When a U.S. cosmetics startup discovered that a trademark application for its brand name had been filed in Vietnam by a likely trademark squatter, they opted to use a “straw man” – another company with no visible connection to the startup – to directly negotiate with the squatter.

Under current law, the term of protection for photographic works is 50 years from the work’s creation or first publication. The draft amendment of the Copyright Act extends this to be the lifetime of the author plus an additional 50 years. This change would put Thailand’s protection for photographic works in line with the WIPO Copyright Treaty, of which Thailand is getting ready to be a member. Online infringement: safe harbours and takedowns While the current Copyright Act provides injunctive relief against online infringement for copyright owners, together with an exemption from infringement liability for ISPs, the mechanism for doing so has proved ineffective. The new draft therefore replaces this mechanism with safe harbour provisions that exempt ISPs from liability for copyright infringement committed by users, as long as the ISPs comply properly – including by implementing the notice-and-takedown system. The draft provides a detailed definition of ‘service providers’ and divides ISPs into intermediary ISPs, caching ISPs, hosting ISPs, and search engine ISPs. The draft’s definition of ‘users’ of ISPs includes anyone who uses an ISP’s service (paying or otherwise). In order to be exempted from liability for copyright infringement for their provided services, an ISP must have explicitly announced (and complied with) a policy to terminate services to repeated infringers. ISPs must also adopt the notice-and-takedown system – a new addition by the draft. Under this system, which can be compared to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the US, copyright owners can send a notice of infringement (backed by evidence) to caching, hosting or search engine ISPs, informing them of any allegedly infringing data. An ISP that has been notified is required to immediately take down the allegedly infringing data, its references, and access points from their system – or block access. The ISP must then notify the user who posted the material to allow him or

The Republic of the Philippines became the latest signatory to the ASEAN collective investment scheme (CIS) Framework on May 11, 2021, moving Southeast Asian capital markets one step closer to integration and potentially increasing the investment options that fund managers in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand and other signatory countries will be able to offer to retail investors in future. The signatory countries’ capital markets regulators—the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines, the Securities Commission Malaysia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the SEC of Thailand (leader of the framework’s working group)—announced the successful expansion of the CIS grouping simultaneously on May 11, 2021, after the four regulators signed a supplemental memorandum of understanding to formally admit the Philippines to the framework. The ASEAN CIS Framework was first implemented in 2014 to streamline the process for local regulators to approve foreign CIS units in the region that are authorized in their home countries. The original signatories of the framework were Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Now that the Philippines has joined the grouping, the four signatories’ capital markets regulators will continue to implement the framework’s harmonization of regulations and criteria for asset management firms, fund managers, and mutual funds that are permitted to offer units for sale across the member jurisdictions. This cooperation enabled by the framework eases the bureaucratic red tape associated with the domestic approval process and improve investment protection, thereby resulting in greater opportunities for cross-border fund distributions, product access, investment diversification, and alternatives for retail investors. The Thai SEC has already issued regulations that enable the offering of qualifying funds through the ASEAN CIS Framework, as well as through the Asia Region Funds Passport or foreign exchange-traded funds. Funds that fall under one of these schemes must file registration statements and draft prospectuses to the SEC, along

Due to the resurgence of COVID-19 in Thailand since March 2021, the Cabinet has approved new reductions in employers’ and employees’ mandatory contributions to the Social Security Fund (SSF). Contribution rates will be calculated as a percentage of each employee’s monthly wages, based on a minimum and maximum monthly wage that will be confirmed in the formal regulation published in the Government Gazette. Effective May 18, 2021, the new contribution rates for mandatory SSF contributions approved by the cabinet are as follows: From June 1 to August 31, 2021 From September 1, 2021, onward The approval of the cabinet will now be considered by the Office of the Council of State. Thereafter, the new regulation will be published in the Government Gazette before formally coming into effect. For more information on this issue, or any other aspect of labor law in Thailand, please contact Chusert Supasitthumrong at +66 2056 5793 or [email protected].

The latest updates to Practical Law’s Life Sciences Global Guide feature contributions from Tilleke & Gibbins attorneys in the firm’s Phnom Penh office, who wrote “Medicinal Product Regulation and Product Liability in Cambodia.” This overview form Practical Law covers a range of regulatory issues related to the marketing and selling of pharmaceutical products, including the following: Regulatory overview, including relevant authorities, scope, definitions, and general procedures for pharmaceuticals, biologicals, and medical devices and health care IT Pricing, government funding, and reimbursement: Structure of the Cambodian health care system, price regulation, and reimbursement Clinical trials Manufacturing and distribution Marketing: Authorization for marketing medicinal products, parallel imports and cross-border trade in medicines Restrictions on dealings with health care professionals Selling restrictions Advertising and promotion Data privacy Packaging, labeling, and tracking Product safety, quality, and liability Local establishment, representation, and residency requirements Reform The full Medicinal Product Regulation and Product Liability in Cambodia chapter can be accessed on the Practical Law website. Practical Law, produced by Thomson Reuters, is the world’s leading legal know-how resource for business lawyers, publishing a huge range of guides covering hundreds of jurisdictions and practice areas.

In an effort to unify and streamline regulations on the management of medical devices in Vietnam, the Ministry of Health (MOH) recently developed the draft of a new decree intended to replace the existing legislation.

On May 15, 2021, Decree No. 21/2021/ND-CP of the Government of Vietnam dated March 19, 2021, guiding the implementation of the Civil Code of 2015 on security for performance of obligations (Decree 21) will come into effect.

As Thailand deals with a new surge in COVID-19 infections, the Thai judiciary has taken additional steps which allow lawyers and witnesses to carry out their duties remotely, and equip courts with the regulatory framework to temporarily enable remote hearings.