To be eligible for registration, a trademark must possess distinctive characteristics that cause the public and its consumers to understand that the goods bearing that trademark are different from goods originating from other sources.Such distinctiveness can manifest itself in the form of invented words or pictures, but it will not be achieved if generic or vague descriptive terms are used to describe the trademark in the application for its registration. This form of distinctiveness is known as “inherent distinctiveness.”

Subsequent to the installation of a new government in Thailand on September 15, 2014, a number of important updates have been made to the country’s intellectual property (IP) regime. Amidst the changes, General Chatchai Sarikalya, Commerce Minister, and Ms. Apiradee Tantraporn, Deputy Commerce Minister, were promoted and designated to take charge of the Ministry of Commerce, and thus, made responsible for directing the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP)—one of several departments within the Ministry.

In Thailand, one of the most prevalent forms of indirect investment engaged in by foreign entities is the distributorship appointment. Through local distributors, investors can indirectly reap the benefits from the sale of their products and services without having to invest in a permanent establishment.

One of Thailand’s keen ambitions is to become a member of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, a key international treaty created for the purpose of protecting intellectual property. The treaty and its mechanisms, collectively known as the Hague System, have instituted an international system that facilitates the registration of industrial designs in several countries by allowing applicants to file a single application in one language with one set of fees to protect their industrial designs in states that adhere to the Hague Agreement.

On September 25, 2014, Ms. Apiradee Tuntraporn, the Deputy Minister of Commerce in Thailand, presided over a destruction ceremony of counterfeit and pirated goods at the Crime Suppression Division in Phaholyothin, Bangkok. The ceremony was jointly organized by the Department of Intellectual Property, the Royal Thai Police, the Thai Customs Department, the Department of Special Investigation, and intellectual property owners.

As part of Tilleke & Gibbins’ one-stop intellectual property service in Thailand, our in-house investigation team periodically conducts market surveys in key areas in Bangkok and upcountry. The team also performs online sightings to evaluate the situation of counterfeit goods as it relates to our clients’ brands and to obtain leads on individuals and businesses involved in trading fake products in the country.

Myanmar is in the midst of undergoing significant political and economic change. A full sixty-six years after its independence from Great Britain and after nearly fifty years of strict military rule, Myanmar has embarked on a path toward sustainable economic reform. The reform has, as its primary focus, the liberalization of most market sectors and the active promotion of foreign direct investment—objectives shared by Myanmar’s regional counterparts and consistent with Myanmar’s commitments as an ASEAN member country.

October 3 witnessed an event of significant legal import in Vietnam that attracted the attention of many practitioners in the IP field, and especially those concerned with methods of resolving .vn domain name cases via administrative measures. This notable event was the forced revocation of the domain name Amway2u.vn by VNNIC, the state body administering domain names in Vietnam, after its initial resistance to do so. It was a groundbreaking success in application of coercive administrative measures in domain name disputes in Vietnam.