With a population of over 90 million, fast-paced economic growth, and an increasing standard of living, Vietnam has become a market with great potential for original brand name drugs. These drugs are marketed through numerous channels, with drug tenders called by health facilities being one of the most prominent and profitable.

On February 4, 2016, Vietnam and 11 other countries signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the United States, Vietnam, and Singapore—countries which represent 36 percent of global GDP and more than 25 percent of world trade.

The effective protection of pharmaceutical patents has always been very important in national systems of intellectual property law. While effectiveness can be measured in many ways, any effective system must include a transparent and swift mechanism of legal enforcement with a clear link between the sanctioning of IP infringements and the elimination of infringing products from the market.

On May 15, 2016, shortly before the new Law on Pharmacy was adopted, the Vietnamese government issued Decree No. 36/2016/ND-CP on the management of medical devices (Decree 36). This decree took effect on July 1, bringing medical devices under uniform management. Previously, there were two separate systems of legislation—one for medical devices manufactured domestically and the other for imported medical devices.

The “Catch-all” Policy in ThailandIn many countries, it is mandatory for site operators to have a privacy policy in place. Catch-all privacy policies, whereby operators may collect, use, and share a wide range of users’ personal information, are widely used by site operators. They are designed to obtain broad agreement from users in respect to processing any personal data that is collected.

The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Telecoms, Media & Internet Laws & Regulations  provides comprehensive legal analyses of telecoms, media, and internet laws and regulations in 27 countries around the world.

The tenth edition of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Telecoms, Media & Internet Laws & Regulations  provides a comprehensive overview of telecoms, media, and internet laws and regulations in 27 jurisdictions worldwide. Presented in a Q&A-style format, the Thailand chapter of the guide, which was written by lawyers at Tilleke & Gibbins, covers the following topics:

The Indonesian Directorate General of Intellectual Property has issued a new circular that clarifies how the authorities will handle annuity payments for patents that were granted before the enactment of the Law No. 13 of 2016 on Patent (the new patent law). As explained below, all owners of existing Indonesian patents will need to make additional annuity payments before the end of this year to ensure compliance.