Amended intellectual property law to cover computer violations

BANGKOK, Nov 1 (TNA) — After achieving success in a crackdown on intellectual property violations since the beginning of this year, Thailand now plans to amend its law governing similar violations regarding computers, said a senior commerce ministry official.

Acting Intellectual Property Department director-general Pajchima Thanasanti said that a recent meeting chaired by Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot voted to amend the law pertaining to computers to include information on violations of intellectual property.

The planned amendment is designed to enable concerned officials to request a court to suspend the use of such information appearing on computers, said Mrs Pajchima.

Also, the meeting agreed to prepare a syllabus on intellectual property rights for students from primary to university levels, she said.

Educational institutions are expected to start teaching the subject from the 2010 academic year.

Official statistics show that during the first eight months this year, concerned officials were able to crack down 5,948 cases of intellectual property violations and seized about 4.41 million fake articles compared to 4,121 cases and approximately 3.78 million articles seized during the same period of 2008. (TNA)