Despite rapid economic development over the past two decades and an increasingly urban population, Vietnam remains a primarily agricultural country. According to 2018 statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, 70% of the population (67.5 million) was living by agriculture, with agricultural land (including forests) covering 26 million hectares—an area about the size of the country of New Zealand.

The Intellectual Property Office of Viet Nam (IP Viet Nam) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) have launched a new Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program. The program will be in effect for two years, commencing on June 1, 2019, and ending on May 31, 2021. The number of requests accepted per year is limited to 100 from each office.

Myanmar’s Copyright Law was finally enacted into law on May 24, 2019, effectively repealing the old Copyright Act of 1914. The law lays out the new legislative framework for the protection of literary and artistic works and other related rights, to be implemented through administrative bodies and subsidiary regulations that will be issued in due course.Overview

By and large, government regulations are adopted to achieve certain economic, social, and cultural objectives. However, excessive regulation can impose high burdens on society that outweigh these benefits. The current government of Thailand has undertaken regulatory reforms to address the problems posed by poorly designed regulations.