As a rapidly developing region, Cambodia is becoming a popular business destination for European SMEs. However, rapid economic development has been accompanied with increasing counterfeiting and other IP infringements. European SMEs should still keep in mind that even though, Cambodia’s IP enforcement system needs to improve, there are still sufficient IP laws in place to protect your trade mark and other IP. Today’s blog post will take a closer look at Cambodian trade mark protection.
Background for the European SMEs
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a group is EU’s third largest trading partner after the United States and China. ASEAN countries are at different economic and political development stage, and among them, Cambodia has recently shown steady growth rates, while its economy grew at 7.1% in 2014 and 7% in 2015. The garment sector, together with construction and services, are the main drivers of its economy. Growth is expected to remain strong in 2016, as recovering internal demand and dynamic garment exports offset stagnation in agriculture and softer growth in tourism. Cambodia is an emerging market with a GDP of $16.4 billion, which has the potential of becoming a trading and logistics hub for the Indonesia region. Its 15.3 million strong population is mainly occupied in the agricultural sector. However, garment industry, construction and tourism are among major industries in Cambodia, with the garment industry accounting for 90% of Cambodia’s exports. Continue reading “Trade Mark Protection in Cambodia” »
As the summer vacation is almost over it’s time to refresh our memories about the basic IPR protection. Today’s blog post discusses copyright protection in South-East Asia, pointing out some of the main differences in all 10 ASEAN nations. 
In today’s blog post we take a look at the recent developments in Vietnamese IP regulations concerning Internet Domain names and analyse the implications of these regulations to the European SMEs. 
Today’s blog post has been kindly drafted for us by our IPR SME Helpdesk expert Mr. Somboon Earterasarun from Tilleke & Gibbins. Mr Earterasarun gives an excellent overview on how to fight against trade mark infringements in Indonesia. 
Businesses in Europe have increasingly benefited from Customs authorities acting to prevent counterfeit products from entering their borders – seizures of products infringing on others intellectual property (IP) make news stories around Europe every week. Not many businesses, however, realise that unlike most countries the Chinese Customs authorities not only have the power to examine and seize criminal imports, but also exports. China Customs have the authority to protect IP rights by confiscating infringing goods and imposing fines on infringers. If the infringement of IP rights exceeds a certain threshold, then the Customs authorities will also arrange for criminal proceedings to be brought against the infringing party.