Recently, the legal department of the Department of Intellectual Property has been emphasizing the availability and effectiveness of its mediation procedure, which provides a feasible remedy for dealing with IP disputes including infringement of trademarks, copyright, patents, and trade secrets.

Companies place a great deal of focus on the creation and development of their brands. As part of the brand creation process, however, companies must not lose sight of the importance of ensuring that a newly created trademark will be registrable with the government authorities. The rejection of a trademark means not only wasting the money that has already been invested in building the brand but also losing business opportunity and competitive advantage.

Recently in Thailand and around the globe, companies have been offering more and more electronic payment services. These have either been in the form of direct debit cards, pre-paid credit cards, or counter payment centers such as Paypoint. With the continuing growth of online shopping in Thailand, these electronic payment services have seen greater and greater demand from the general public.

On December 24, 2008, Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communication issued long-awaited regulations which set forth three specific means of dispute resolution for domain names under the “.vn” domain.

In Caltex Oil (Thailand) Co, Ltd v. Andaman Oil Pte Ltd, the Supreme Court ruled that a trademark license agreement is a type of reciprocal agreement, and, in case it is not registered, only the terms and conditions for use of trademarks or service marks are invalid.

The Securities and Exchange Act 1992 was recently amended. The updated legislation sets forth changes to three important areas of securities laws: reorganization of the structure of the Securities and Exchange Commission, creation of supportive mechanisms for more effective enforcement of securities laws, and enhancement of mechanisms related to investor protection and transparency. This last area is the main focus of this article.

Within the past two years, Thailand has experienced a number of events that have called into question the country’s political stability. In this article, David Lyman puts these events into historical perspective by looking back on the path that has led to the current situation. This article provides a thorough overview of Thailand’s recent history and explains many of the driving factors underlying the political instability of 2008. The article concludes that there is reason for optimism about Thailand’s future, with progressive development likely to return to the country.

Marriages between Thais and foreigners are becoming increasingly common. When these marriages fail, resulting in one or both parties wishing to divorce, many cross jurisdictional issues have to be considered, including location of marital assets and child custody issues. The foreign party may expect that divorce options may be similar to those in their own country, and may be surprised to find that there are distinct differences compared to other jurisdictions. This article examines the options for divorcing in Thailand where one party is a Thai national.