Thai broadcasters are likely to be classified as "high risk" when they bid on future broadcasting rights for major sporting events due to the Supreme Administrative Court's decision on the must-have rule.
Paiboon Amonpinyokeat, an intellectual property (IP) law expert with the Intellectual Property Association of Thailand, said his group had been told by the legal departments at several sports organisers that Thai bidders might face higher costs from an increased warranty of 3-6% of the reserve price.
This would come as a result of last month's court ruling on the must-have rule.
The Supreme Administrative Court said the must-have rule was still in effect and not trumped by IP rights.
Although RS Plc had secured the broadcast rights for the 2014 Fifa World Cup, this did not mean it could do anything with the rights on its own.
RS had to respect and comply with related laws including the Frequency Allocation Act and the Broadcasting Act.
Moreover, if any rights holder wants to manage rights without concern for related law, future sporting events, particularly major football tournaments, could see another World Cup-type dispute.
RS entered the dispute over the broadcast of World Cup matches with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, which wanted to apply the must-have rule to the tournament and force RS to air all 64 matches on free TV.
The company would agree to only 22 matches. It fought the court case and won it.
Mr Paiboon said sports organisers were concerned their granted broadcast rights might be violated, as rights holders could not ensure the owner's broadcast signals were transmitted only in the granted territories.
In addition, legal experts agree the must-have rule violates Section 15 of the Intellectual Property Act, stating that broadcast rights holders have the exclusive right to manage them freely.
The must-have rule requires rights holders to broadcast seven sporting events on free TV.
"Academically, I'm very disappointed with the ruling," Mr Paiboon said.
In offering the broadcasting rights for any sports tournament, organisers send an invitation to potential candidates and give them two to four years to prepare before the event takes place.
Organisers such as Fifa and Uefa plan to add more value by investing in broadcast technology to draw more viewers and advertisers.
But Patchima Thanasanti, a former director-general of the Intellectual Property Department, said the court ruling's disregard for IP law could worsen Thailand's image as the country tries to free itself from the US Trade Representative's priority watch list for IP violations.