Trademark Protection in Thailand

by admin on December 11, 2012

Thailand TrademarksThere is no current treaty that allows for recognition of foreign trademarks in Thailand. Therefore, companies are advised to register their trademarks in Thailand if they have products or do business in Thailand. A Thailand trademark registration is the surest way to protect your trademark in Thailand.

The Thailand Intellectual Property (IP) system

Intellectual Property Rights are protected in Thailand by registering it with the Department of Intellectual Property in the Thai Ministry of Commerce.   In general, Thailand Intellectual property is divided into 2 categories. The industrial Property category includes patents, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications. Copyright related rights category covers creative works such as literature, film, musical works, computer software, artistic works, broadcasting, and sound recordings.

Trademarks in Thailand protect goods and services and can include words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services sold by other businesses. 

Thailand trademark classification system vs. NICE system

NICE is the generally recognized international system for classifying goods and services for trademark registration. The most recent version of NICE classification includes 45 classes of goods and services. Classes 1-34 include goods, while classes 35-45 include services.

The NICE system is use by many Department of Trademarks offices in many governments worldwide. However,Thailand follows its own trademark classification system which, while it bears some similarity to the NICE system, is distinct and different.

There are currently 45 different classes of goods and services under the Thailand classification system. A trademark intended for multiple uses will require separate registration application for each class. Each class may contain hundreds, sometimes thousands of individual categories of goods.

Read more on Thailand trademark registration.

{ 1 comment }

Comments on this entry are closed.

Next post: