On September 25, 2014, Ms. Apiradee Tuntraporn, the Deputy Minister of Commerce in Thailand, presided over a destruction ceremony of counterfeit and pirated goods at the Crime Suppression Division in Phaholyothin, Bangkok. The ceremony was jointly organized by the Department of Intellectual Property, the Royal Thai Police, the Thai Customs Department, the Department of Special Investigation, and intellectual property owners.

As part of Tilleke & Gibbins’ one-stop intellectual property service in Thailand, our in-house investigation team periodically conducts market surveys in key areas in Bangkok and upcountry. The team also performs online sightings to evaluate the situation of counterfeit goods as it relates to our clients’ brands and to obtain leads on individuals and businesses involved in trading fake products in the country.

Myanmar is in the midst of undergoing significant political and economic change. A full sixty-six years after its independence from Great Britain and after nearly fifty years of strict military rule, Myanmar has embarked on a path toward sustainable economic reform. The reform has, as its primary focus, the liberalization of most market sectors and the active promotion of foreign direct investment—objectives shared by Myanmar’s regional counterparts and consistent with Myanmar’s commitments as an ASEAN member country.

October 3 witnessed an event of significant legal import in Vietnam that attracted the attention of many practitioners in the IP field, and especially those concerned with methods of resolving .vn domain name cases via administrative measures. This notable event was the forced revocation of the domain name Amway2u.vn by VNNIC, the state body administering domain names in Vietnam, after its initial resistance to do so. It was a groundbreaking success in application of coercive administrative measures in domain name disputes in Vietnam.

On March 1, 2013, Thailand adopted into its system of  trademark registration the Tenth Edition of the Nice Agreement, under which there are 34 classifications of goods (Classes 1 to 34) and 11 classifications of services (Classes 35 to 45). The classifications—collectively known as the International Classification of Goods and Services—are generally followed by Thailand’s trademark registrars, but at times, they require clearer and more specific descriptions for certain goods and services.

Competition law, which is also called antitrust law in the United States, trade practices law in Australia and Britain, or antimonopoly law in Russia and China, may go by many names, but what most competition laws generally have in common are these three elements:

Since Myanmar opened its doors in 2011 and began to reengage with the rest of the global economy, many forward-thinking companies have been eager to enter the local market. Currently, however, there are no comprehensive IP laws in Myanmar, and the country’s limited IP regime is substantially outdated. For instance, the Copyright Act only recognizes work created in Myanmar by Myanmar nationals, and the Act itself dates back to 1911.

The new Land Law was ratified by the National Assembly on November 29, 2013, and came into effect on July 1 this year (the 2014 Land Law). It replaces the previous Land Law of 2003 (the 2003 Land Law). Following the 2014 Land Law, the government issued Decrees No 43, 44, 45, 46, and 47, which also came into effect on July 1. In guiding some of these decrees, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Finance issued several guiding circulars. The new Land Law may well bring about love-hate feelings for foreign developers in Vietnam.