TRADEMARK IN THAILAND

Protecting time of trademark in Thailand is 10 years from the registration date; the owner can renew the process by doing renewal procedures. Time to claim renewal has no more than 90 days before the renewal date and the grace is 6 months after renewal day is expired.  In case of paying fees late, a fine for late renewable is 20% of the total official fees.

After the successful trademark registration, the holder receives rights for their trademark. In that time, the holder shall have the exclusive right to use the registered trademark, the right to oppose subsequent conflicting applications, the right to bring a cancellation action against a subsequent conflicting registration, the right to sue for infringement against confusingly similar third party trademark use, the right to license other third parties to use the trademark, the right to apply for seizure by customs authorities for importation of counterfeit goods, the right to obtain damages for infringement and the right to take criminal actions for infringement.

In addition, the trademark holder also has right to claim for priority in other countries signing treaties containing provisions on priority in which Thailand has joined.

Proving the use of the trademark is not required before the issuance of a registration or the issuance of a notice of allowance/acceptance. However, if the trademark is not used within following three years, others can file cancellation petition to the Thailand Trademark Office in order to require this Office to cancel the protection certificate of the trademark. In this case, the Thailand trademark holders need to prove their use of the trademark in that period by giving trading actions with their trademark such as advertising, establishing business locations and especially providing customers with their items/services. Therefore, the use of the trademark is very essential for the holder to protect their trademark and avoid attacking on the ground of non-use.

The trademark registration is not compulsory in Thailand, but it is very necessary, especially in Thailand where the rule “first to file” is applied meaning that the holder needs to register their trademark in Thailand to have rights and protect their trademark in Thailand.

Besides, this registration is used as an evidence to prove easily the ownership of their trademark, which is very difficult to prove by using the proof of the use. In addition, it allows access to bring actions in particular courts; it helps to deter others from unlawfully using the trademark, it provides a defense to infringement, enforcement of an unregistered trademark is more difficult and more costly than enforcement of a registered trademark, it encourages licensees and provides the opportunity to generate royalties through licensing.  Hence, the trademark registration brings many advantages to the holder.

In the respect of the procedure of trademark registration, before filing Thailand trademark application in The Trademark Office, conducting a trademark searching is not mandatory but necessary because it helps the holder save their time and effort to know the capacity of their trademark registration.

After assessing the ability of the registration, the holder should prepare the dossiers and proceed to file application to The Trademark Office as soon as possible and the approximately time frame for trademark registration is about 12 months without an opposition. However, if the holder is foreign applicants, they can file the application through WIPO or can file directly the application to the Trademark Office in Thailand, but it must be filed through the attorney in the host country. Then, when the trademark is registered successfully, the holder shall be granted for a trademark protection certificate in the Trademark Office.

Thailand is now the member of Paris Convention and Madrid Protocol. It means that the holders in the host country can file trademark applications easily to other countries through WIPO and foreign owners file their trademark applications to Thailand by this system.

Thailand trademark system utilizes the rule “first to file” to determine the time when the holders have rights with their trademark in fact.

This means that if the holder wants to have rights and protect their trademark against infringement and counterfeiting, they need to register the trademark in The Trademark Office. Hence, regardless of how long the holder uses their trademark, the first trademark registration application is filed in the Trademark Office, the holder shall have rights with their trademark.

A trademark in Thailand is signs reproduced graphically in order to distinguish the goods/services of other individuals and organizations. Signs can be words, names, devices, certain three-dimensional shapes, colors (a combination of colors is registrable, a single color is not.), slogans, trade dress/getup.

Besides, in the special case, sounds can be considered as a trademark if it is showed in the form of words or musical notations. Therefore, a sign is considered a trademark when it satisfies two conditions:

–  It must be visible;

– It must have capacity of distinguishing the goods/services of other individuals and organizations.