Thailand’s Patent Act was last amended in 1999. Since then, the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) has gone through numerous rounds of review of potential revisions to the law, with the latest draft of proposed amendments to the Patent Act being published on the DIP website on January 31, 2018. The DIP then arranged for public hearings during February 1-28, 2018, to obtain comments and recommendations on the proposed provisions.

The Royal Decree on Managing the Work of Foreigners (No. 2) B.E. 2561 (2018) came into effect on March 28, 2018, and is the third significant reform to Thailand’s law on work permits in the past three years. The new amendments are aimed at addressing the concerns of foreign workers over penalties related to work permit requirements imposed by the Royal Decree (No. 1) B.E. 2560 (2017) earlier in 2017. The key changes introduced by the amendments are detailed below.

On Sunday, May 13, two Royal Decrees were published in the Thai Government Gazette, addressing matters relevant to cryptocurrencies and digital tokens. These Royal Decrees clarify some longstanding questions about initial coin offerings (ICOs) and related matters.One of the Royal Decrees sets out the framework for offering, trading, brokering, and exchanging digital currencies and digital tokens, whilst the other deals with some key tax issues.

UPDATEOn August 31, 2018, the Office of Insurance Commission passed the draft notification referred to in this article into law without substantial amendments, effective September 1, 2018. The key changes discussed in the document below are now in force.

Under Vietnamese law, if a logo is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of its holder from those of others, it can qualify for trademark protection. If the logo is created personally by the author without copying others’ works and is fixed in a material form, it is also copyrightable as a work of applied art (assuming it meets the minimum creativity threshold).

David Beckstead, a consultant in Tilleke & Gibbins’ corporate and commercial group and a member of the firm’s regional energy and infrastructure practice, has authored an article on “Lessons from Thailand on the Importance of Devising and Implementing Detailed Decommissioning Regimes” for the Oil, Gas & Energy Law Intelligence Journal.  The peer-reviewed academic journal covers laws related to oil, gas, and energy and has been published by Maris BV since 2003.David’s article covers the following topics:

On April 20, 2018, the Lao Prime Minister’s Office issued Notification No. 560/PMO which raises the minimum salary in Laos from LAK 900,000 (approximately USD 110) to LAK 1,100,000 (approx. USD 133) per person/per month. The minimum salary increase will become effective as of May 1, 2018.This salary increase has been scheduled for a long time, but was delayed by discussions between different stakeholders over the value of the increase. This notification brings to an end the extensive debate on this topic between the relevant ministries.