Thai Patent Issues

THAILAND FINALLY ACCEDES TO PARIS CONVENTION AND TO THE PCT

The latest update on Thailand is that Thailand has finally acceded to become the latest State to be a member of the Paris Convention on Industrial Property Protection (the Paris Convention) and the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) when it deposited its instrument of accession to the PCT on 10 January 2008.
The National Legislative Assembly of Thailand (NLA) has formally signed a decree on 10 January 2008 to bring into force the Act of Adhesion of Thailand to the Paris Convention and to the PCT.

Thailand has been a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Currently, all patent applications filed in Thailand should be able to claim the priority of corresponding applications filed in other WTO countries so long as the priority applications are filed within 12 months from the Thai filing date.

However, on the other hand, a patent application filed in other countries which originates from Thailand will not be able to claim the priority of the corresponding Thailand application, even if the patent application is filed within 12 months from the Thai filing date if the patent laws in the countries only allow the priority claims should the priority applications be filed in Paris Convention member states. This is true as the Paris Convention only allows the priority date to be claimed if the priority application was filed in a Paris Convention member country.

With the Thailand accession to the Paris Convention, Thai applicants will be delighted to note that their patent applications filed overseas will enjoy the priority dates of their Thai applications.

Also as for the PCT, and as Thailand is now part of the PCT, all those PCT applications filed on or after 10 April 2008 will automatically designate Thailand.

The Thailand patent laws will now be subjected to various amendments in view of the accession of Thailand into the PCT and the protocols and technicalities of PCT covering aspects such as international application filing, searching and examination office designations, national phase applications, deadline to enter national phase in Thailand. These should be ready by 10 April 2008.