Guarantors are subject to a number of important obligations under Thai law. A guarantor can be held jointly liable with a debtor, or worse, solely and entirely liable as a primary debtor. In addition, creditors often use their higher bargaining power to force guarantors to waive their rights as secondary debtors, meaning that certain fundamental rights, such as the requirement for creditors to first call on debtors, are no longer enforceable.The main forms of security available under the Thai Civil and Commercial Code are:

Practical Law Company has published the latest edition of its multi-jurisdictional guide to Insurance and Reinsurance, a country-specific Q&A guide that provides overviews of insurance and reinsurance law and practice in 28 jurisdictions around the world. Vinh Quoc Nguyen, senior attorney-at-law, and Jim Dao, registered foreign attorney, at Tilleke & Gibbins, coauthored the Vietnam chapter of the guide.

The 2015/16 edition of Practical Law Company’s multi-jurisdictional guide to Insurance and Reinsurance  has been published. The guide is presented in a country-specific Q&A format and provides detailed overviews of insurance and reinsurance law and practice in key jurisdictions worldwide. Tilleke & Gibbins authored the Thailand chapter of the guide, which delves into the following subjects:

When determining whether trademarks are identical or similar, trademark registrars and the Board of Trademarks used to be very consistent in their decision-making. In most cases, if a registrar refused to register a trademark and the applicant appealed the decision to the Board of Trademarks, the Board would typically confirm the registrar’s order and refuse to register that trademark. Only in unusual circumstances would the Board overturn an earlier decision by the registrar.

Myanmar still has no Trademark Act—a law was expected to come into effect in 2013, but was then postponed with as yet no firm date as to when it will be enacted. Despite this, many rights holders have already taken steps to protect their trademarks under Myanmar’s existing system by recording their marks with the Office of the Registry of Deeds and Assurances (RDA) under the Registration Act.

Kien Trung Trinh, senior attorney-at-law, and Tu Ngoc Trinh, attorney-at-law, in Tilleke & Gibbins’ Hanoi office, have co-authored the Vietnam chapter of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Pharmaceutical Advertising 2015 (12th edition), a Q&A-style guide that provides practical, cross-border insight into pharmaceutical advertising across 35 jurisdictions. The Vietnam chapter covers the following main topics:

In Franz Kafka’s novel The Castle, the protagonist tries in vain to get in touch with a mysterious group of administrators who run a small village from a castle. The character is challenged to learn the constantly changing ways and customs of the castle’s imposing bureaucracy.

When registering a trademark in Thailand, applicants often face obstacles both in proving trademark distinctiveness and in avoiding citations for similarity to preexisting marks. Although the Thai Trademark Act allows trademark owners to prove distinctiveness through continual and honest concurrent use, this approach rarely succeeds.