The patent system is designed to protect innovation and, in the same vein, offer an instrument guaranteeing that the fruits of innovation, such as genetic profiling, pharmacokinetics, and gene therapy, will be beneficial for all groups in society.Given the diverse array of national objectives, however, developing countries such as Thailand often face difficult questions regarding how far they should go in promoting pharmaceutical patents versus obstructing patents in favor of increasing access to medicine for patients.

On February 8, 2014, a few days after the Lunar New Year, Vietnam’s first-ever McDonald’s opened in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1. Situated on a major transportation axis, but away from tourist areas and the downtown core, the new restaurant boasted 24-hour service and a drive-thru—for both cars and motorbikes—which was also purported to be the first in Vietnam.

Calculating damages is a difficult process in all variants of litigation. Assessing damages in cases involving trade secrets is, however, a far more arduous undertaking, riddled with complexities and obscurities that become particularly apparent when compared to assessments in cases relating to other forms of intellectual property rights.

Copyright has survived for 300 years without a registration system (as opposed to legal deposit systems, such as the one that exists in Thailand) for the works it protects and, therefore, arguably does not need one. But, in terms of enforcement, the lack of registration systems across the different categories of copyright works has severely impeded the adaptation of copyright to the digital environment.

The Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) in Thailand has accepted applications for the recordation of well-known marks since 2005.

In 1992, the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP) refused a trademark application due to its confusing similarity to the unregistered, but well-known, McDONALD’S trademark of the U.S. fast-food chain. This refusal was based merely on the reputation of the mark, as McDonald’s—at the time—had not yet used or shown any intention to use such mark in Vietnam. This was the very first case involving a “well-known mark” in Vietnam.

The rise of mobile technology—from laptops to smart phones to tablets—has ushered in a shift among consumers away from shopping at brick-and-mortar stores toward purchasing products online. Brand owners, in response, have moved huge resources toward online sales strategies. So it should be no surprise that counterfeiters, too, have mobilized to take advantage of the growing market for products on the Internet. As more and more commerce occurs on the Web, the number of fakes being sold online has also drastically risen.

Among the various types of intellectual property applications that are filed at the Indonesian Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights (DGIP), trademark filing is the most common, with 62,813 applications being made in 2013. Among ASEAN countries, this figure places Indonesia firmly at the top in terms of the number of trademark applications filed. In view of this, the DGIP is revising the current trademark law and is implementing regulations to improve its services and provide greater legal certainty for all trademark owners in Indonesia.