The Supreme Court of Thailand recently pronounced its decision to uphold an appeal in a long-running patent battle between two Korean-owned companies in Thailand. The parties to this conflict compete with each other in manufacturing rubber products, such as rubber gloves and boots. The dispute arose because one company attempted to register a famous rubber boot product for use in agriculture to be exclusively owned as a design patent in Thailand. The other company had not filed for protection of the subject product because it had been used in Korea for a long time.

A concurrent use registration is the registration of a mark already registered by another party based on the assertion that the new registration can coexist with the existing one. Although Thai law allows for such registrations in certain circumstances, the Registrar and the Board of Trademarks are generally reluctant to apply this concept. Recently, however, an important decision by the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court clearly implemented a concurrent use registration, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind 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 Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Nevertheless, the scope of the protection afforded by the Act would remain uncertain until ministerial regulations were adopted which would enable its implementa­tion. This article analyzes the ministerial regulation and the current view of the FDA.

Ever since the military coup of 2006, Thailand has been subject to many dis­ruptions. The Council for National Security dissolved the constitution and appointed an interim civilian govern­ment in which retired civil servants were responsible for the management of each ministry. This government has taken a number of steps—particularly the issuance of compulsory licenses on certain pharmaceutical products—that are jeopardizing Thailand’s investment climate and its trade relations with the United States. This article examines the government’s incoherent and disjointed IP policies.

“Corporate governance,” as defined by the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), is a system of processes by which a company is directed or controlled with the objective of protecting the rights and interests of its shareholders and other stakeholders. It includes the relationships between a company’s board of directors, executive and management teams, and shareholders. In Thailand, the implementation of corporate governance is not mandated by any specific law.

Thailand, with its rich culture and beautiful sites, presents a very attractive destination to foreigners from many countries—for visit, travel, or even retirement purposes. Some of these foreigners wish to own property in Thailand, either as an investment or as personal residence.

Foreigners in Thailand derive their legal rights primarily from the domestic laws of Thailand. There are certain rights that are reserved only for Thai citizens, but this is not unusual as all countries have their own restrictions on the rights of foreigners. The rights of foreigners in Thailand are restricted to a certain extent by such statutes as the Nationality Act, Immigration Act, Foreign Business Act, Land Code, and Alien Employment Act.

Using a question-and-answer structure, this article provides an introduction to litigation, available remedies, and alternative dispute resolution in Thailand.