Thailand has high hopes this year the Untied States will move the country from the Priority Watch List (PWL) to the Watch List (WL) in its annual Special 301 Report in May, due to its huge success in the enforcement of intellectual property law, said Department of Intellectual Property director-general Puangrat Asavapisit.
Next month, Alongkorn Ponlaboot, the deputy minister of commerce, will visit the U.S. trade representative before the publication of the Special 301 Report, a document that examines in detail the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights in countries around the world.
He will also meet with a variety of industry associations, including those in the pharmaceutical, film, music and software sectors.
"The Thai government's policy to put intellectual property enforcement on the national agenda is fantastic, but the U.S. trade representative's ranking of Thailand depends on various factors--not just software, but also music, films and so on," explained the Business Software Alliance's (BSA) director of anti-piracy in Asia, Tarun Sawney.
Sawney continued that it was a significant moment when the Thai Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court awarded a software developer damages of 3.5 million baht (US$99,000) in the BSA's software piracy case against an Ayutthaya-based manufacturing company.
The court reached its decision because the defendant had used counterfeit copies of software in its business practices. In its decision, the court held that the defendant's actions amounted to wilful infringement of the software developer's legal rights.
The court found that the defendants actions violated the Thai Copyright Act.
The case began with a criminal investigation into software copyright violations in 2006. This was followed in 2008 with a civil suit being filed by the software developer.
The damages of 3.5 million baht (US$99,000) awarded by the Thai Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court include the value of the pirated software, the developer's loss of reputation and legal fees.
The recent successful civil case in the intellectual property courts sets the stage for further legal action against businesses that violate software copyright.
"Pursuing copyright infringement cases through the civil suits give all software developers another option to recoup losses from companies that break the Thai Copyright Act," said Sawney.
He explained that in criminal cases the maximum fine is 800,000 baht (US$22,710), while in civil cases the copyright holder has to proceed by themselves, without the help of the police.
Sawey accepted that during this period of global economic crisis it may be possible that corporates would use more illegal software to reduce their costs, but he thinks that such actions will have serious affects on software developers in such an economic climate.
In 2007, Thailand's piracy rate of 78 percent--compared to the region's average of 59 percent--put it in the Top 10 countries in Asia, but this is improving.
"Software piracy makes it incredibly difficult for developers of genuine software to compete in the marketplace and harms the ability of the software industry to create jobs and stimulate economic growth," Sawney emphasized.
And according to Somkiat Ungaree, the president of the Association of Thai Software Industry (ATSI), the enforcement of intellectual property laws to protect innovation is an important factor for the Thai software industry in the challenging year ahead.
"Software piracy results in financial losses, including job losses, and adversely affects wages and salaries, tax revenues, and sales of of business software applications," said Somkiat.
"Software piracy is harmful to our nation's economic health and cannot be tolerated. The ruling of the Thai IP Court against the defendant is a promising step forward in the fight against piracy."
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