Registering a trademark before you launch means filing the application before the product or service goes public, because Thai law rewards the first filer. Under the Trademark Act B.E. 2534, only the registered owner has exclusive rights to use the mark (Section 44), and the Registrar proceeds with the earliest similar application (Section 20). This is for founders and brand owners who want to know why timing matters.
- Only a registered owner has the exclusive right to use the mark (Section 44); an unregistered mark cannot found an infringement suit (Section 46).
- A registrable mark must be distinctive, not prohibited, and not identical or similar to a mark someone else has registered (Section 6).
- Among conflicting applications the Registrar proceeds with the first filed (Section 20); the filing date becomes the registration date (Section 42).
- After the application is published, anyone claiming better title can oppose within 60 days (Section 35).
- Registration lasts 10 years; renew within 3 months before expiry, or within 6 months after it with a 20% surcharge (Sections 53 and 54).
Suppose you are about to launch a new skincare brand. The name is settled, a designer has delivered the logo, five thousand boxes are at the printer and the online ad budget is booked. The one thing left undone is the trademark application, because the plan is to start selling first and file later.
That is where the risk sits. Thailand's Trademark Act B.E. 2534 (1991) gives exclusive rights to the registered owner, not to whoever used the name first or spent the most on it. If someone else has already filed the same or a confusingly similar mark, your application waits behind theirs, and the boxes you printed may become scrap.
This article follows the decisions a brand owner actually faces, in the order they come up: what can be registered, which names struggle, why the Registrar refuses, what filing first buys you, and how long protection lasts. Every point is tied to a section of the consolidated Act as amended up to Act No. 3 B.E. 2559 (2016), and it ends with a pre-launch checklist.
Can you simply use a brand name in Thailand without registering it?
You can, but you will have very little to defend it with. Section 44 gives the exclusive right to use a mark only to the person registered as its owner, and only for the goods covered by the registration. For anyone who has not registered, Section 46 shuts the door on infringement claims.
No person shall be entitled to bring legal proceedings to prevent or to recover damages for the infringement of an unregistered trademark.
Section 46 paragraph two keeps one route open: the owner of an unregistered mark may still sue a person for passing off goods as those of the mark's owner. That claim requires proof of the passing off itself, which is a much heavier lift than pointing to a registration certificate.
The criminal provisions work the same way. Counterfeiting a mark under Section 108 (up to 4 years' imprisonment, a fine of up to 400,000 baht, or both) and imitating one to mislead the public under Section 109 (up to 2 years, up to 200,000 baht, or both) apply only to marks registered in Thailand. An unregistered brand cannot rely on them.
What kinds of marks can be registered?
Far more than a name and a logo. Section 4 defines a "mark" broadly: photographs, drawings, invented devices, logos, names, words, phrases, letters, numerals, signatures, combinations of colours, figurative elements (shapes), sounds, or any combination of these. Service businesses use the same rules, because Section 80 applies the trademark provisions to service marks mutatis mutandis.
Being a "mark" is only the start. Section 6 sets three conditions that must all be met.
To be registrable, a trademark must (1) be distinctive; (2) not be prohibited under this Act; (3) not be the same as or similar to a trademark registered by another person.
Those three conditions shape everything that follows. Condition (1) is fleshed out in Section 7, condition (2) in Section 8, and condition (3) in Sections 13 and 20. If the whole mark, or an essential part of it, fails any of them, Section 16 requires the Registrar to refuse registration and give written reasons.
One thing founders often skip is the specification of goods. Section 9 allows an application to cover goods in one class or several, but each kind of goods for which protection is sought must be clearly specified, and the Section 44 right attaches to the goods registered. If you sell face cream today and plan shampoo next year, decide at filing how wide the protection needs to be.
Which brand names pass, and which fail for lack of distinctiveness?
Names that simply describe the product are the most likely to fail. Section 7 paragraph one states the test: the mark must let the public tell these goods apart from other goods.
A distinctive trademark is a trademark which enables the public or users to distinguish the goods with which the trademark is used from other goods.
Section 7 paragraph two then lists 11 kinds of mark that are deemed distinctive. The phrase that keeps recurring is "no direct reference to the character or quality of the goods". The table covers the categories brand owners meet most often.
| Category in Section 7 paragraph two | Deemed distinctive when | What to watch when naming |
|---|---|---|
| (3) Invented word | The word is newly coined | The easiest route to registration, but you must invest in making people remember it |
| (2) Ordinary word or phrase | It has no direct reference to the character or quality of the goods and is not a geographical name prescribed by the Minister | Names that say what the product does, how good it is or where it comes from risk failing here |
| (1) Personal name, juristic person's name, trade name | A surname must not be a surname in its ordinary meaning; a company name must be the full name; a trade name must be represented in a special manner with no direct reference to the goods | A company's short name is not its full juristic name |
| (4) Letters or numerals | They must be stylised | Plain initials or numbers without design are harder |
| (8) Invented device · (9) Ordinary picture | An invented picture, or one with no direct reference to the character or quality of the goods | A plain picture of the product itself, such as fruit on a fruit juice, risks failing |
| (10) Shape | Not the natural form of the goods, not necessary for a technical result, and not giving value to the goods | A specially designed bottle or box may qualify if it clears these conditions |
| (11) Sound | No direct reference to the goods, not the natural sound of the goods, not produced by their functioning | An advertising jingle can qualify; the noise the product itself makes cannot |
If the name you want is descriptive, Section 7 paragraph three offers a second route: prove that the goods have been sold or advertised widely under the Minister's rules. That route needs a track record of sales and advertising, so it rarely helps a brand that has not launched.
A trademark having no characteristics under paragraph two (1) to (11), if used on goods which have been widely sold or advertised in accordance with the rules prescribed in a notification by the Minister and if it is proved that the rules have been duly met, shall be deemed distinctive.
If part of the mark is not distinctive, do you have to drop the whole name?
Not necessarily. Under Section 17 the Registrar can order the applicant to disclaim exclusive rights in the part that is common to the trade or not distinctive, within 60 days of receiving the order. The mark as a whole can proceed, but the disclaimed word will not be yours alone. Orders under Sections 15, 16 and 17 can be appealed to the Trademark Board within 60 days under Section 18.
On what grounds can the Registrar refuse an application?
There are two groups. The first is the list of prohibited marks in Section 8, which cannot be registered however distinctive they are. The second is conflict with a mark someone else has already registered, under Section 13.
- State emblems and symbols such as state arms, the Thai national flag, official flags and official emblems (Section 8 (1), (2), (7)).
- Royal names, monograms, representations, and any name, word or emblem signifying the King, the Queen, the Heir to the Throne or members of the royal family (Section 8 (3), (4), (5)).
- Flags, emblems and names of foreign states or international organisations unless permission is given, and the Red Cross emblems (Section 8 (6), (7)).
- Medals, diplomas and certificates from trade exhibitions or competitions, unless actually awarded to the applicant for those goods (Section 8 (8)).
- Marks contrary to public order, morality or public policy (Section 8 (9)).
- Marks identical with, or confusingly similar to, a well-known mark, registered or not (Section 8 (10)).
- Protected geographical indications (Section 8 (12)).
The ground new brands hit most often is Section 13. The Registrar must refuse a mark that is identical with one already registered by another person, or so similar that the public might be confused or misled about the owner or origin of the goods, whether for the same class or different classes found to be of the same character. Searching the register before you settle on a name is far cheaper than searching after the boxes are printed.
Does the first person to file really win?
For the order of examination, yes. Where several pending applications are identical or confusingly similar, Section 20 tells the Registrar to deal with the one filed first and make the later applicants wait.
Where several applicants file applications for registration of trademarks, if the Registrar finds that those trademarks have any of the following characteristics, he shall proceed with the application first filed and inform the subsequent applicants in writing to await the processing of the application filed before:
A later applicant moves forward only if the first application is not registered, under Section 20 paragraph two. Meanwhile your marketing plan hangs on someone else's file. The filing date also matters after registration, because Section 42 backdates the registration to the day the application was filed.
A trademark when registered shall be deemed registered as of the date of application for registration.
You used the name first but someone filed ahead of you. What now?
The filing date is not the only thing that counts. Once the Registrar has the application published under Section 29, anyone who believes they have better title can file an opposition within the window in Section 35.
Upon publication of a trademark application under Section 29, any person seeing that he or she has better title to trademark than the applicant, or that the trademark is not registrable under Section 6, or that the application is not in conformity with the provisions of this Act, may file an opposition, with grounds thereof, with the Registrar within sixty days from the date of publication under Section 29.
Sixty days pass quickly, and if nobody is watching the published applications the chance disappears without notice. A further route is Section 27, which lets the Registrar register identical or similar marks for several owners where there has been honest concurrent use or special circumstances, with conditions on how and where each may use the mark. Both routes need evidence of actual use, not just a claim of being first.
Already filed abroad? How the dates work
Section 28 lets an applicant who first filed outside Thailand claim that foreign filing date as the Thai filing date, provided the Thai application is filed within 6 months of the first foreign filing and the applicant meets one of the listed qualifications, such as Thai nationality, a juristic person headquartered in Thailand, or nationality of a country party to the same convention as Thailand. A brand launching in several countries at once should diarise that 6-month date on day one.
How long does registration last, and how is it renewed?
The registration of a trademark shall have a term of ten years from the date of registration under Section 42 and may be renewed under Section 54.
Read with Section 42, the 10 years run from the filing date, not from the day the certificate arrives. Under Section 54 the renewal application and fee must be filed within 3 months before expiry. If that is missed, the owner can still renew within 6 months after expiry by paying a surcharge of 20% of the renewal fee.
If the 6-month grace period also passes, Section 56 deems the registration cancelled. A successful renewal under Section 55 runs for a further 10 years from the previous expiry date. The date counting and paperwork are covered in the trademark renewal guide.
during the three years prior to the petition for cancellation there was no bona fide use of the trademark for the goods for which it was registered
Pre-launch checklist
Work through these steps before you sign off the packaging print run or commit a large ad spend. Each step is tied to the relevant section so your lawyer or filing agent can review it.
| Step | What to do | Sections |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Search registered and pending marks, including words, devices and how the name sounds, in the same class and in classes of the same character | Sections 13 and 20 |
| 2 | Check the name does not directly describe the goods and contains nothing prohibited, such as flags, official emblems or royal references | Sections 7 and 8 |
| 3 | Decide whether to file the word, the logo or both, and whether to limit colours; a mark filed without colour limitation is deemed registered for all colours | Sections 4 and 45 |
| 4 | Specify the goods or services clearly, including products planned for the near future | Sections 9, 44 and 80 |
| 5 | Make sure the applicant or agent has an office or address in Thailand the Registrar can contact | Section 10 |
| 6 | If you filed abroad, file in Thailand within 6 months to claim the first filing date | Section 28 |
| 7 | File before any public launch so your filing date comes first | Sections 20 and 42 |
| 8 | Answer the Registrar's letters on time, or the application is deemed abandoned | Sections 12, 15, 17 and 19 |
| 9 | Pay the registration fee within 60 days of the order to register | Section 40 |
| 10 | Put the 10-year expiry and the renewal window in the company calendar, and keep evidence of use every year | Sections 53, 54 and 63 |
Who owns a logo designed by an outside agency?
This sits outside the Trademark Act, but it goes straight to the heart of the brand. A logo is an artistic work under the definition in Section 4 of the Copyright Act B.E. 2537 (1994), and for a work created on commission, Section 10 gives copyright to the commissioning party unless the parties agree otherwise. Put the ownership of the logo in writing in the designer's contract. Work designed in-house by employees follows a different rule; see the employee copyright guide.
Copyright in the work created in the course of commission vests in the employer unless the author and the employer have agreed otherwise.
A secure brand therefore rests on two layers: a registered trademark, and evidence that the company owns the design inside it. If the logo borrows images or fonts found online, read Using images and content from the web without infringing copyright next.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to register a trademark before launching in Thailand?
The law does not force you to, but under Section 44 of the Trademark Act B.E. 2534 (1991) the exclusive right to use a mark belongs to the registered owner, and under Section 46 the owner of an unregistered mark cannot sue for infringement or recover damages, leaving only a passing-off claim. Filing before launch removes much of that risk.
Someone filed our brand name before us. What can we do?
The Registrar proceeds with the first-filed application under Section 20, but once it is published, anyone with better title can file an opposition with grounds within 60 days of publication under Section 35. Where both sides have used the mark honestly, Section 27 allows the Registrar to register it for several owners with conditions.
Can I register a brand name that describes my product?
It is likely to be refused. Under Section 7 paragraph two (2), a word or phrase is deemed distinctive only if it has no direct reference to the character or quality of the goods. The alternatives are an invented word, or proof of widespread use under Section 7 paragraph three, which requires prior sales and advertising.
How long does a Thai trademark registration last?
Ten years under Section 53, counted from the registration date in Section 42, which is the filing date. It can be renewed for further 10-year periods by applying within 3 months before expiry, or within 6 months after expiry with a 20% surcharge under Section 54.
If I register my logo in one colour, can I use it in another?
Section 45 deems a mark registered without limitation of colour to be registered for all colours. If you did not limit colours when filing, a later colour change stays within the registration.
Law and sources
- Trademark Act B.E. 2534 (1991), as amended up to Act No. 3 B.E. 2559 (2016) — Section 4 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 13 · 20 · 28 · 35 · 42 · 44 · 45 · 46 · 53 · 54 · 63 · 108 · 109
- Copyright Act B.E. 2537 (1994) — Section 4 · Section 10
Text in the "The text" boxes is copied word for word from AIPDPA's legal knowledge base, transcribed from the Royal Gazette and official documents; every edit is checked by the system against that base, character by character. English wording is an unofficial translation; the Thai text prevails. This article is general information, not legal advice for a particular case.
Do it in the system
Who stands behind this guide?
Written by the AIPDPA legal team · Content owner: Phuwara Krobtaku, Attorney-at-law · Thai Barrister-at-Law · technology & intellectual property counsel
Lawyer's licence no. 477/2558 · Thai Barrister-at-Law · LL.M. in Intellectual Property & IT Law (Gold Medal)