The sixth edition of the U.S. Chamber International IP Index (“2018 IP Index”) of the Global Intellectual Property Center (“GIPC”) was released in February 2018. The 2018 IP Index ranked Thailand at the 41st position out of 50 countries comparing with the 40th position out of 45 countries in 2017. The overall score of the national IP environment has increased from 9.53 out of 40 in the previous edition of the IP index of GIPC to 12.55 out of 40 for the year of 2017.
It is said in the 2018 IP Index that Thailand has made a positive development and relative progress on IP issues over the past few years. This is in line with the fact that the United States Trade Representative (USTR) finally removed Thailand from the Special 301 Priority Watch List to the Watch List last year.
According to the 2018 IP Index, Thailand’s key areas of strength in the past year are (1) prioritization of greater enforcement, awareness and use of IP within wider development plan, (2) U.S. memorandum of understanding, (3) basic level of protection and registration system in place for copyrights, trademarks and designs including recent accession to Madrid Protocol, (4) efforts to adjust copyright legislation to new technological development and (5) number of enforcement campaigns in 2017.
However, the 2018 IP Index pointed out there remain several weak areas of Thailand IP system. For instance, Thailand still has inadequate patent protection, gaps in patentability and severe patent backlogs. Though, in 2017, there were efforts to accelerate procedures and boost resources. Incomplete digital copyright regime and lack of clarity on effective implementation are also weakness areas for Thailand.
Despite having some weakness areas which need to be addressed, overall IP system of Thailand has been getting better. Led by the Department of Intellectual Property (“DIP”), efforts to promote wider use of IP rights by businesses have grown substantially in recent years. The DIP has been implementing its 20-Year IP Roadmap to reform the Thai intellectual property system to be in line with the strategy of driving the country to “Thailand 4.0”, which focuses on an economy based on innovation and intelligence.
For the full 2018 IP Index report of Thailand, please click the link below.
http://www.theglobalipcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Thailand.pdf
AUTHOR
Senior Partner | bangkok
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