Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property (“DIP”) published its finalized trademark examination manual on January 17, 2022. The manual provides trademark examiners with guidelines on examination which the Trademark Act leaves to examiners’ discretion. This finalized manual has been used since January 17, 2022 for all new trademark applications and these filed before this date.[1]
泰國商務部智慧財產局(簡稱“DIP”)在2022年1月17日公布編訂完成的商標審查手冊。手冊內容提供商標審查員針對《泰國商標法》給予審查員裁量權的部分給予審查基準。編訂好的手冊自2022年1月17日開始實施，適用於新的商標申請案以及在這之前提交的案件。
Following are key points of the new amendments:
以下為新修正的重點:
Ø Formal recognition of five level distinctiveness: From highest to lowest are fanciful marks, arbitrary marks, suggestive marks, descriptive marks, and generic marks.
正式認可五等級顯著性: 顯著性從高到低為創造性商標、任意性商標、暗示性商標、描述性商標以及通用名稱商標。
Ø Trademark which has a combination of Chinese characters is considered as inventive and registrable if the combination does not have a meaning, which means the trademark is not descriptive.[2]
由中文組合的商標，如果文字組合沒有含意，即，不具有描述性，視為具有創造性和可註冊性。
Ø Trademark with a combination of letters and numbers which has no less than 3 characters is considered as inherently distinctive, unless the trademark is a common sequence such as ABC.[3]
由不少於3個字母和數字組合的商標被認為具有先天的識別性，除非該商標是常見序列例如ABC。
Ø Online and social media advertisement no less than 2 years is considered sufficient evidence showing that a trademark acquires distinctiveness, which means the trademark has gained a secondary meaning.[4]
不少於2年的線上及社交媒體廣告被認為是充分的證據表明商標已取得識別性，表示該商標有第二層意義。
Ø Examiner may request trademark applicants to disclaim exclusive rights to non-distinctive part of trademark if that part is not the prominent part of the mark.
審查員可以要求商標申請人針對商標不具有識別性的部分聲明不專用，如果聲明不專用的部分不是商標顯著的部分。
Please bear in mind that the abovementioned rules are guidelines for trademark examiners and are not articles indicated in Trademark Act. In other words, these regulations have no legal enforcement, and the purpose of these amendments is to help trademark examiners to use as guideline for trademark applications.
請留意以上規則為審查員的審查基準、並非《泰國商標法》的規定。意即，這些規定不具有法律效果，新的修改規定目的是幫助商標審查員施行商標審查。
[1] For more detail of the manual, please refer to Announcement of the Department of Intellectual Property, Subject: Trademark Registration Consideration Guide 2022 No. 18/2565 at http://www.ipthailand.go.th/images/3534/2565/TM/TM_2565.pdf. [2] Section 7, paragraph two (3) of Trademark Act B.E. 2534. [3] Section 7, paragraph two (4) of Trademark Act B.E. 2534. [4] Judgment of the Supreme Court 4326/2561 (Request No. 667722).
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