Collaboration between private and public sectors to strengthen IP protection in Thailand

The status of infringement has been rising recently in Thailand, especially in the form of advertisements shown to domestic consumers. Accordingly, to lower the infringement cases in the advertising sector, the Thailand government has signed an MoU with Thailand advertising groups and IPR owners to limit, and monitor advertisements in this country.

The government agency in charge of the deal is the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP), Ministry of Commerce. The Ministry of Commerce is a cabinet ministry in the government of Thailand, meanwhile the DIP is a dependent department of the Ministry of Commerce.

The signing of the MoU on Online Advertising and IPRs was held on October 28, 2022 at the Ministry of Commerce. The signing ceremony has the participation of the Department of Intellectual Property, three advertising associations, and various IPR owners as well as major law firms on IP.

The collaboration aims to promote the government’s soft power strategy and boost investor confidence in both the Thailand and international communities.

The goal of the new MOU on Online Advertising and IPRs is to foster and strengthen collaboration among IPR owners, advertising business operators, associations, and the DIP in order to prevent and suppress the production, distribution, and circulation of online IP-infringing advertisements, as well as to halt, supress the income flowing to infringers from advertisements posted on IP-infringing websites or applications.

In compared to last year’s MOU on Online IP Protection, this MOU covers distinct topics. The previous MOU targeted IP-infringing items on e-commerce platforms, but the new MOU addresses IP-infringing ads, as well as IP-infringing websites and applications, with a greater emphasis on infringing content than on infringing merchandise.

The most notable aspect of this new deal is that the DIP will be involved when IPR owners file a complaint on an IP violation, or contact advertising distributors. The agency will serve as an intermediary with the role to coordinate the parties and protecting the rights of the parties involved. This is an extremely good improvement for Thailand compared to the rest of the world as mostly, this type of infringement case doesn’t get the IP department involved, especially true for small cases.

Expert opinions

Deputy commerce minister Sinit Lertkrai gave his high evaluation of the outcome of the collaboration. According to him, Thailand has focused more on IP matters within the country, demonstrating clearly by assigning resources to this deal, enhancing the value of goods and services of Thailand, as well as protecting the images of Thailand and the rights of IPR owners.

Thailand has understood the value of IP in developing the country even in the small, seems to be insignificant matters like IP compared to other ‘major’ matters.

With this MoU, Mr. Lertkrai viewed that the commercial partners in the world will have more confidence and trust in Thailand’s market, and therefore, make investing decisions as well as partnership decisions with Thailand businesses and government, particularly in the electronic commerce, advertising, and digital content sectors.

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– You could visit here to see Procedure of Thailand Trademark Registration.

– You could visit here to check the required documents for filing trademark in Thailand here.

– You could read 06 Frequent Questions About Filing Trademark In Thailand here.

– You could visit here to see Power of Attorney of trademark in Thailand here.

– You could read 07 Legal Notes To Thailand Trademark Law You Need To Know here

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