Vietnam issued a draft decree on the sanctioning of administrative violations in industrial property, aimed at bringing regulations in line with the newly amended Law on Handling Administrative Violations scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2022.

Seven years after Indonesia enacted its new copyright law (Law No. 28 of 2014), the government has finally published an implementing regulation relating to the management of royalties for songs or music under copyright. The new guidelines are contained in Government Regulation No. 56 of 2021 on Song and/or Music Copyrights Royalties Management, which was welcomed by creators, rights holders, and other related parties when it was issued on March 31. The regulation lays out 13 commercial public venues and uses that are subject to royalty payments for playing songs or music under copyright: Seminars and commercial conferences; Restaurants, cafés, pubs, bars, bistros, night clubs, and discotheques; Music concerts; Airplanes, buses, trains, and ships; Exhibitions and bazaars; Cinemas; Ringtones; Banks and offices; Stores; Recreation centers; TV stations; Radio stations; Hotels, hotel rooms, and hotel facilities; and Karaoke services. Collection and distribution of royalties from commercial users of songs or music is conducted by the National Collective Management Agency (Lembaga Manajemen Kolektif Nasional, or LMKN) on behalf of creators and rights holders. The organization consists of two sections—LMKN Creators and LMKN Related Rights Holders—each of which is led by an independent commissioner with duties and organizational structure regulated by further ministerial regulation. The new regulation mandates the establishment of two new repositories, within two years, that will have important implications for the management of royalties for musical works. One of these—the government’s Song and Music Data Center—will contain information on all the songs and music registered with Indonesia’s Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) and will be accessible to anyone seeking information related to commercial use of a registered musical work (e.g., LMKN, creators and rights holders, commercial users, etc.). The second repository is the Song and Music Information System, which is an internal system to be developed and administered

Attorneys in Tilleke & Gibbins’ intellectual property team in Bangkok have contributed to a new overview of patents, trademarks, copyright, and designs for Practical Law, which has published a Q&A guide to protection and enforcement of various intellectual property rights in jurisdictions around the world. The overview of the main intellectual property rights in Thailand takes readers through the protection and enforcement of patents, utility models (that is, “petty patents” in Thailand), trademarks, copyright, and registered and unregistered designs. The section also includes guidance on regulations concerning trade secrets and confidential information in Thailand. Practical Law, produced by Thomson Reuters, is the world’s leading legal resource for business lawyers, publishing a huge range of guides covering hundreds of jurisdictions and practice areas. To read the full overview of intellectual property rights in Thailand, please visit the Practical Law website.

Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) has introduced ‘fast-track’ procedures to significantly expedite trademark renewals and new trademark examination processes. Fast-track renewals The first of these was launched on 1 March 2021, when the DIP instituted a fast-track option for the renewal of qualifying trademarks in Thailand. When a trademark renewal application is processed through the fast-track channel, examination of the application and grant of a certificate of renewal will be completed within just 45 minutes of filing. This expedited process incurs no additional official fee. To benefit from this, renewal applications must comply with a few specific requirements laid out in the DIP notification. First, the total number of goods or services on the application must not exceed 30 items, and no changes may have been made to the particulars of the registration. The application must also be filed at the DIP by either the owner or an appointed attorney. In the latter case, the power of attorney must authorise the attorney to collect the certificate on the owner’s behalf. Finally, fast-track examination must be requested when the renewal application is submitted. Tilleke & Gibbins has already submitted a test case with the DIP and can confirm that, when the above conditions are met, the DIP can complete and issue a certificate of renewal within 45 minutes of the renewal application being submitting. Fast-track examination After the successful implementation of the fast-track renewal process, the DIP then turned its attention to the trademark application examination process and the issuance of initial office actions, launching the “First Action Fast Track” programme on 16 April 2021. Under this programme, a first office action for qualifying trademarks in Thailand will be issued within six months of the filing of an application – again at no additional cost. To benefit from this