IP registration to be sped up in lead-up to AEC
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The Intellectual Property Department aims to reduce the registration period for intellectual property rights to facilitate more commercialisation and increase the competitiveness of Thai enterprises under the Asean integration next year.
For instance, the registration period for innovation patent would be reduced from 60 months to 48 months, design patent from 18 months to 12 months, trademark from 17 months to 12 months, and copyright from 23 days to 5 days.
Director-general Malee Choklumlerd said the department would focus on helping enterprises next year by reducing the time for IP registration.
Thailand has suffered from delays in approving IP rights compared with other Asean countries due to lack of human resources, and the development of the IT system. The department will focus on developing the registration system, and ask for more budget to employ more officers.
According to the department’s survey, based on the average period for patent registration Thailand has the least number of officers, which has resulted in more time being taken for approvals. While on average it takes 73 months in Thailand, Malaysia takes 32 months, Indonesia 60 months, the Philippines 54 months, and Vietnam 24-36 months.
The department plans to ask for financial support from its revenue to set up a fund to help Thai enterprises who face problem of intellectual property infringement in other countries.
Malee said the department earns about Bt500 million revenue each year and gets a budget of only Bt300 million to Bt400 million for its operations. The department will ask for financial support to set up a fund to solve IPR related problems for Thai enterprises.
