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

On June 16, 2022, Vietnam’s National Assembly ratified the latest amendment of the country’s Intellectual Property Law, which will take effect on January 1, 2023 (except for the provisions on sound marks, which took retroactive effect on January 14, 2022, and the provisions on test data protection for agrochemicals, which will come into force on January 14, 2024). For the amended IP Law to be enforced consistently and efficiently, the government is actively working to issue a decree guiding the implementation of the amended IP Law (the “new decree”). The new decree, after being ratified, will also take effect on January 1, 2023, replacing Decree No. 103/2006/ND-CP and Decree No. 105/2006/ND-CP, two decrees issued in 2006 to guide the previous IP Law of 2005. Due to the urgency of promulgating a legislative document conforming with the amended IP Law when it takes effect, the government will formulate and promulgate the new decree under a simplified procedure. The drafting agency circulated the first draft of the new decree to seek opinions from concerned parties on October 10, 2022. The new decree is seen as comprehensive guidance to key aspects of the IP Law, including the establishment and enforcement of industrial property rights, IP representation, measures to promote IP activities, IP-related export and import control; IP assessment, and state management of intellectual property. The new decree generally consolidates provisions of the two previous decrees without many changes. The highlight of the new decree is some new provisions on controlling security for patents and secret patents (Article 14); Hague applications for industrial designs (Articles 22, 23, 24) and cancellation/invalidation of Hague registrations for industrial designs (Article 32.5); and compensation for patent owners (Article 43). The new decree is currently being reviewed by the drafting agency before submission for appraisal and validation, and

Tilleke & Gibbins’ intellectual property team in Bangkok has provided the latest updates to the Thailand chapter of Practical Law’s Intellectual Property Transactions Global Guide, a high-level comparative overview of intellectual property (IP) laws and regulations in 36 jurisdictions worldwide. The Intellectual Property Transactions in Thailand chapter focuses on business-related aspects of IP, such as the value of intellectual assets in M&A transactions and the licensing of IP portfolios. The topics covered include the following: IP assignment and licensing: Basis/scope and formalities, trade secrets and confidentiality, main terms for assignment/licensing Research and development collaborations: Improvements and derivatives, joint ownership Conducting IP audits to determine the contents of an IP portfolio IP aspects of mergers and acquisitions: IP due diligence, warranties and indemnities, transfer of IP rights Lending and security interests over IP rights Settlement agreements in IP litigation Agreements regarding rights over IP created by employees and consultants Competition law and exploitation of IP rights Tax (e.g., for IP licensing) and nontariff trade barriers To read the full Intellectual Property Transactions in Thailand chapter, please visit the Practical Law website.

Patent specialists from Tilleke & Gibbins have contributed the Myanmar chapter to the 2023 edition of Patents: Practical Cross-Border Insights into Patent Law from International Comparative Legal Guides (ICLG), published by Global Legal Group. This comprehensive guide provides readers with an in-depth look at patent laws and regulations in 23 jurisdictions around the world. Each chapter of the guide, which is in Q&A format, is organized into eight sections: Patent Enforcement Patent Amendment Licensing Patent Term Extension Patent Prosecution and Opposition Border Control Measures Antitrust Law and Inequitable Conduct Current Developments The complete Myanmar chapter is available as a PDF below. The Myanmar chapter—and the full Patents guide—are also freely available on the ICLG website.