CONCERTED MOVE AGAINST PIRACY, COPYING, ILLEGAL USE

       The Commerce Ministry has begun a large-scale crackdown on intellectual property violations in the software industry.
       The Ministry has been directed to protect both local software companies and overseas companies whose products are sold here from piracy, illegal use and copying. It is moving to fully protect intellectual property (IP), legal software, copyright and software developers' authority of ownership.
       It is also reviewing a draft of new copyright laws, developing an Asean Database on Patent Design and setting up a Patent Cooperation Treaty office for local businesses that want to apply for international patents.
       Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot said the ministry had formed a National IP Policy Committee. Its function will be to protect IP of all kinds and promote this protection as a business benefit to companies operating in all fields, from traditional businesses to those operating on the Internet. Specifically, it will be fighting illegal operators who flout copyright laws.
       The committee's responsibilities are divided into two main areas: promoting and protecting intellectual property.
       In promoting IP, the committee will help individuals and businesses to develop products and services behind the shield of IP protection, so that these products and services can contribute to the government's creative-economy mission. It will work in 15 industrial sectors, including automotive, manufacturing and software.
       It also plans to set up a subcommittee on the creative economy, to encourage local businesses to become involved in the Creative Thailand initiative and to support the government's Thai Khemkhaeng (TKK) project.
       Meanwhile, in its role of protecting IP, the national committee is in the process of submitting draft changes to copyright laws for Cabinet approval. The draft law sets out to extend IP protection to businesses operating on the Internet or conducting e-commerce.
       The draft also proposes to punish Internet service providers involved in IP violations, landlords who provide locations and space to illegal Internet services and Internet Cafes that provide illegal services.
       Alongkorn said the committee had also set up three subcommittees and working groups to investigate individuals and businesses believed to be operating in violation of IP laws. These included a subcommittee on prevention and suspicion of IP violation, a working group on investigation and suspicion and a working group on education and publications related to IP.
       The deputy minister said his ministry was also planning to separate its IP Department and transform it into a service delivery unit, or intellectual property centre.
       The IP Department has also developed various strategies to support the creative-economy mission. The protection of intellectual property is seen as a vital part of the foundation on which a creative economy will be built. In the next two years, the department plans not only to raise the country's competitiveness by encouraging the use of IP protection and enforcing the laws, but also to protect local wisdom as intellectual property and to provide funding to allow individuals and businesses to use IP to develop commercial products and services.
       IP Department director-general Puangrat Asawaphisit said his department was also cooperating with authorities in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore to set up a prototype Asean Database on Patent Design so that participating countries will be able to search patent design in the region. The department plans to set up a trial of a local patent-design database early next year.
       Puangrat said the department would also set up a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) office by the end of this month. The office will act as an agent, preparing the necessary translations and paying national fees for local people and businesses applying for international patent protection. It aims to encourage Thai inventors to seek international protection for their innovations. The services of the PCT office will be available early next year.
       The department will also allow individuals and businesses to register and apply for local patents by Internet in the near future.
       Meanwhile, the Business Software Alliance says illegal software and software piracy in Thailand has been reduced by 76 per cent, compared with levels three years ago, when 80 per cent of software was the product of piracy.