT-BKHCN detailing the implementation of some articles of the 2022 Intellectual Property Law (“IP Law”) and Decree No. 65/2023/ND-CP with respect to the establishment and protection of industrial property rights (“Circular 23”). Circular 23 took immediate effect upon issuance and provides further guidance and necessary clarifications for the implementation of the IP Law, which took effect on January 1, 2023. Some of the most critical provisions of Circular 23 related to the establishment of IP rights are discussed below. Common Procedures Circular 23 enumerates and details the cases where an application will be re-examined, as stipulated in various articles of the IP Law. The circular also adds the procedure in which a protection title can be partially granted, as newly stipulated in Article 118 of the IP Law. The procedure applies to patent, industrial design, and trademark applications. Grounds for IP rights invalidation are further detailed in the new circular. On the patent side, it provides a list of situations where claims are deemed to go beyond the scope of the specification. For trademark registrations, it specifically defines two conditions in which “bad faith” grounds can be used to cancel a registration. The circular sets out the procedure for opposing an application, as stipulated in the new Article 112a of the IP Law. Unlike previous regulations, Circular 23 sets out that the IP Office will inform the applicant of all oppositions (whether or not the opposition is grounded), except for obvious cases where the IP Office will consider the registrability of an opposed mark without informing the applicant. To facilitate applicants and related parties, some timeframes have been extended from one to two months. This includes, for example, the time limit for the applicant and the

The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (the Hague Agreement) officially took effect in Vietnam on December 30, 2019. Since then the Hague Express Database reports that more than 1,300 international design applications have designated Vietnam, and many of them have been examined by Vietnam’s IP Office before a statement of grant of protection was issued. However, from the time the Hague Agreement took effect until the amended Intellectual Property Law took effect on January 1, 2023, there were no legal documents regulating the process and procedures for examining these applications in Vietnam. This caused some difficulties in the examination process and many applications filed from 2020 to date remain in limbo, with the applicants having submitted responses to refusals, but yet to receive further results on the grant or refusal of protection. The amended IP Law introduced Article 93.9 on the validity of international registrations of industrial designs according to the Hague Agreement. More recently, Decree 65/2023/ND-CP (Decree 65) introduced a new section on the filing and processing of Hague international design applications, with detailed regulations on the handling of Hague applications originating in Vietnam and Hague applications designating Vietnam. These new regulations have generally improved the international application process in Vietnam for both the IP Office and design applicants; however, they have not resolved some existing problems and in some cases have created more burdens for applicants. Submission of priority documents Article 24.8 of Decree 65 requires that within three months from the date of the International Bureau’s notification of the Hague Application designating Vietnam, applicants wishing to benefit from a priority must submit documents proving their priority right to the IP Office for approval. This is a completely new requirement that applies to all international design applications designating Vietnam starting from the effective

Myanmar enacted its new Copyright Law on May 24, 2019, to replace the old Copyright Act of 1914. To implement the Copyright Law, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued the Copyright Rules under Notification No. 70/2023 dated October 23, 2023, establishing procedures for registration of copyright and related rights. Both the new Copyright Law and the Copyright Rules finally came into force on October 31, 2023, in accordance with State Administration Council (SAC) Notification No. 218/2023. Subsequently, the MOC issued Notification No. 73/2023 on November 20, 2023, specifying the official forms for copyright and related rights matters to be filed with Myanmar’s Intellectual Property Department (IPD). An announcement specifying the government fees under the Copyright Law is still awaited. Once these fees are announced and the IPD opens voluntary registration, the new regime for copyright and related rights in Myanmar is finally expected to be fully functional. Overview The new Copyright Law gives copyright protection for eligible literary and artistic works and for the related rights of performers, phonogram producers, and broadcasting organizations. The law also enables the use of technological protection measures to protect copyright in literary or artistic works or related rights. The unauthorized removal or alteration of digital rights management information is also strictly prohibited. The law supports voluntary registration of copyright in literary and artistic works and related rights with the IPD. In addition, although Myanmar is not yet a contracting party to the Berne Convention (under which countries extend the same copyright protection to nationals and foreigners, regardless of publication in the country), the new Copyright Law extends copyright protection to foreign works created by noncitizens and nonresidents if they are first published in Myanmar or published in Myanmar within 30 days of first publication elsewhere. The Copyright Law grants the following copyright protection