The current Government of Thailand is continuing its efforts to overhaul the Intellectual Property Laws of Thailand to bring them in line with international standards and speed up application processing times as a part of their Thailand 4.0 Plan. 

The Thai Patent Office has just recently almost quadrupled its permanent staff from 25 examiners to 95 in an effort to reduce the backlog of patents and speed up future applications to make it more attractive and easier for inventors to protect their rights in the Kingdom. Patent Law changes are also coming soon.

Our own Sukhprem Sachdecha sits on the Law Reform Commission on Patent for the Thai Ministry of Commerce. The draft was posted for public hearing in May of 2017, the first round of draft revisions were completed recently on Nov. 29, 2017, and they expect the second round to be completed before the end of the year or early 2018. Another public hearing of the revised laws is expected in early 2018. Provided everything goes smoothly the new laws should take effect in late 2018.

The goal of the changes is to streamline the application process to make it more efficient and to modernize some of the outdated laws to current international standards.

2017 has been a huge year for rights holders in Thailand with the Kingdom revising Patent Law and acceding to the Madrid Protocol. Adding staff to both the Trademark and Patent offices and an unprecedented level of government cooperation in terms of enforcement. Thailand is truly embracing the importance of Intellectual Property there has been no better time to protect your interests in the Kingdom.

As always if you need assistance with any intellectual property matter in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, or Vietnam or would like more information about the above please do not hesitate to contact us at satyapon@satyapon.com