Answer ... The Patent Act BE 2522 (1979) is the principal source of law relating to patents. It has been amended twice, by the Patent Act BE 2535 (1992) and the Patent Act BE 2542 (1999). The Patent Act provides the framework for patent protection, including registration and prosecution procedures, licences and renewals, cancellation, compulsory licences, enforcement and remedies. The Patent Act covers not only invention patents, but also petty patents (also known in other jurisdictions as utility models) and design patents.

It is supplemented by the following:

• subsidiary legislation in the form of various ministerial regulations and notifications of the Department of Intellectual Property;
• the Act for the Establishment of and Procedures for the Intellectual Property and International Trade Court BE 2539 (1996); and
• the Rules for Intellectual Property and International Trade Cases BE 2540 (1997).

If the principal sources of law and IP regulations are silent on a specific issue, the following general laws apply:

• the Civil and Commercial Code and the Civil Procedure Code;
• the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code; and
• the Act for the Establishment of Kwaeng Court (District Court) and its Criminal Procedures.

Thailand is also bound by several international IP treaties. Thailand joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 and automatically became a party to the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of 1994. The kingdom also joined in 2009 both the World Intellectual Property Organization Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883) and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), known as the Washington Treaty (1970).

In the event of a conflict, the Patent Act and other applicable local laws will take precedence over international treaties.

Answer ... In this Q&A, ‘patent’ shall mean an invention patent, unless otherwise specified (the Patent Act also protects design patents and petty patents).

The person filing a patent application in Thailand must be the inventor of the claimed invention (Section 10 of the Patent Act).

This means that only the true inventor can apply for patent protection, and that failure to designate the true inventor may be cause for the cancellation or invalidation of the patent application.

Inventors may assign the right to apply for a patent to another party (eg, an employer). An employer, a government organisation or a government enterprise has the right to file an application for an invention made by an employee, or a government official or a person who is executing an employment contract or a contract to perform certain work, unless the contract states otherwise (Sections 11 and 13 of the Patent Act).

A valid deed of assignment signed by the inventor must be produced when applying for patent protection in Thailand (convention application). However, a deed of assignment is not required by the local patent office for national phase entries of PCT (international patent) applications in Thailand to ease the application process.