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In this video today, we're going to briefly discuss trademarks in Thailand, how they're useful for businesses here in Thailand, etcetera. Basically, one thing that should be kept in mind when discussing the issue of trademarks in Thailand is that Thailand is not a signatory to the major international treaties regarding international recognition of trademark. So that should be noted by anybody coming into Thailand from outside of Thailand who has an internationally recognized trademark.

It would be a very good idea to go ahead and apply for registration of that trademark here in Thailand in order to enjoy the full benefits of trademark registration here in Thailand. The other thing that should be kept in mind with respect to trademarks in Thailand is that it goes both ways. So a trademark registered only in Thailand is not going to receive the same kind of protection outside of Thailand as a trademark is registered a country like the U.K. or the U.S. which is a signatory of the major international recognition treaties which essentially one degree or another. And I'm not going to get into international recognition specifically but provides a great deal more protection in an international context when it comes to things like trademark violation, trademark infringement.

But that being said, trademarks can be extremely useful for those who are doing business here in Thailand, most notably for those who are looking into possibility of undertaking franchising in Thailand as that trademark, intellectual property can be licensed to people and one can be paid royalties associated with said licensing.

Another thing to keep in mind with respect to trademark is it may be a good idea to go ahead and get a trademark for no other reason than to ensure that nobody else in the Kingdom essentially infringes on your business name or your trade name as it were. Now, it may require litigation to get this to go away but you know, if one is operating under a certain trade name and it's fairly clear that another person is using a substantially similar sort of name, symbols as well anything substantially similar intellectual property generally as an individual who has already got a trademark on that, it may be possible to go ahead and get that remedy through the court system here in Thailand. By use of an action basically stating that an individual who doesn't have the right to said marks, similar to said marks go ahead and start litigation with respect to that.

That being said, trademarks in Thailand and I want to be clear, I am not a Thai attorney. We have Thai attorneys in the office. They can go ahead and assist in trademark registration but just sort of an overview, for those who don’t speak Thai, who don’t really understand the system this video is basically designed to provide that. But something to keep in mind with respect to trademarks here in Thailand, one of the things I found interesting over the years is how this spoken use of a word can basically be sort of substantially similar to something being said in Thai with an entirely different meaning. For this reason, it's been my experience that individual applications can go through a rather rigorous process of disclaimer especially on marks that are essentially coming from abroad and you're trying to issue them here in Thailand or you’re trying to get to register here in Thailand. It's in my experience that the process for doing that will take longer because for the request for evidence to require or perhaps a disclaimer is necessary because a mark, you know, a word or a mark or a trade name that may be an international context you know, something very clear and very common, very well understood to the ear to say, an English speaker may be taken in an entirely different context by native Thai speaker so the process for undertaking registration especially for foreign trademark can be rather rigorous.

That being said, trademark registration also is rather time-consuming. There's a large portion of the process of registering a trademark that has to do with previous trademark searches and oftentimes those are done using paper files. There is a digital system but in certain cases, there are also files that you know go back into the paper and they have to be pulled in order to and compare previous mark to a current mark. So that being said, it can be rather long process here in Thailand. Patience is certainly a virtue with many different things and that the same can be said for trademark registration. That being said, assistance with such a registration can be very beneficial for those seeking trademark protection in Thailand and Integrity Legal are happy to assist with that.