At the end of June 2019, Taylor Swift took to social media to express her dismay over the purchaser of her former label who now owns the rights to her master recordings. While it is common for artists to not own their master recordings, fans were surprised to learn that one of the world’s biggest popstars had few legal grounds to dictate who controls her master recordings.

A steady increase in the number of companies transferring their IP assets to Thailand has seen an increase in the need for these companies to rely on the courts to protect their complex scientific and technological advancements. Recent developments have seen Thailand’s court system rising to the challenge, using international standards of protection including:

Rightsholders enforcing trademark, industrial design, or patent rights in Vietnam will often be advised by counsel of the need to obtain a “VIPRI opinion” as a first step in an enforcement case. The Vietnam Intellectual Property Research Institute (VIPRI) is the only agency in Vietnam authorized to provide expert opinions on IP infringement.

On June 13, 2019, Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) published a new edition of the Guidelines for Examining Patent and Petty Patent Applications, with the aim of harmonizing and updating the examination of patent and petty patent applications in Thailand. The new edition of the Guidelines will replace the previous version published in 2012.