Thailand Disappointed With Unchanged Status On Washington’s Priority Watch List

[webfact]

Thailand disappointed with unchanged status on Washington’s Priority Watch List

BANGKOK (TNA) -- Disappointed over an unchanged and an improvement from Washington’s Priority Watch List (PWL), announced recently by the US Trade Representative (USTR), the Commerce Ministry will ask the Royal Thai Police Bureau to more strictly enforcing and suppressing violations of US intellectual property rights in the kingdom, said Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot.

The USTR in its report released on April 30, maintained Thailand on its PWL for 2010 which has been unchanged since 2007 but Mr Alongkorn said an OCR (Out-of-Cycle Review) on Thailand’s status could be conducted within the next six months.

Saying that he was disappointed over the ranking, Mr Alongkorn reiterated that the Thai government has attached importance on intellectual property rights protection and has continuously suppress violators in the past, the government, therefore, plans to write a letter to USTR and enquire about the country’s status which was kept unchanged for 2010.

For example, there was a total of 7,613 cases of property rights violations in 2009 while officials seized more than five million pieces of counterfeit products which was evidence that Thai authorities did not sit idly, he said.

Suppression carried out by the Commerce Ministry presently could have been slowed down due to persisting anti-government protest, said Mr Alongkorn, adding that his ministry would request the Royal Thai Police Bureau to accelerate on suppressing violators of intellectual property rights.

The US is one of Thailand’s principal trading partners. Two-way trade in 2009 was valued about Bt800 billion of which Thailand enjoyed more than Bt200 billion in trade surplus. (TNA)

-- TNA 2010-05-03

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[groovetank]

Could this article be classed as trolling?

[Jerrytheyoung]

Unavoidable, to the already long list of fouled copyrights (Clothes, luggages, DVD, CD Roms, Software....) one more chapter has to be added: military weaponry

Edited May 3, 2010 by Jerrytheyoung

[SomTumTiger]

Wonder if any of the Police or government officials have ever had a "Hey, Sexy Movie" experience at Pantip...

[cfsprinkler]

Has anyone ever tried to buy a legit copy of MicroSoft Windows in BKK?

More hassle than it is worth.

[Jingthing]

It ain't always easy to fool us smart Yankees.

[h90]

Wonder if any of the Police or government officials have ever had a "Hey, Sexy Movie" experience at Pantip...

Of course! Where do you think they buy their Sexy Movies o watch in the office?

[mca]

the government, therefore, plans to write a letter to USTR

On a 100 baht copy of Microsoft Office.

[JohnnyFeelIt]

Wonder if any of the Police or government officials have ever had a "Hey, Sexy Movie" experience at Pantip...

Of course! Where do you think they buy their Sexy Movies o watch in the office?

Buy? Confiscate and dish out amongst friends n family...

[mojaco]

Has anyone ever tried to buy a legit copy of MicroSoft Windows in BKK?

More hassle than it is worth.

What is the hassle? I see many places with legit copies for sale. Or if you have a pirated copy on a machine I think you could still pay Microsoft via internet to turn it into a legit copy. I did that once a year or so ago - called (I think) "Genuine Advantage" program.

Edited May 3, 2010 by mojaco

[Fishbucket]

What did you expect!

Of course there will be small corruption and fraud at this level when the country is governed based upon big fraud and corruption.

[pornsasi]

the government, therefore, plans to write a letter to USTR

On a 100 baht copy of Microsoft Office.

Good one

[givenall]

Wonder if any of the Police or government officials have ever had a "Hey, Sexy Movie" experience at Pantip...

I guess the Thai officials don’t much go to MBK or Pantip

[gemini81]

microsoft is already filthy stinkin' rich. the ones who really need the profits and royalties are those amateur porn makers.

[Searat7]

They significantly reduced DVD and CD sales in Silom only for a few months as window dressing expecting the USA to be fooled....what a joke !

[gotlost]

They significantly reduced DVD and CD sales in Silom only for a few months as window dressing expecting the USA to be fooled....what a joke !

Just like their politics and government.

[alobar]

BANGKOK (TNA) -- Disappointed over an unchanged and an improvement from Washington’s Priority Watch List (PWL), announced recently by the US Trade Representative (USTR), the Commerce Ministry will ask the Royal Thai Police Bureau to more strictly enforcing and suppressing violations of US intellectual property rights in the kingdom, said Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot.

Clearly there has not been a crackdown on copy editors.

[Redsunset]

Has anyone ever tried to buy a legit copy of MicroSoft Windows in BKK?

More hassle than it is worth.

HAHAH! CSF.... you are right! And half the time, even the authentic versions are actually copies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A disgrace!

[featography]

Has anyone ever tried to buy a legit copy of MicroSoft Windows in BKK?

More hassle than it is worth.

No kidding. The wife has an internet cafe as well as a pharmacy. Upgrading the computers and reformating was a real experience after shopping at Pan Tip for authentic Microsoft downloads. The real laughing matter is this; we have been in 2 police stations for other reasons, and seen on their computers, the popup that their windows programs may be counterfit. We looked at each and laughed. Amazing Thailand

[Jingthing]

It's getting much easier in Pattaya to buy real Windows. In fact a number of places will no longer install copy versions.

[deadsnoopy]

the government, therefore, plans to write a letter to USTR

On a 100 baht copy of Microsoft Office.

[selftaopath]

What did you expect!

Of course there will be small corruption and fraud at this level when the country is governed based upon big fraud and corruption.

Truer world have not been spoken. But are the rich/powerful listening? There is no corruption in Thailand and there is no prostitution either - for the record :-)

[retarius]

Has anyone ever tried to buy a legit copy of MicroSoft Windows in BKK?

More hassle than it is worth.

What is the hassle? I see many places with legit copies for sale. Or if you have a pirated copy on a machine I think you could still pay Microsoft via internet to turn it into a legit copy. I did that once a year or so ago - called (I think) "Genuine Advantage" program.

Why on earth did you do that?

[bubba]

Has anyone ever tried to buy a legit copy of MicroSoft Windows in BKK?

More hassle than it is worth.

What is the hassle? I see many places with legit copies for sale. Or if you have a pirated copy on a machine I think you could still pay Microsoft via internet to turn it into a legit copy. I did that once a year or so ago - called (I think) "Genuine Advantage" program.

Why on earth did you do that?

We did exactly that at our office over a year ago, where nearly half our locally purchased machines had been delivered with pirated copies of Windows. It's called "legality" and "ethics". I know everyone hates Microsoft, but they produced it, it's their product and buying pirated software is simply stealing. If you don't like the company or their product, you can use Linux for free.

Ethics and legality aside, you might recall that there was a minor "crackdown" by the police where they were walking into offices and confiscating PC with illegal software. You might want to consider that as well.

[eggomaniac]

Wonder if any of the Police or government officials have ever had a "Hey, Sexy Movie" experience at Pantip...

I guess the Thai officials don't much go to MBK or Pantip

or the crowded hallways and parking lots of tesco lotus / carrefour

There is something about the 'indignation' of the Minister that I can't quite put my finger on..

He is, how you say?, idiotic? self righteous? myopic? Do all Thai politicians come from the same gene pool?

No wonder the Kingdom is a mess!

-------

Edit; just out of curiosity apart from those 7000 cases in 2009 how many got away?

70,000? 700,000? 7,000,000. What % did they 'catch'?

Another thing these 'inspectors' should try the dorms and lockers of any American shool or Uni!?

Edited May 4, 2010 by eggomaniac

[Redsunset]

It will be at least a few weeks before any country takes Thailand off their prohibited countries to visit list... the damage to Thailand reputation as a safe place to visit has been severely damaged... and wait till next November! More to come for sure! And that does not include the possible asassination attempts on this and that politician, etc., etc....

[whybother]

It will be at least a few weeks before any country takes Thailand off their prohibited countries to visit list... the damage to Thailand reputation as a safe place to visit has been severely damaged... and wait till next November! More to come for sure! And that does not include the possible asassination attempts on this and that politician, etc., etc....

Read the OP. This is about Intellectual Property rights (ie copying CDs, DVDs, clothes etc). It's not about the current protests.

[rfukata]

not any time soon will the status be upgraded. theres too many trademark, copyright, patent infringements all over the

country with minimal concern, let alone even the pharmaceutical field has been infringed upon.

[Oberkommando]

Just try to copy or fake a Thai product and you will be arrested, charged and punished severely.

[Kilgore Trout]

Has anyone ever tried to buy a legit copy of MicroSoft Windows in BKK?

More hassle than it is worth.

What is the hassle? I see many places with legit copies for sale. Or if you have a pirated copy on a machine I think you could still pay Microsoft via internet to turn it into a legit copy. I did that once a year or so ago - called (I think) "Genuine Advantage" program.

Interestingly enough, a couple of years ago my friend was determined to buy a genuinc copy of windows; went to one of the actual shops in Pantip; not the hallway guys and bought what appeared to be a real copy bundled and everything, I think he paid about 3500 baht. When he installed it and updated it was in fact a pirate copy. He then went back to the shop and had to cause a huge scene threatening to get the police involved if they did not give him the real thing. They eventually did, but who on earth would want to go through that. Amazing.