“Why seven shareholders?” is a question businessmen have pestered corporate lawyers with for years, but it is about to become a thing of the past. The Thai government, prodded by the Commerce Ministry, is adopting major amendments to several partnership and corporate law provisions with the aim to simplify or do away with unnecessary statutory procedures under the Civil and Commercial Code. This article reviews the forthcoming amendments.

Last month, EMI Thailand, one of the four largest music labels along with SONY-BMG, Warner, and Universal, closed its CD and DVD manufacturing operation in Thailand. This is not good news for the music entertainment industry in Thailand, as not only does it reflect a drastic change of lifestyle of music consumers, but it also demonstrates without a doubt that copyright piracy remains a big problem. EMI reported dramatic sales reductions because it could not compete with the low prices of pirated CDs and DVDs.

Residents of Thailand are surely familiar with the recent news concerning the sale, to a foreign entity, of shares in a company belonging to one of the most influential politicians in Thai history, and the subsequent assessment of such sale by the Revenue Department. The defense of such assessment, and the legal procedures related thereto, confused many. This article attempts to clarify the process.

On February 4, 2008, the Vietnamese government issued an official letter outlining a master plan for the development of the automobile industry. Official Letter 819/VPCP-CN calls for measures to be put in place to attract foreign investment, especially in the area of producing auto components and parts. This article summarizes the contents of the official letter.

The National Legislative Assembly of Thailand has passed the interim cabinet’s proposals regarding Thailand’s accession to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Patent Cooperation Treaty. As described in this article, these moves represent a significant step toward Thailand’s eventual accession to the Madrid Protocol.

The Trade Competition Act (TCA) seeks to maintain a fair and open market by prohibiting business operators from exerting influence through unfair trade practices. One such unfair trade practice addressed by the TCA is exclusivity. This article provides a detailed explanation of the intricacies of exclusivity under the TCA.

The Thai government wants to turn Bangkok into the fashion capital of Asia by 2012, but has yet to deal with legal-protection issues. Possible sources of protection include design patent, copyright, and passing off, but all contain ambiguities and there are no explicit safeguards for fashion designs. This article examines the tough decisions designers must face when deciding whether to do business in Thailand.

In 2002, Thailand adopted the Trade Secrets Act which contains a provision intended to safeguard the confidentiality of marketing approval data submitted to the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, the Patent Act clearly confers generic drug manufacturers with the ability to engage in various preparatory activities with a view to seeking regulatory approval before a patent for a particular protected drug has expired (i.e., a Bolar provision).