Thailand Fast-Track For Trade Mark Examination And Renewal

On 5th April 2021, the Department of Intellectual Property of Thailand (DIP) announced two notifications to fast-track the trade mark application and renewal examination processes.

Fast-track examination for new trade mark applications

Under the "First Action Fast Track" announced by the DIP, any trade mark application that meets the following criteria will receive the first office action (or proceed to publication) within six months from the filing date.

1. The application contains ten or fewer items of goods/services.
2. All items specified are included in the DIP's guideline (available at https://tmsearch.ipthailand.go.th/). To assist foreign trade mark owners, the DIP has translated parts of the goods/services into English. This update is beneficial, but the translation is still a work-in-progress. Rouse has also contributed to this update by providing our translations to the DIP.
3. There is no recordation or amendment to the application within six months after the filing date – such as recordal of assignment, recordal of name or address change, amending list of goods, etc.

The "First Action Fast Track" automatically applies to all applications that meet the above criteria. No extra request or fee is required.

Fast-track examination for renewals

Under the "Fast Track Renewal", any trade mark owner may request the examiner to renew a trade mark registration within one hour if the following criteria are met:

1. The trade mark registration contains 30 or fewer items of goods/services.
2. There is no recordation or amendment to the trade mark registration – such as recordal of assignment, recordal of name or address change, amending list of goods, reclassification, etc.
3. All required documents are submitted at the time of filing.

To use the "Fast Track Renewal" system, the trade mark owner may simply notify the examiner upon renewal. No additional fee is required.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.