Thailand becomes the 99th State of the Madrid System

Thailand has deposited recently its instrument of accession to Madrid Protocol Relating to the International Registration of Trademarks, becoming the 99th Member State. With the accession of Thailand, there are now few Southeast Asian countries that are outside the international trademark protection system.

Thanks to this accession, trademark rights holders will see their internationalization process facilitated, through simplified registration procedures in a frequently sought-after jurisdiction. In recent years, Thailand has made a significant effort to harmonize its trademark system with a view to its accession to the Protocol. Among the measures adopted, for example, is the adaptation of its local product and service classification system «item by item» to a more homogeneous application of the Nice Classification. However, there are still certain administrative peculiarities that must be taken into account when registering a trademark, such as, for example, the need to associate trademarks belonging to the same owner.

We will, therefore, need a certain amount of filming time to see how the Department of Intellectual Property (DPI) responds to this new challenge.