The Commerce Ministry may endorse applications for patents already approved in other countries to speed up its approval process after being swarmed by a backlog of 36,000 requests.
"The special measure that the government is about to apply to solve the problem of slow patent issuance will really address the backlog... If they are cleared, it will be beneficial to businesses and national economic development," Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said on Thursday.
The minister apparently referred to a report that the government planned to use a special order of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in his capacity as the head of the National Council for Peace and Order. Section 44 of the interim constitution empowers him to do anything without legal consequences.
The measure would allow authorities to quickly approve applications for the patents already endorsed in other countries, Mrs Apiradi said. She called it the work-sharing measure.
"The Intellectual Property Department has only 24 officials qualified to verify patent applications while the number of requests keeps rising," the minister said.
If such accelerated patents posed a problem afterwards, concerned parties could propose revision to authorities and participate in the process, she said.
Aware of the problem, the government allowed the department to increase the workforce but the training of recruits would take at least two years, Mrs Apiradee said.
Health civic groups oppose the idea, fearing quicker patent approval would lengthen drug monopoly periods.