Intellectual Property

Thailand Copyright Act (2022) – New Amendment: … WHY WE NEED CHANGE?

Posted on by WE IP
26
Sep

Road To Change: –

There are both external reasons and internal reasons why the old law needs an update.

External reasons:

  • Thailand now becomes a new member of the WCT (WIPO COPYRIGHT TREATY) which will be effective on October 13, 2022.
  • Thailand must further comply with the Marrakesh Treaty which provides certain exemptions to copyright infringement for people with disabilities.

Internal reasons:

  • The old law has failed to resolve online violations in a timely manner.
  • The old law lacks specific penalties for those who made Technology Protection Measure (TPM) ineffective.

Change Starts From: –

  • Ready or not – A new amendment comes into effect in August 23, 2022.

Major Revisions

1. Extending term of protection for “Photographic Works

BEFORE: Photographic works are protected for 50 years from the date of creation or first publication.

 

NOW: Photographic works are protected during the author’s life to 50 years after the author’s death (following the WCT).

2. Introducing 4 types of “ISPs” and its new “Safe Harbor Provisions” exempting them from copyright infringement liability

Internet Service Providers

 

BEFORE: The definition of an ISPs was narrow and unclear, and ISPs were only exempted from liability if they complied with the court’s injunctive order to take down the infringing material. 

NOW: The definition of an ISPs is wider and can be categorizes into 4 types:

    • ISPs acting as an “intermediary”
    • ISPs acting as a “temporary information storage”
    • ISPs acting as a “host of information”
    • ISPs acting as “search engines”.

There exist new ‘safe harbor provisions’ (having both general and specific requirements) that exempt ISPs from liability for copyright infringement committed by users (following to WCT).

3. Introducing new “Takedown System” – Notice vs Counter-notice

BEFORE: Copyright owner must file a motion with the court for an injunction order against the ISPs to remove alleged infringing content from a computer system. 

NOW: Copyright owner can take action against the infringer without proceeding through the court system. Upon receipt of the infringement report (“Notice”), the ISPs must promptly comply with the Copyright’s owner’s request and notify the accused of the infringed action to the user who posted the allegedly infringing material to allow the user to submit a response (“Counter-notice”). 

In case of counter-notice submitted, after the 30-day period ends, unless the copyright owner files a lawsuit against the alleged infringer/user, ISPs are required to restore the data or cease blocking access to it within 15 days.

4. Amending the provisions on “TPM” definition and violations

Technological Protection Measure (“TPM”)

BEFORE: The definition of TPM was narrow while the exceptions for TPM violations were too broad. 

NOW: New definition of TPM is wider covering both measures i.e. (1) rights control measure (2) access control measure. Also, the stipulation of exceptions has been removed, instead specifying that the exceptions will be laid out in ministerial regulations to be issued later.

Moreover, any act which causes access-control TPMs ineffective constitutes infringement of TPMs regardless of the intention of such person.

All in all, the new Amendment comes up with new ways to solve previous problems and create new enforcement strategies combating online infringement – that have not been a part of practice in the past. Thus, it is necessary for both local and international business to understand in order to comply with this change.

For more information, please contact us at mail@weintellectual.com.

The Authors

Apple_WTR1000

Saowaluck Lamlert (APPLE)

Managing Partner

Saowaluck.L@weintellectual.com

Tatchaporn Natprasertkul

Partner

Tatchaporn.N@weintellectual.com
WE IP