Intellectual Property Rights

 

Patents

Although Thailand is not a member of the Paris Union or signatory to any other international convention for reciprocal protection of foreign patents, it has a number of bilateral agreements entitling citizens of those countries to file patent applications in Thailand and vice versa. Under the Patent Act (No. 3) of 1999, patents for inventions have 20 years’ validity, petty patents are valid for six years and can be extended twice for two year period each and a product design patent is valid for 10 years.

Certain inventions are not patentable in Thailand, including:

·        Naturally existing microorganisms and their components, animals, plants or animal or plants extracts

·        Scientific or mathematical principles and theories

·        Computer programs

·        Diagnosis methods or treatments of human beings or animals

·        Inventions which are against public order, morality, health or welfare.

 

Trademarks

 

Trademarks are provided protection under the Trademarks Act of 2000 and other ministerial regulations. Registration of a trademark may be accomplished by the trademark proprietor himself or through an agent. Application for registration must be made on official forms duly signed either by the proprietor or the agent. If an application is approved, the registration will be published in the Trademark Journal. Once published and not opposed, the proprietor has the exclusive right to use the registered mark for all the products of the classes in which registration has been granted. Registration remains effective for 10 years from the date of application and is renewable for an unlimited number of periods of 10 years each. Renewal of the registered trademark must be made within 90 days before the date of expiration.

The Trademark Act allows the protection of Service Marks, Service Names, Collective Marks, Certification Marks, and Trade Names.

Copyrights

The Copyright Act 1978 was repealed and replaced by the Copyright Act 1994. The types of creative work qualified for protection under this Act are literary work, dramatic work, artistic work, musical work, audiovisual material, motion picture, sound recording, sound and picture broadcast, or any other works in the field of literature, science, or arts. A copyright is under protection for the period of the life of the creator plus 50 years from the date of his death. Where the creator is a juristic person or uses an assumed name, the period of protection is 50 years from the date of creation, or 25 years where the copyright is of applied art.

Thailand is a member of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. This allows certain copyrights registered in other Berne Convention countries to be enforced in Thailand.