Intellectual property acquisitions are becoming commonplace in Asia with the move to knowledge-based economies. Agricultural and manufacturing economies may not have been prolific creators of IP, but these are often key territories for global or regional deals. In many cases, acquiring companies are Asian, looking to fast-track the design / invention / branding process and acquire IP as going concerns, complete with marketable products.

Lamps, pet food, medicines, auto parts, mobile phones, toothpaste, sunglasses, T-shirts, bearings, shampoo, luxury bags, pencils, glue, chocolate, and motorbikes: At first view, these products have little in common. In fact, what unites them is that they have all been seized by the Royal Thai Police, the Department of Special Investigation, the Thai Customs Department, or their counterparts in the past couple of years, all for forging or imitating a trademark. This article provides an introduction to the scope of the problem.

On May 13, 2009, the Vietnamese Government promulgated Decree No. 472009ND-CP Providing Regulations for Penalties for Administrative Violations in Copyright and Related Rights, with an effective date of June 30, 2009. The issuance of this decree provides a more complete set of harsher penalties on administrative violations in copyright and related rights and sets forth an improved mechanism for enforcement of these rights. These new measures are expected to give another push in the Vietnamese government’s fight against copyright infringement in the country.

On June 19, 2009, the National Assembly of Vietnam passed an amendment of its Intellectual Property Law, which is expected to take effect on January 1, 2010. The adopted amendments are geared toward resolving the incompliance of several provisions of the current IP Law with TRIPS and Vietnam’s other international commitments, while at the same time addressing certain inconsistencies in the current laws. This article examines the key amendments in the areas of copyright, related rights, and IP enforcement.

This article provides a roundup of recent developments in Thailand’s expected accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty in the second half of 2009.

In recent years, Thailand has seen an increasing number of pharmaceutical patent litigations, launched by drug originators to combat infringing generic products in the market. This article looks at the forces underlying this trend and recommends several legal options to allow drug originators to defend their products against low-price infringing generics.

Since its establishment in December 1997, Thailand’s Central Intellectual Property and International Trade (IP&IT Court) has had a mandate to adjudicate intellectual property and international trade cases. This article provides an overview of the IP&IT Court’s jurisdiction and procedures, supplemented by statistics regarding the number of cases filed per year.

In another attempt to cope with the ongoing problems caused by counterfeiting and piracy, Deputy Minister of Commerce Alongkorn Pollabut has been persistent in pushing forward amendments of the Trademark Act and the Copyright Act to cover offenses for any person who buys or possesses counterfeit goods and pirated products in Thailand. In addition, the proposed amendments would allow for actions to be taken against landlords who provide rental of commercial spaces where the sale of counterfeit and pirated products takes place. This article discusses the pending amendments.