資 料 No.5

JAPAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ASSOCIATIONASAHI SEIMEI OTEMACHI BLDG.18F
6-1 Otemachi 2-chome
Chiyoda-ku Tokyo, 100-0004, JAPANTEL: 81 3 5205 3321
FAX: 81 3 5205 3391
URL: http://www.jipa.or.jp/

November 10, 2017
Mr. Thosapene Dansuputra
Director-General
Department of Intellectual Property
Ministry of Commerce
563 Nonthaburi Road, Bangkrasor Muang,
Nonthaburi 11000
ThailandDear Mr. Thosapene Dansuputra,
Re: JIPA Comments on the amendment bill of Thailand Design Act
We, the Japan Intellectual Property Association “JIPA”, are a private userorganization established in Japan in 1938 for the purpose of promoting
intellectual property protection, with about 940 major Japanese companies asmembers. When appropriate opportunities arise, we offer our opinions on theintellectual property system of other countries and make recommendations formore effective implementation of the systems.
(http://www.jipa.or.jp/english/index.html)
Having learned the amendment bill of Thailand Design Act on your website, wewould like to offer our opinions as follows.
Your consideration on our opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely yours,-------------------------(Osamu IKEMURA)Managing Director
Japan Intellectual Property Association

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資 料 No.5

JIPA Comments on the Draft Revision of the Thai Design Act
Japan Intellectual Property Association

1. Reconsideration of Examination Steps
The revised examination steps recite "The examination steps of the conventional
design patents which stipulate that the novelty is examined based on the domestic andforeign databases and then the design is published before the substantive examination
have been reviewed.

The new stipulation is that the novelty is examined based on thedomestic database and then the design is published after the substantive examination.
The Department of Intellectual Property publishes the applications after the substantiveexamination."In the field of design, it cannot be necessarily deemed appropriate to examine thenovelty based only on the design database in Thailand when Thai people protect
beautiful and modern industrial designs.

Until now, Thailand has examined the noveltyof designs by using not only the domestic database but also foreign databases, and forthis reason we have considered that suitable protection of new designs has beenachieved.
Therefore, we respectfully request that the examination of novelty should bebased on not only the domestic database but also foreign databases as before.

2. Protection Term of Industrial Designs
The revised Design Act recites "The protection term of industrial designs is
extended from 10 years to an initial 5-year term and an additional 5-year term that canbe requested twice, i.e., 15 years in total (5+5+5 = 15 years)."
Because the lifecycle of products has recently been prolonged, the current termof protection is not sufficient. We thus appreciate the above revision because it is also
very beneficial for Japanese companies.

However, we consider that the protection

term of at most 15 years is insufficient.

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Therefore, we respectfully request that the extension of the term can berequested 3 times to extend the protection term to 20 years.

3. Postponement of Publication
The revised Design Act recites "There are added articles concerning
postponement of the publication (which defines a definite term of 30 months or lessfrom the filing date of the application or the date of claiming the right of the firstapplication)."Because designs are easy to copy, when it takes a considerable time frompublication of a design to commercialization of a product with the design, there is apossibility that the design may be copied by a third party because of the publication.
Moreover, a period of 30 months (2 years and a half) from the date of claiming the rightis too short as a term for preventing a new design from becoming known by theGovernment Gazette before announcement of a new product with the design.
Therefore, we respectfully request that the term of postponement of publication
should be extended because we consider that the grace period of 36 months (3 years)
as stipulated by the Japanese Design Law is required.

4. Introduction of Partial Design System
We understand that the Thai Design Act has no stipulation of a partial designsystem.
The Japanese Design Law also protects partial designs of articles inconsideration of exercising rights to a third party who copies only a characteristic part,not the whole, of an article.
Therefore, we respectfully request that a new stipulation about partial designs
should also be incorporated in the Thai Design Act.

5. Introduction of Trial System for Invalidation-2-資 料 No.5

In Thailand, it is possible to invalidate a design having unregistrability
requirements (e.g., a misappropriated design) by filing a lawsuit with the court in thecurrent practice.

However, the problem is that the court procedure requires enormous

cost and time. This is very disadvantageous to the legitimate beneficiaries.
Therefore, we respectfully request introduction of a trial system for invalidation inthis revision.

6. Introduction of Accelerated Examination System
According to JETRO's 2014 Survey, the time period from design application toacquisition of the right is about four years, but it tends to take comparatively much time.
Moreover, the term of design rights is short and the term during which the right can beutilized is short accordingly, and thus these have until now brought about a situation
where the right holder is disadvantageous.
Therefore, we respectfully request introduction of an accelerated examination
system that is a drastic solution to the above problem, allowing acceleration ofacquisition of the right.

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