With the rapid growth of internet use and the increasing dominance of online selling, efficient enforcement of intellectual property rights has become more cumbersome for brand owners. Any infringer equipped with the right technology can easily sell counterfeit goods on e-commerce platforms, and they can often evade responsibility by merely reposting listings or switching vendor names whenever they are challenged. In this environment, brand owners have found that it is rarely enough to simply request the takedown of infringing pages. Instead, tackling online infringement effectively and stopping the spread of counterfeit products means uncovering the true source, arresting the infringer, and seizing the goods to prevent them from being relisted entirely. Panasonic’s Success When the Japanese multinational electronics maker Panasonic discovered that fake batteries were being sold in Thailand through e-commerce websites, their first step was to send takedown requests to the platforms hosting the offending pages. However, the problem remained, with several of the counterfeit retailers shifting their advertising of counterfeit Panasonic goods to other posts. Tilleke & Gibbins thus helped Panasonic attack the problem at its root by seeking to uncover the true identity of the online sellers. We confirmed that the same infringing sellers were continuing to post counterfeit Panasonic items for sale, and during a preliminary investigation, we discovered that five online sellers even shared the same shipping address. Unsurprisingly, the address was a fake as well—our investigation team found that the given location had nothing to do with the Panasonic counterfeiting operation, and further investigation was required before the team found the hidden location of the real warehouse. We then shared the results of our investigation with the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) of the Royal Thai Police to alert them to the true identity and address of the online infringer, and coordinated with

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.