As Vietnam’s newly amended Intellectual Property Law will take effect on January 1, 2023, the government has been working with related authorities to rapidly issue necessary decrees to guide the law’s implementation, including a decree on copyright and related rights. It is expected that this new decree will be released soon, to also take effect on January 1, 2023. The latest publicly available version of the new decree is the third draft (“draft decree”). Some major issues that are covered under the draft decree are discussed below. Definitions of terms The draft decree provides detailed definitions of some important terms; for example, publication of works is clarified as “issuing copies of works in a reasonable quantity sufficient for public access, depending on the nature of the work,” and the exact time is made clear for re-broadcasting (after the broadcast time) and relay of a program (at the same time as the broadcast time). Right to Perform a Work Before the Public Article 15 clarifies the definition of the right to perform a work in public, directly or indirectly, through sound and video recordings or any other technical means which the public can access but by which they cannot freely choose the time and part of the work, so as to distinguish it from distribution rights. The draft decree also specifies what constitutes the act of performing the work for each type of work.  Rights of Co-Authors and Co-Owners of Works Article 16 clearly distinguishes the circumstances in which (i) co-authors are also co-owners of a copyright and (ii) co-authors are not concurrently copyright owners. The draft decree further clarifies that co-owners of copyright have the right to waive the right to publish the work and property rights.  Exceptions to Copyright Infringement Article 26 provides that “reasonably copying a part

Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) has continued its strategy of enlisting the support of stakeholders from various sectors in the fight against infringement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) by introducing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on advertising practices. This follows the success of last year’s MOU on Online IP Protection, which aimed to tackle issues of intellectual property (IP) infringement on various e-commerce marketplace platforms. That MOU represented Thailand’s efforts in bringing together relevant stakeholders to address online IP infringement issues in a unified and collaborative manner. The DIP’s latest such cooperative initiative is the MOU on Online Advertising and IPRs. A signing ceremony for the MOU was held on October 28, 2022. The DIP, three advertising associations, and various IPR owners all participated in the event, which took place at the Ministry of Commerce. Tilleke & Gibbins joined to sign the MOU as one of the founding signatory parties. The major parties to this MOU are: the DIP; advertising business operators (online advertisement producers and advertisement providers); associations related to advertising and media; IPR owners—particularly those experiencing IPR infringement problems in Thailand; and law firms. Objectives of the New MOU The objective of the new MOU on Online Advertising and IPRs is to build and enhance collaboration among IPR owners, advertising business operators, associations, and the DIP, with the goal of preventing and suppressing the production, distribution, and circulation of online IP-infringing advertisements and halting the income flowing to infringers from advertisements posted on IP-infringing websites or applications. This MOU addresses different issues in comparison to last year’s MOU on Online IP Protection. The latter addressed IP infringing merchandise on e-commerce platforms, whereas the new MOU tackles the issue of IP-infringing advertisements, as well as IP-infringing websites and applications, with more focus on infringing content than on

Every country has its own customs measures in place to monitor goods crossing its borders. These measures are implemented by customs departments and other government agencies that facilitate international trade by checking shipments and collecting taxes on goods that enter and leave the country. Laos is one of the many countries that have sought to create a favorable environment for operators to export, transit, move, and store goods. In addition to tax collection duties, the Lao Customs Department also has measures to safeguard IP rights and prevent unfair competition, including protections against the infringement of trademarks and copyright—measures that have been in place since 2011. This year, Laos further improved its framework for enforcing IP rights through border measures against infringing goods. In February 2022, the government published new customs instructions that added industrial designs to the list of safeguarded IP rights for the Lao Customs Department. This means that an IP owner can now request the Lao Customs Department to take action on products infringing a protected industrial design under the customs border measures. Procedures The Lao Customs Department enables IP rights holders to protect their IP by allowing them to request the suspension of clearance for any goods imported, exported, or transiting in Laos on the grounds that a trademark, copyright, or industrial design is being or is likely to be infringed. To be eligible for this protection, IP rights holders must submit a request for a Declaration of Ownership to the Customs Department. Once approved, the application is forwarded to the provincial and capital customs offices to serve as a reference for officers inspecting goods crossing the Lao border. The Declaration of Ownership should be accompanied by the relevant written form for inspection and supervision of goods that are the subject of IP rights. Various other

In copyright disputes in many countries around the world, experts who can provide professional opinions based on their deep expertise in specific fields play a very important role. It is the same in Vietnam when copyright disputes are brought to court. The judges and court staff may have almost no knowledge in specific areas of settlement such as fine arts, music, or computer programs. For this reason, they focus only on the legal aspect of the cases; however, the legal aspect can only be considered on the basis of analysis from experts, commonly known in Vietnam as “assessment” (or expert opinion). Assessment Has Become Essential For copyright disputes that are resolved in court, except in cases where the behavior is very clear, a court order only occurs when there are assessment conclusions. The legal basis for considering assessment conclusions as an important source of evidence can be found in the 2005 Law on Intellectual Property, as amended in June 2022, and its subordinate legal documents. However, the particular importance of assessment is not shown in legislation but rather in practice, through the fact that the courts and procuracies attach great importance to these assessment conclusions and treat them as necessary—sometimes even compulsory—documents from which they make their judgments and rulings. It is rare for a court to express any opinion on the contents of an assessment conclusion, and rarer still for a court to make a judgment or ruling that is contrary to the conclusion. Thus, it seems that assessment conclusions, though originally intended as reference points only, are becoming decisive documents in many cases. In other words, the party that wins the assessment conclusion is much more likely to win the case. An Obstacle to Be Resolved For better or worse, assessment has become very important in the