Many business owners wish to protect trademarks or service marks in Thailand in the form of abbreviations, acronyms, initialisms, or letters that are not generally used words or that cannot be pronounced. Thai Trademark Registrars and the Board of Trademarks take a conservative view of the distinctiveness of such marks, which is not always echoed by the courts. Brand owners therefore need to strategically consider how such marks are treated to determine whether their letter marks  are sufficiently distinctive to be registrable.

Regulatory issues related to the commercialization of life sciences products cannot be overlooked or brushed aside. As a first step, an intellectual property (IP) owner needs to obtain a marketing authorization license from the relevant regulatory authorities, while exercising their best efforts to protect their IP rights.

The Indonesian Ministry of Finance has issued a new regulation that makes it possible to record trademarks and copyright with the Directorate General of Customs and Excise so that customs authorities can inform intellectual property rights owners of potential counterfeit goods. Minister of Finance Regulation No.

Despite wide concern from inside and outside the country, and even after a request for postponement from 13 Vietnamese technology associations, Vietnam’s new Law on Cybersecurity was finally adopted by the National Assembly on June 12, 2018, after more than a dozen drafts and wide debate in the business and government sectors. The Cybersecurity Law will come into effect on January 1, 2019.

On August 3, 2018, Myanmar’s Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) issued an announcement enacting an anti-corruption code of ethics intended to prevent corruption in both public and private transactions.The code of ethics prohibits all companies and bodies corporates incorporated under the Myanmar Companies Law (2017) from engaging in the following activities in the course of their business:

A new anti-corruption law has come into effect in Thailand. Formally named the Act Supplementing the Constitution Relating to the Prevention and Suppression of Corruption B.E. 2561 (2018) (the “New Anti-Corruption Law”), it repeals and replaces the 1999 Organic Act on Counter Corruption and its various amendments (the “Old OACC”).

Tremendous GrowthSince the investment boom in Vietnam that started around 1993, the country’s airline industry has seen tremendous growth. For example, in 1993, only 20 international airlines were flying to Vietnam, and there were only about 20 international destinations one could fly to from the country. Fast forward to 2018, there are about 60 airlines flying to Vietnam, and you can fly to about 100 destinations.

Partner Vinh Quoc Nguyen contributed the Vietnam chapter of Practical Law’s Corporate Real Estate Global Guide 2018, a high-level overview of commercial real estate laws and regulations in 30 jurisdictions worldwide.The Vietnam chapter highlights recent trends in the country’s real estate market, including condominium, office, and retail sectors, and explores common structures and financing sources for real estate investment, as well as limitations faced by foreign investors.