On January 28, 2019, Thailand, as a member state of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), became the 49th contracting party to accede to theO Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print-Disabled, which became legally binding on Thailand on April 28, 2019. In order to comply, Thailand enacted an amendment to the Copyright Act B.E. 2537 (1994) which became effective on March 11, 2019, in the form of Copyright Act (No. 4) B.E. 2561 (2018).

On June 30, after nine years of negotiations, Vietnam and the European Union officially signed the landmark EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), an ambitious and progressive agreement that includes important provisions on intellectual property.

This article was first published on Franchising Insider —a blog maintained by US Law Firm Quarles & Brady LLP—and was co-authored by Dino Santaniello, head of Tilleke & Gibbins’ Vientiane office, and Robert A. Smith, a partner in the Washington, DC, office of Quarles & Brady LLP.Introduction

On June 30, 2019, in Hanoi, representatives from the European Union and Vietnam officially signed the historic EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), a comprehensive and mutually beneficial agreement in which thoughtful consideration was given to the development gap between the two parties. The ambitious agreement includes a number of provisions on intellectual property, which we discuss below.Patent