In general, a patent examination result obtained in one country should be deemed as valid in other countries for the same technology. Many countries have included this principle in their patent laws. However, the same invention has to go through substantive examination separately on a country-by-country basis. Each country has a different approach to what the examination entails and whether or not the requirements of patentability have been met. Therefore, an application which has already been granted in another country may not necessarily be patentable in Thailand.

A recent Supreme Court decision, Hewlett-Packard Company v. The Department of Intellectual Property, provides important insight into the concept of “distinctiveness through use” or “secondary meaning” under the Thai trademark practice.

Reputable companies often face difficulties when parasitic third parties attempt to derive benefit from a famous trademark when registering their company names. In Thailand, this is a serious concern because the registration system within the Department of Business Development at the Ministry of Commerce does not include a process for determining whether a new company name is similar to trademarks which have been registered with the Department of Intellectual Property.

On February 4, 2009, Vietnam issued Circular no 222009TT-BTC providing new official fees for obtaining and maintaining IP rights. The Circular sets forth fees for a number of items for which fees previously had not been prescribed.

Recently, the legal department of the Department of Intellectual Property has been emphasizing the availability and effectiveness of its mediation procedure, which provides a feasible remedy for dealing with IP disputes including infringement of trademarks, copyright, patents, and trade secrets.

Companies place a great deal of focus on the creation and development of their brands. As part of the brand creation process, however, companies must not lose sight of the importance of ensuring that a newly created trademark will be registrable with the government authorities. The rejection of a trademark means not only wasting the money that has already been invested in building the brand but also losing business opportunity and competitive advantage.

Recently in Thailand and around the globe, companies have been offering more and more electronic payment services. These have either been in the form of direct debit cards, pre-paid credit cards, or counter payment centers such as Paypoint. With the continuing growth of online shopping in Thailand, these electronic payment services have seen greater and greater demand from the general public.

On December 24, 2008, Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communication issued long-awaited regulations which set forth three specific means of dispute resolution for domain names under the “.vn” domain.