Recent scandals, particularly the one involving melamine-tainted milk from China, have impacted consumer awareness in a big way, making consumers pay more attention to the quality and safety of the products they purchase. This is particularly true for products that are ingested, such as food and beverages. In Thailand, these products must first receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration in the case of food and drugs, and the Excise Department in the case of alcoholic beverages, before launching in the market.

In the current climate of the global economic crisis and with Thailand’s economy in recession, many businesses are desperately searching for ways to survive. If the decision has been taken that it is necessary to lay off a number of employees, employers must be careful to adhere to the correct procedures and pay the appropriate severance pay and other benefits to employees.

Recently, the members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) attempted to improve product registration efficiency and marketing approval for pharmaceutical products. The ASEAN harmonization regime hopes to improve the standard of the Food and Drug Administrations’ (FDAs) regulatory reviews in ASEAN countries. Despite these efforts, however, the lingering obstacle of a lack of intellectual property understanding continues to leave pharmaceutical companies with difficulties when dealing with product registration in several ASEAN FDAs.

In dealing with copyright in music, questions frequently arise regarding the scope of limitations on the rights of songwriters and record companies. Specifically, how can we differentiate between the rights of songwriters and those of record companies? And what is the extent of their rights to seek benefit from the copyrighted music? This article examines a Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court decision that addresses how to deal with a copyrighted work that contains another copyrighted work (such as a sound recording that contains a musical work within it).

This article contends that experience in dealing with IP issues in China can provide valuable lessons that are applicable to many other markets. The strategies, experiences, relationships, and ideas you develop in Chinese IP enforcement activities can provide best practices to ensure you have strong IP management strategies elsewhere.

Within the past two years, Thailand has experienced a number of events that have called into question the country’s political stability. In this article, David Lyman reflects on the situation and sees a number of promising signs which indicate that the rule of law is continuing to be strengthened and that the political infighting can be overcome.

The amended Company Law that took effect on July 1, 2008, introduced quite a revolution in several aspects of corporate practice in Thailand. The tougher rules of the Ministry of Commerce that followed the amended law further intensified the requirement for more formal and actual Board and shareholders’ meetings. Given that many corporate directors are now aware of but perhaps confused about the requirements under the amended law, this article provides an overview of the new regulations.

On January 16, 2009, the Appeals Court of the Supreme People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City overturned a ruling of a lower court in a trademark cancellation case that has drawn the attention of many IP practitioners and scholars in Vietnam. In the case, a distributor’s trademark registration was cancelled on the basis that the distributor did not have a right to register the manufacturer’s trademark in its own name, even if the manufacturer has granted permission to do so.