Designs in SE Asia

Designs are creeping up the region's agenda as the adoption of the Hague designs filing system in SE Asia gets closer. Now the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will conduct a study on the use of designs in 3 SE Asian countries namely: Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand. These all show large numbers of designs in the region. Here are the ASEAN published details for the major emerging markets in SE Asia.

Design Applications	2013	2014
Indonesia	4259	3731
Philippines	1376	1348
Thailand	2858	2477
Malaysia	2,053	959  (half year data)
Vietnam	2095	2311

The key point to note is that in most SE Asia countries the proportion of local applicants is higher for designs than for other types of IP. More local designers use the filing systems than say for patents. This justifies a focus on this type of IP in the region.  


 

Thai patent amendments

Thailand has been debating amendments to its Patent Act for many years. The Department of Intellectual Property has now said that the amendments are going ahead.

Their chief goals are to reduce patent pendency (a serious problem in Thailand especially for chemical and pharma patents), to improve the availability of petty patents and to make sure that Thai public health is protected through the WTO TRIPS protocol relating to compulsory licensing. There is also a proposal to accede to the Hague Agreement for designs, which is an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) goal for a number of ASEAN countries.  Thailand appears to be keen to find ways to lead in IP matters in the AEC.