Thailand’s Copyright Act is officially in effect
Thailand’s Copyright Act is officially in effect since August 23, 2022. This amendment to the Copyright Act of Thailand is expected to have tremendous impacts on the protection of works as well as the rights of authors, and creators of the protected works within Thailand’s jurisdiction.
One of the most important changes in the Copyright Act of Thailand is the update on the legislation in relations to the current counterfeiting market in this country.
Thailand is one of the most crowded counterfeiting markets in Asia, standing closely behind China, and Indonesia in its impact.
In 2014, Thailand remains on the US Priority Watch List. Thailand has stated its commitment to improve intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement. With the help of the National IPR Center of Enforcement, launched in March 2013, Thailand is expected to be able to improve coordination and allow more effective enforcement actions among Thai enforcement.
Among the methods of infringement, the traditional, offline fake market is not worrisome in Thailand but it is the online market that has troubled the government as well as other reputable organizations in their expansion to this country.
Therefore, to cope with the new digital age, the legislators in Thailand have changed the law to deal with the problem as well as fulfill the other important goal of Thailand which is to uphold its commitment to the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (WCT).
The notable changes in the amended Copyright Act are the extension of the protection period of protection for photographic work; a broader Definition of “Service Provider” and safe harbors for Service Providers; a notice-and-takedown system; and a new definition of Technological Protection Measures and infringement.
Most notable is the protection for photographic works which are only protected for 50 years from the date of their creation previously. From the effect date of the 2022 Copyright Act of Thailand, this type of work will be protected for the author’s lifetime plus an additional 50 years after the author’s death.
Expert opinions
Rutorn Nopakun, a partner and managing director at Domnern Somgiat & Boonma Law Office Ltd. in Bangkok, Thailand expressed his mixed view on the coming change in copyright within Thailand’s jurisdiction.
On the positive side, he stated that the Copyright Act has become a robust system with clear classifications. On service providers in the Superseded Copyright Act, the copyright Act classifies them into 4 categories: the intermediary for data transmission, the data-caching service provider, the hosting service provider, and the data-locating service provider.
However, this brief mention of service providers are not enough.
He stated: “A copyright holder must provide a court ruling requesting that the service provider stop engaging in the infringing behavior or take down the material data that was allegedly infringing.”
According to Nopakun, the process is time-consuming and extremely difficult in practice. In addition, to protect their rights, the copyright owner needs to take action in a very tight timeframe. If not, the order shall immediately lapse.
“This makes obtaining a court injunction difficult, especially when the infringement is unknown. or outside of Thailand,” he says.
*** Other Articles***
– 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
Contact AAA IPRIGHT: Email: [email protected]
Or sending your inquiry by filling the form:
