Thailand Trademark

Do you wish to register your trademark in Thailand, but unsure of the process and the other dimensions involved in registering trademarks in Thailand? Welcome to BLS! Your expert and trustworthy partner helping you in registering a trademark in Thailand, and further explaining you the various concepts associated with it. So, here’s more to Thailand trademark.

Trademarks hold an important place in every business. These are unique elements helping companies to differentiate their products from those of the competitors, and thus augment public goodwill towards their brand. Trademarks safeguard the interests of both consumers as well as companies. For consumers, trademarks help identify the origin of the products sold in the market, while, on the other hand, for companies, trademarks allow companies to enforce their trademark ownership rights.

Thailand’s basic trademark law is the Trademark Act of B.E. 2534 (1991), as amended in B.E. 2543 (2000) that facilitates the registration of trademarks. Registering a trademark in Thailand enables the respective owner to apply an optimal force of the law to enforce his/ her rights in the jurisdiction.

Registering trademarks in Thailand is with the Department of Intellectual Rights. Section 6 of the Act states that to register, a trademark must be distinctive, not be prohibited by the Act, and not be similar to a trademark already registered by another individual. Section 7 of the Act talks about the various possible manners in which a trademark could be deemed as distinctive. These include stylized letters that don’t constitute a word, invention of a pronounceable word that could be considered as a distinct word, using words that don’t have a direct reference or relation and many others.

Another requirement of the trademark is that the trademark must not be prohibited by the Act. Usually, the Act does not allow registering trademarks that consist of a government or a royal emblem, seal, royal or national flags, royal names, symbols already in use by international organizations, and other symbols, signs, etc. as prohibited by the act and by Ministerial Notifications.

Besides the above two conditions, there’s another condition and which talks about the prohibition of copying or using trademarks already in use. The concerned authorities would consider other trademarks registered only in Thailand. However, trademarks, which aren’t registered in Thailand, but are world famous, for instance, KFC’s logo, would also be considered in this regard.

Let us glance through the process of registering a trademark in Thailand.

• The first step is to fill the official form in Thai and to file it with the Department of Intellectual Property.
• The applicant must attach a sample of the product, and also mention his/ her complete address in Thai.
• If the applicant doesn’t stay in Thailand, the business address would be considered as the domicile.

The filed application would be published in the Trademark Gazette for 90 days, and in case no one files an objection within that period, the trademark fee will have to be paid, and the trademark will be registered.

Here’s the list of the documents that the applicant will have to submit in order to register a trademark in Thailand.

• If the applicant is a Thai company, the original set of the company affidavit will have to be submitted. On the other hand, in case the company is based out of Thailand, a copy of the company affidavit of the applicant will be required.
• Trademark logo in the exact color/s.
• A signed power of attorney. This should be notarized if it is signed from outside of Thailand.
• A signed passport copy of the authorized director/s.

In case, your trademark is disapproved or rejected in Thailand, you might have some scope to appeal the rejection or the disapproval. However, given the complexities involved in the Thai trademark law, consulting a Thai trademark expert is always a prudent idea. For more details on the process, and other aspects pertaining to trademarks, and registering trademarks in Thailand, get in touch with BLS.