On September 9 and 10, Michelle Ray-Jones, as president of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) in Thailand, together with Ploynapa Julagasigorn, the LES Thailand secretary, hosted a virtual annual conference 2021 under the theme “Supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Challenges and Opportunities During the COVID-19 Era.” The conference was broken down into four main sessions featuring 20 guest speakers on a wide range of topics in response to the pandemic. The first session, “COVID-19: Impacts & Plans for the future,” highlighted COVID-19 vaccine development, addressed the impact of increased remote working arrangements on infrastructure and operations, and covered challenges and shifts in human resources, sales, services, insurance, legal operations, and the use of advanced technology—such as AI-generated inventions in biotech and related IP ownership issues. In the second session, “Future Technology and Licensing Trends,” speakers discussed tech and licensing lessons learned in 2020, licensing trends in 2021, and predictions for the near future. The third session explored how food, nutrition, and agriculture collectively play a crucial role in helping humanity recover from this pandemic. The speakers talked about the booming plant-based products industry and discussed its effects on the agricultural landscape and sustainable agriculture initiatives in Southeast Asia. The last session focused on global climate change and decarbonization efforts, with speakers highlighting some decarbonization solutions and exploring possible technology-transfer strategies to enable the sharing of technologies that can fight climate change.

Chandavya Ing, an associate in the intellectual property group of Tilleke & Gibbins’ Phnom Penh office, coauthored an article titled “The Fate of Dependent Patents in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam—A Comparison with the Situation in Germany and India” with Prof. Dr. Heinz Goddar, a patent attorney and partner in the Munich office of Boehmer & Boehmer. The article appeared in the September 2021 issue of les Nouvelles, the journal of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI). Dependent patents are new patents that also rely on a previous one, such as when an invention builds on or adds new technology to a previous patented invention. This approach to securing commercial rights for progressive inventions is often seen in patent-heavy fields such as telecommunications and advanced technology. Commercializing a dependent patent without infringing the earlier patent (i.e., the one that it depends on) requires licensing from the holder of the earlier patent. If this proves unworkable, the dependent patent cannot go to market. While this may ensure that the original patent rights are upheld, such an impasse can also block innovation and progress. As the authors explain in the article, Germany and India (as well as other countries such as Russia and Taiwan) will enlist a state party in an effort to resolve any such situation that arises, often through a de-blocking mechanism such as a compulsory or non-voluntary license. The article then looks in detail at the de-blocking mechanisms and provisions in the legal and regulatory environment of various countries in Southeast Asia, before offering comparison to the situation in Germany and India. Overall, the authors conclude that a more active (but balanced) use of compulsory licensing—which already exists in many Southeast Asian countries but is not frequently employed outside of the pharmaceutical sector—might help clear patent-related obstacles

On September 7, 2021, Noppramart Thammateeradaycho, counsel in Tilleke & Gibbins’ dispute resolution group, will be a panelist in a webinar about how alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods such as arbitration function in relation to bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings. Titled “The Interplay between Insolvency Proceedings and International Arbitration,” the webinar is jointly sponsored by the Thailand Arbitration Center (THAC) and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) as part of the THAC International ADR Webinar Series and Thailand ADR Week 2021. Joining Noppramart on the panel will be arbitration experts and professionals from Thailand and abroad. Together they will discuss the conflicts that frequently arise between international arbitration and insolvency law, as arbitration typically seeks to uphold agreements to settle disputes exclusively through arbitration regardless of the position of the contracting parties, while insolvency law aims to distribute the assets of the insolvent party between all creditors through a centralized process. The panelists will address how this tension plays out across the world, giving attendees a view of the experiences of arbitration practitioners from different jurisdictions and the challenges they have faced in relation to insolvency proceedings. The webinar is free to attend and will be held from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. ICT (UTC+7). For more details, please see the event registration page.

On September 15, Noppramart Thammateeradaycho, counsel, and Dutsadee Dutsadeepanich, associate—both from Tilleke & Gibbins’ dispute resolution group—will appear in a webinar titled “Commercial and Investment Arbitration in the Oil and Gas Sector,” presented in conjunction with the Thailand Arbitration Center, the Singapore-Thai Chamber of Commerce, and Peter & Kim of Singapore. Dutsadee will moderate for the session, while Noppramart will be joined by three other experts from the legal industry and academia. Through their presentations, the speakers will discuss recent challenges in the oil and gas industry and how these pressures have led to an increase in complex commercial and investment arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism. One specific area of focus will be gas price review arbitration, though the speakers will also provide an overall view of the role of arbitration in the oil and gas sector, as well as how parties in the industry can incorporate arbitration into their dispute resolution strategies moving forward. The webinar, which will be in English, will be held via Zoom 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. ICT. Please submit the registration form (free) to attend.