Thailand Remains on US Intellectual Rights Watch List

[Jacob Maslow]

Thailand remains on the United States list of the world’s worst offenders when it comes to intellectual property law. Issued on Friday, Thailand has now been on the list for nine years in a row. The country was first added to the list after it allowed companies to manufacture medications that are legally the property of U.S. companies.

Under the US Trade Act, the United States can sanction Thailand and other offenders, but this has never been the case.

The report states that Thailand has a desire to bolster its intellectual property rights protection, but that the country does not view the matter as a top priority. In the report, the United States mentions the biggest issues, which have remained the same year-to-year: music, movie and software pirating as well as the development of pharmaceuticals.

Laws or treaties have not been broken by the compulsory licensing of medicine in Thailand, but the U.S. does state that it is “unfair.”

China also made the list despite working diligently to correct the issue during the last few years. China is the second largest trade partner for the United States.

The Philippines made corrective measures in 2014 that resulted in the country being removed from the watch list.

-- 2015-05-03

[tomacht8]

Three years we've tried to register for our small company a 100% unique and self-made word-picture trademark in Thailand. After years of waiting, our request was denied.
We have taken the official way without bribery.
Never again we will try to register any intellectual property rights here.
It looks like, without expensive and well connected thai trademark lawyers, it is impossible to register your own trademark or protect your intellectual property rights.

Edited May 2, 2015 by tomacht8

[Peabody]

Yesterday:

http://news.thaivisa.com/thailand/copyright-violations-us-expected-to-upgrade-thai-status-in-annual-review/56833/

[chainarong]

Thailand isn't a loner in this area or the many other area's that seem to crop-up and standards are not meet , the point of attack is that Thailand is a great country has plenty going for it has reasonable communications , infrastructure and modern thinking (if you delete the Junta) , so you start with reasonable expectations and work from there , intellectual property is a list of many that need to be sorted out in Sth East Asia , try doing this in Cambodia or Lao and see what response you get , at least with Thailand there is a response even though it is not what is envisaged , there might be a light at the end of the tunnel one day and Thailand might just meet all requirements of the International community, not in my life time though.

[Nick167]

Just go to Patpong, MBK, Pantip Plaza, The small stalls in or around Big C, Tesco, central, The Mall, Jatujak, Samphaeng, Sukhumvit, Chiang Mai Night Market, Pattaya, Phuket....its business as usual with the fake branded goods industry.

Talking about IP infringement in Thailand is a joke!

[canuckamuck]

Taught to copy from kindergarten all the way through college. Copying is not unethical in this culture.

[NongKhaiKid]

Taught to copy from kindergarten all the way through college. Copying is not unethical in this culture.

I once worked at a rural uni and an Aussie colleague called in a student whose homework assignment had been copied verbatim for a textbook including references to other pages, chapters etc which the idiot student hadn't bothered to edit out.

At first copying was denied but when all the obvious signs were pointed out the student took the high moral ground and asked for credit because he had at least handed in some work and hadn't made a weak excuse for not doing anything.

[2fishin2]

Three years we've tried to register for our small company a 100% unique and self-made word-picture trademark in Thailand. After years of waiting, our request was denied.

We have taken the official way without bribery.

Never again we will try to register any intellectual property rights here.

It looks like, without expensive and well connected thai trademark lawyers, it is impossible to register your own trademark or protect your intellectual property rights.

I think you missed the point of the article

[Suffinator]

Thailand has now been on the list for nine years in a row. And SFA has every been done about it because everyone from the vendor to the police are in on it. How many times has a vendor complained that police raided their stores and that they were unhappy because they paid the tea money every month?

The report states that Thailand has a desire to bolster its intellectual property rights protection, but that the country does not view the matter as a top priority.

No because; A) there's the looming EU ban on their fisheries exports, flight bans from ICAO and; C) with all the news of the victims of human trafficking who are being uncovered in Southern Thailand it's now almost certain that the US will yet again impose T3 and the Human Right Groups are going to be calling on the UN to start piling on sanctions.

[ggt]

Thailand has a desire to bolster its intellect...

I think most people would find this hard to disagree with...

[Bluespunk]

Still on the list?

Surely that's wrong.

Why only yesterday we were assured by a spokesman that America was taking Thailand off the list.

Someone should send the Americans a quick e mail, you know, just to let the Americans know they've made a mistake with this announcement.

[MZurf]

The amercan government does not care about intellectual property rights , it just wants your money to pay their debts , wars and spying.

Don't hold back - get it all out!

[Keesters]

When it comes to torrents to obtain Movies/TV/Applications etc the list of peers is mostly from USA. Pot calling kettle black.

[h90]

And when Thailand is drifting more in the direction of China the USA will be shocked again.

[lovetotravel]

When it comes to torrents to obtain Movies/TV/Applications etc the list of peers is mostly from USA. Pot calling kettle black.

The US has some draconian rules when it comes to illegal file sharing. Pretty much impossible to do so without use of a VPN. Even then, they are catching on. Do a search on this and you'll find pages of info on legal actions being taken against individuals and the things ISPs are doing to stop this.

Have you ever seen an arrest here for this?

https://torrentfreak.com/200000-bittorrent-users-sued-in-the-united-states-110808/

[lovetotravel]

And when Thailand is drifting more in the direction of China the USA will be shocked again.

I sure hope Thailand doesn't try to become like China. Massive problems there. This website wouldn't even be allowed!

[Rancid]

Unrelated except for US, but seems they've appointed a new ambassador.

Article:http://journal-neo.org/2015/05/02/us-nominates-war-college-grad-as-ambassador-to-thailand/

Suggests US interests and Taksins very closely linked. Might explain the huffing and puffing at the miltary...