IP Protection

Registering a trademark provides legal protection against counterfeiting and infringement of your intellectual property. A registered trademark greatly strengthens your ability to enforce your rights, as well as ensuring that you are not unknowingly infringing on a trademark held by another.

Protect your brand: Registering a trademark.

While Thai law does offer recognition of foreign trademarks, such recognition affords only limited protection. Thailand is not significantly bound by international treaties or reciprocal agreements concerning trademark enforcement. As such, the only way to fully secure trademark rights in Thailand is through local registration. Although the registration process can be time-consuming, one notable advantage is that trademark protection is retroactively applied from the date of application submission.

To be eligible to register a trademark in Thailand, the applicant must maintain a fixed place of business within the country. Non-resident applicants must appoint a Thai-resident agent with legal authority granted via a power of attorney. Additionally, all application documents must be completed in the Thai language.

Prior to filing the application, it is essential to conduct a comprehensive trademark search to ensure that no identical or confusingly similar mark is already registered. Following submission, the Trademark Registrar may request clarifications, supporting statements, or legal opinions. Our diligent and timely responses to such inquiries significantly enhance the prospects of a smooth and successful registration process.

To initiate registration, an official application form—completed in Thai—must be submitted to the Department of Intellectual Property. This submission should include a product sample, along with the applicant’s address in Thailand. If the applicant does not reside in the country, the designated business office or premises in Thailand will be treated as their domicile. Once the application is properly filed, it will be published in the Trademark Gazette for a 90-day opposition period. If no objections are lodged during this time, the trademark will proceed to registration, at which point the requisite registration fee becomes payable.

Protect your creative work: Registering a Copyright.

The Copyright Act affords protection to original works of authorship by prohibiting unauthorized reproduction, adaptation, or public dissemination. This legal safeguard extends throughout the creator’s lifetime and continues for an additional fifty years following their death. The types of works eligible for protection include, but are not limited to, literary, artistic, dramatic, musical, audiovisual, cinematographic, and scientific creations—provided they have been expressed in a tangible form. Abstract ideas, concepts, principles, or theories alone do not qualify for copyright protection.

Copyright protection may be claimed by Thai nationals, long-term residents of Thailand, and nationals or residents of countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention or the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). To be protected, a work must be published initially in Thailand or in a country party to either the Berne Convention or TRIPS—or, alternatively, published in one of those countries within 30 days of its original release elsewhere.

Unlike trademarks, copyrights arise automatically upon the creation of the work and do not require formal registration to be enforceable. Registration, therefore, does not constitute legal proof of ownership. However, for evidentiary purposes in potential legal proceedings, copyright owners may choose to register their work with Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property. This process necessitates a notarized power of attorney, a completed application form in Thai, and a copy of the work in question.

In cases of infringement, the copyright owner must file a claim with the civil court within three years from the date they became aware of the violation, and no later than ten years after the infringement occurred. It is important to note that not all uses of a copyrighted work constitute infringement. Limited and reasonable uses—such as copying a few pages of a book for educational purposes or displaying a work for non-commercial public benefit—may fall within accepted legal exceptions, especially when proper attribution is provided.

Protect your know-how: Registering a Patent.

Regarding domestic legislation, Thailand has enacted three key Patent Acts, in 1979, 1992, and 1999 respectively, which collectively govern the protection of inventions and industrial designs. Under these laws, an invention is defined as a novel and industrially applicable product or process, or a significant enhancement thereof.

To qualify as novel under Thai law, an invention must satisfy specific criteria:

It must not incorporate or closely resemble any national symbols such as royal or official crests, seals, the Royal Chakri emblem, insignia of royal decorations, or the emblems of government ministries, departments, or provincial authorities.
It must not have been previously patented in Thailand, nor may it have been patented in any foreign jurisdiction for a period exceeding 18 months.

Once granted, a patent offers exclusive protection for a term of 20 years, with no possibility for renewal or extension.

Product designs, on the other hand, refer to the unique shape, configuration, or arrangement of lines or colors that bestow a distinctive aesthetic upon a product. To be eligible for patent protection, a design must be entirely novel and must not violate public order or good morals. Protection for a registered product design is granted for a duration of 10 years.

Eligibility to apply for a patent in Thailand is extended to:

Thai nationals and juristic persons with a principal place of business in Thailand;
Nationals of countries that maintain reciprocal patent protection agreements with Thailand;
Nationals of countries that permit Thai citizens or Thai-based juristic persons to apply for patents in their jurisdiction;
Nationals of countries that are signatories to international treaties or conventions on patent protection to which Thailand is also a party.

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