Vietnamese cuisine has a growing reputation internationally, and a visit to Vietnam will quickly reveal that food plays a very important role in the country’s identity and culture, as well as its economy. More than 80% of the population makes a living through some form of agriculture, and approximately 35% of household income in Vietnam is spent on food and beverages. As food is the most essential of necessities, and thus the first priority in household spending, this percentage tends to be high in developing countries, declining as incomes rise.

Indonesia’s long-deliberated Omnibus Law (Law No. 11 of 2020) was enacted on November 2, 2020, implementing a number of amendments to Indonesia’s intellectual property laws. The law is intended to aid foreign investment. The changes pertaining to intellectual property law include reducing the time required for prosecution of simple patents, providing greater flexibility in regard to the working requirement for patents, and making some practical administrative amendments to the trademark law. These are summarize below.Patent Law

The Thailand updates to Practical Law’s Life Sciences Global Guide  have been released online, with legal practitioners from Tilleke & Gibbins contributing the Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property and Competition Law section.The guide is a Q&A-style overview of the regulatory frameworks of the life sciences industries across multiple jurisdictions worldwide, with this chapter addressing the following issues as they relate to Thailand:

On August 26, 2020, the government of Vietnam issued Decree No. 98/2020/ND-CP on the penalties for administrative violations in commercial activities, production and trade of counterfeit and banned goods, and consumer rights protection (Decree 98). Decree 98 will come into effect on October 15, 2020, replacing Decree No. 185/2013/ND-CP as amended in 2015 and 2018 (Decree 185).The administrative penalties and remedial measures under Article 4 of Decree 98 are restructured and more well-organized than in Decree 185, with increased monetary fines for a number of violations.