In July 2015, the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) of Thailand imposed non-extendable deadlines relating to the prosecution and registration of intellectual property rights. These stringent deadlines came in the advent of the Licensing Facilitation Act (LFA), which aims to improve the global competitiveness rankings of Thailand and encourage foreign investment. As such, the LFA makes it compulsory for public authorities to create a public Official Rules guidebook and indicate the regulations, procedures, requirements, official fees and, most importantly, the exact timeline within which filings must be done.

For patent applications, the rigorous deadlines hereunder have to be followed. Otherwise, failure to submit the formal documents on time may result in an absolute objection of the entire patent application. (See Figure 1.)

Moreover, the DIP has published a timeline relating to the registration of trademark and patent rights. If the DIP does not complete the required process within the designated timeline, the LFA requires the relevant government authority to notify each applicant and Public Section Development Committee every seven days and explain the reason for the delay. This is the most significant provision to ensure the efficiency of DIP officers.

The DIP also implemented a timeline for which certain processes have to be completed by DIP Registrars. A summary of the new patent and trademark timelines are in Figures 2 and 3.

There is no doubt that Thailand is serious in improving its IP registration system. It is expected that the DIP will issue more directives to ensure that the above timelines are strictly followed. Hence, it is important for IP rights holders to be vigilant in respect of Thai deadlines so as not to let their IP rights slip away due to a mere technicality.

- From the Thai desk of mirandah asia

Patent Applications: Non-extendable Deadlines

Power of Attorney                                                                  90 days (non-extendable)

Deed of Assignment                                                              90 days (non-extendable)

Statement of Applicant’s Right to Apply for a Patent                 90 days (non-extendable) 

Complete Thai language Specification                                     90 days 

Priority document                                                                  16 months from the earliest filing date

Response to Office Action                                                    210 days

Figure 1.

Patents Timeline

Application Type (filing to grant)                   Total Time of Registration Process

Grant of Patent                                                              55 months

Grant of Petty patent                                                       3 months

Grant of Design Patent                                                   15 months

Recordal of Assignment of Patent                                     7 days

Recordal of Patent License                                            35 days

Annuity Payments                                                          9 days

Amendment of Patent Registration Information                  2 days

Figure 2.

Trademarks Timeline

Application Type (filing to grant)              Total Time of Registration Process

Trademark Registration                                          16 months

Renewal of Trademark                                            68 days

Amendment of Trademark Information                      68 days

Assignment of Trademark Rights                             68 days

Recordal of Trademark License                              105 days

Figure 3.