Thailand 'likely to stay on US piracy watch list'
The United States is likely to announce by the end of this month that Thailand will remain on its intellectual property Priority Watch List (PWL) for another year.
Friday 4 May 2012, 11:38AM
The director of Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property (DIP), Patchima Thanasanti, said although Thailand has “continuously campaigned and acted against the infringement of intellectual property”, the US view is that the problem has not lessened in the past five years and that Thailand has no serious law to protect intellectual property.
The DIP is trying to introduce a copyright and trademarks law as soon as possible, she said, and the law on intellectual property should be in force by 2014, particularly relating to software and movie piracy.
Once the law is in place, the US may then move Thailand off the PWL.
She added that Deputy Commerce Minister Poom Sarapol had assigned her department to revise measures and take serious action against department stores that allow retailers to sell pirated items on their premises.
The DIP is organising a three-day IP Fair from today (May 4) at Bangkok’s Queen Sirikit National Convention Center to raise awareness and to provide opportunities for inventors and owners of intellectual property rights to meet with entrepreneurs.
