On March 8, 2017, the key stakeholders from Thailand’s public and private sectors were called together for a meeting at the office of the Secretary General to the Prime Minister to discuss issues relating to long-term patent pendency and the need to accelerate the patent application process.

Prior to the establishment of the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court (“IP&IT Court”) in 1997, which was the first specialized IP court in South East Asia, an IP-related lawsuit was normally heard in an ordinary court of first instance, which at the time had jurisdiction over such a dispute.

Moving to a senior position within an organization always comes with added responsibilities. As a company director in Thailand, not only are you expected to manage the smooth operation of your business, but you must also ensure that your company  does not commit any offenses or you do not omit to give instruction or take action under various laws that could result in you, as the director, being held separately liable for the offenses along with your company.

Vietnam’s 2012 Labor Code, in effect since May 1, 2013, is being reviewed and revised by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), the body in charge of labor issues in Vietnam. The draft revised Labor Code (Draft) was originally expected to be placed on the agenda for approval by the National Assembly during its April-May 2017 meeting session. However, this has been postponed so that further studies can be conducted before finalization.

A trademark opposition proceeding is a specialized legal process in which one party challenges another party’s pending trademark application. Opposition proceedings can be useful tools for third parties to protect their trademark rights, and such proceedings are often undertaken when a third party believes that a trademark filed by another party is confusingly similar to its own trademark and will cause confusion to consumers. This article examines the differing approaches to trademark opposition proceedings in Thailand and the United States, and the benefits and drawbacks of each.

As previously reported, the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) of Vietnam began accepting Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) requests for the second year of the PPH pilot program with the Japanese Patent Office on April 3, 2017, and the number of the PPH requests was to be limited to 100. On May 24, 2017, the NOIP reported that the 100th PPH request had been filed.

The Thailand chapter of Practical Law Company’s recently published Patent Litigation Global Guide was coauthored by partner Nandana Indananda and consultant Siraprapha Rungpry at Tilleke & Gibbins. The chapter provides a high-level overview of patent disputes, including patent infringement, conditions for a declaratory judgment, invalidation proceedings, preliminary relief, and enforcement options.The following topics are covered and presented in a Q&A format:

On Wednesday, May 17, 2017, confirmation of the formal enactment of Thailand’s new Customs Act B.E. 2560 (2017) was published in the Royal Gazette, the official public journal in which new laws are announced. The Act, which repeals the outdated and controversial Customs Act B.E. 2469 (1926) and its prior amendments, comes into effect 180 days from publication, and represents the culmination of many years of drafts, consultations, and sometimes contentious debate.