Judge cautions on piracy laws

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The government's efforts to push legal amendments to penalise the buyers and users of pirated products might hit a snag, as it would be tough to enforce the new laws, warned judges.

"We totally agree with the efforts to crack down on intellectual property infringement and protection," said Jumpol Pinyosinwat, chief judge of the central intellectual property and international trade court.

"But the amendments to extend the penalty to cover the buyers and possessors of counterfeit goods will definitely have a broad impact, as up to half the population of Thailand could be considered criminal."

Mr Jumpol, speaking yesterday at a hearing on the government's plans to amend the existing Trademark Act and Copyright Act, said the new laws might lead to abuse of power by inspecting authorities and affect the privacy of the people.

He said only France and Italy, which own several internationally renowned brands, have laws to penalise the buyers and processors of goods which carry fake trademarks.

The Thai government is suggesting laws to penalise the buyers, users and possessors of products that violate copyrights or patents, as well as the commercial-building landlords who ignore tenants who sell pirated goods.

According to Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot, a working group on such legal amendments would take into account all opinions at hearings before making a submission to the legal committee of the ministry and later the cabinet and parliament.

Under the preliminary draft, users and processors of counterfeit goods would be subject to a fine of not more than 1,000 baht or public service such as nursery cleaning. Commercial-building owners would face both civil and criminal penalties under the Trademark Act. Those who violate the act will be subject to 2-4 years in prison or a 200,000-400,000 baht fine, while those who breach a copyright could be imprisoned for three months to two years or fined 50,000-400,000 baht or both.

Meanwhile, the heads of Asean Intellectual Property (IP) Offices yesterday agreed to launch an online directory of IP-related resources and services available in Asean member states for businesses and other interested parties.

Representatives met in Cha-am and agreed to establish the IP DIRECT programme to provide information pertaining to IP legislation, dispute resolution bodies, sources for grants/loans and government incentives for investment in technology and R&D within the Asean member states.

Information on technology transfer/licensing offices, rights management organisations and IP awareness and public education will also be offered. The directory is organised based on the IP value-chain, covering inventions and innovations, IP protection and IP exploitation.