The issue of determining whether a mark is descriptive or merely suggestive of the goods sought to be protected has always been a debated area in Thailand. Though not many precedents are available, it was recently addressed by the Supreme Court in Liebherr-International v Department of Intellectual Property. The case…

The recordal of a license is mandatory under the Thai Trade Marks Act. However, in practice, parties are not aware of this requirement and so do not register the license. Such non-compliance is aggravated by the fact that the Act does not define the term “trade mark licence.” To compound…

Thailand has several amendments in the pipeline for the Trade Marks Act. Amongst them is the introduction of smell and sound marks. The bill extends the meaning of a "mark" to include non-visual trade marks such as sounds and smells, which will bring Thai trade mark law in line with…

Office Actions are issued by the Thai Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) on grounds of non-distinctiveness or identical/similar character to a well-known and/or registered mark. However, the procedure for evaluating the response is different from other jurisdictions, making Thailand a difficult territory for IP protection. For a non-distinctiveness objection, the…