With the gradual switch over the past few years to an ecommerce business model, every brand has virtually become a global brand. And in the face of this sometimes overwhelming competition, the importance of protecting your intellectual property has never been greater. Whether you’re working for a brand-new startup or a well-established international company, you need to register your trademark in every country that your brand is operating.
In Thailand, this means hiring the services of a qualified law firm that knows the ins and outs of trademark registration. Thailand generally recognises well-known foreign trademarks. But trademark registration is strenuously recommended to ensure that the government recognises and provides legal remedies when the ownership of your trademark’s products, services, image, or visual representation is in question.
How Long Does the Registration Process Take?
The process of registering can take as long as four to six months, depending on the complexity of your trademark’s products and services. There are several steps to the registration process that must be taken under Thai law.
Keep in mind that if your brand is based overseas, the applications for trademark registration in Thailand can only be made in the Thai language. Even if you have all the documents explaining the details of your trademark, they will have to be translated into Thai before your law firm can file the application. Writing and translating these documents is considered to be the first step in the trademark registration process.
What Does the Process Entail?
Once you have the documents explaining all the details of your trademark, the law firm in Thailand has to perform certain other steps to ensure that all the requirements have been met. Thailand recognises the Nice Classification (NCL) system, which is used internationally to categorise goods and services.
There are 8 classifications of services under the 10th edition of the NCL and 34 classifications of goods. If your particular trademark falls under more than one classification, a separate application must be filed under Thai law for the additional classifications.
The law firm also has to perform a trademark search to ensure that a similar trademark doesn’t currently exist in Thailand. The law firm will typically stay in close contact with their client throughout this period to relay any questions or needed clarifications by the government registrar.
The last step in the process is to file the application in the trademark gazette of Thailand for a period of 90 days. If no one comes forward with a valid objection to the application, it will be considered successful, and the registration fee will be required to issue the registration.
Importance of Hiring a Qualified Law Firm
Although there are no shortcuts to this process, hiring an experienced and qualified law firm can speed up the process to the absolute minimum. Filing under the correct classifications, identifying incomplete explanations before submitting and providing accurate translations are all the marks of a skilled and experienced law firm.
Before you embark on the process to register a trademark in Thailand and start building your company in the country, make sure you have a qualified law firm in Thailand at your side to see to all the details.
