By employing a case study (in which the names and facts are fictional), this article offers insights into the administration of estates in Thailand. Specifically, it demonstrates how the Thai courts may deal with a Will that was in another jurisdiction when a Thai spouse contests validity. The lesson learned from this case study is that expatriates living in Thailand with assets in both Thailand and another jurisdiction would be well advised to consider having two Wills which are carefully drafted to ensure that each is limited to the assets in each respective jurisdiction.

Approximately a year ago, Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, led by the former Minister Dr. Mongkol na Songkla, decided to resort to compulsory licenses as a solution to improving access to medicines in Thailand.

Until very recently, wholly foreign-owned companies that established themselves in Vietnam for the purpose of importing their products from their overseas affiliates were only permitted to market each category of product through a single Vietnamese distributor. That restriction has just been relaxed. A new regulation authorizes foreign-owned import companies (both joint ventures and wholly foreign-owned companies) to sell their imported goods to multiple Vietnamese distributors instead of a single distributor as previously restricted.

Intellectual property infringement has been a problem in Thailand for a number of years. Despite collaboration between the government and the private sector, counterfeiters have demonstrated an ability to adapt and evolve, allowing them to withstand efforts at suppression. Over 2000 cases, mainly trademark infringement, are brought to justice each year, but a large volume of counterfeit goods finds its way to market and is exported. Infringement activities are often related to other crimes, resulting in a complex web of legal, economic, and social problems.

Intercountry adoption has been in the headlines over the past few years, with international celebrities such as Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt and Madonna garnering much media attention for their adoption experiences. Since the practice is not limited to adoption between citizens of one country and there is no global authority with oversight of intercountry adoption, individual governments are left to the task of creating their own adoption laws to protect their citizens. As a result, adoption laws can vary from country to country, creating much confusion for prospective adoptive parents.

In Unimin Corporation v. Department of Intellectual Property (February 19 2008), the Board of Trademarks has held that Industrial Mineral Development Co Ltd had applied for the registration of the trademark CERASIL in bad faith. This article summarizes the case.

Intellectual property infringement has been a problem in Thailand for a number of years. Despite collaboration between the government and the private sector, counterfeiters have demonstrated an ability to adapt and evolve, thus allowing them to withstand these efforts at suppression. Since 2006 each year over 2,000 cases—mainly relating to trademark infringement—have been brought to justice, but still large numbers of counterfeit goods continue to reach the market and are exported to other countries.

Until recently, Thailand had no comprehensive law directly addressing product liability issues. As a result, claims for product liability in Thailand were usually made through use of the Consumer Protection Act and the Civil and Commercial Code. However, this changed with the passage of the Product Liability Act B.E. 2551 (2008) in December 2007. This article introduces the key aspects of the new law: the strict liability standard, the types of defects covered by the law, and the defenses that are available to a defendant-operator.