TRIPS
and the Specialised Intellectual Property Court in Thailand
Vichai
Ariyanuntaka*
VIII.
Damages
In
cases of copyright or performer's rights infringement, Sec. 64 of the
Copyright Act 1994 provides that the court may order appropriate damages
for the right owner by taking into consideration the seriousness f the
infringement, including loss of benefit and necessary expenses of enforcement.
This
is an improved version of the former Copyright Act of 1978 that simply
provided that imposing a fine did not preclude the right of the right
owner from seeking civil compensation for the amount of damages incurred
in excess of the fine.
Some
comments may be levied on the new Sec. 64:
- |
Section
64 satisfies the test under Art. 45(1) but not 45(2) of the TRIPS
Agreement.(32) |
- |
Under
Sec. 64 of the Copyright Act 1994, it is suggested that the test
for damages in a civil action is the requirement that the infringer
"foresee or could have foreseen" the consequences. Thus,
it is more akin to the wording of "knowingly or with reasonable
grounds to know" under Art. 45(1) than the negative element
under Art. 45(2). |
- |
Article
45(2) may be of a higher standard than Art. 45(1), but the word
"may" in Art. 45(2) denotes a choice for the member state
rather than an obligation. |
- |
Article
45(2) also requires reimbursement of expenses including appropriate
attorney's fees. Section 64 speaks of "necessary" expenses
in enforcing the right. Attorney's fees may be necessary for the
enforcement of the right, but of an appropriate rather than excessive
amount. One would have to use the objective standard in the country
of the forum to determine what the appropriate attorney fees are. |
- |
The
court is bound by Schedule 6 of the Schedule annexed to the Code
of Civil Procedure concerning the award of attorney's fees. At the
moment, the court cannot grant more than 5% of the damages claimed
for attorney's fees. The Schedule requires the court to grant appropriate
attorney's fees between the minimum (600 baht equivalent to US$15)
and the maximum (5% of the amount claimed), taking into consideration
the difficulties of the case and the amount of time and work put
into it. Although the court has the tendency of awarding a higher
fee than in the past, in reality it rarely reflects the actual fees
claimed or paid by the parties. |
- |
The
wording of Sec. 64 "necessary expenses in enforcing the
right", may give the plaintiff a wider scope of claim than
just for attorney's fees. It may include investigation efforts,
private detective works, etc. |
- |
The
wording of Sec. 64 "loss of benefits" refers to
loss of benefits to the plaintiff. Concerning the base for assessment,
the following quotation from Cornish's "Intellectual Property"(33) may be of assistance: |
|
|
A
starting point in assessing damages is to ask whether the plaintiff
and defendant are in actual competition. Where this is so, the next
question is whether the defendant might have had the plaintiff's
licence if only he had sought if. Then the measure of damages will
likely be what the plaintiff would have charged for a licence. However,
the plaintiff is not normally under any compulsion to grant licences.
If he would not have done so, the court will look to his losses
through the defendant's competition. When it comes to non-competitive
infringements, the courts have held that a reasonable royalty for
non-competing use will be awarded upon a principle "of price
or of hire". |
|
Under
the Thai law, although the burden of proof is on the plaintiff,
the court can grant compensation in accordance with the circumstances
and gravity of the wrong (Sec. 438 of the Civil and Commercial Code).
This is normally discretional. If the plaintiff can assist the court
with systematic and economic analysis of damages, it will lead to
a more realistic quantum of damages than by leaving it to judicial
discretion. |
- |
Although
damages under Sec. 64 include loss of benefits and expenses, Sec.
64 does not deal with an account of profits. Accounting is a traditional
equitable remedy available to recover profits unfairly gained from
another's property. A common law court might order the defendant
to account for profits made from wrongdoing such as infringement
of an intellectual property right. This is not a notional computation,
as with damages, but an investigation of actual account, which may
incidentally afford the plaintiff a look at customers' names and
other information about the defendant. Nonetheless it is a laborious
and expensive procedure, and is infrequently resorted to.(34) It is difficult to request an account of profits under the present
Thai law. |
IX.
Improvements in Thai Intellectual Property Law and Practice to Protect
IPRs as "Public Rights"
In
addition to the new philosophy of enforcement of IPRs by civil proceeding
as private rights, there have also been improvements in Thai intellectual
property law and practice to protect IPRs as "public rights".
These include:
- |
Harsher
penalties for infringements of IPRs. The maximum penalty for infringement
of copyright for commercial purpose could reach four years' imprisonment
or 800,000 baht (US$20,000, equivalent to US$32,000 prior to the
baht flotation) a fine, or both. |
- |
Comparison
with the maximum penalty for theft simpliciter, that is the maximum
penalty of three years' imprisonment and a 6,000 baht fine. |
- |
Double
the penalty should the accused be found to have committed the same
offence within 5 years. |
- |
Half
of the fine will go to the right owner. |
- |
A
right to claim damages in addition to the fine. |
- |
Divergence
of law enforcement: recently it has been agreed that in addition
to police officers, officers from the Department of Intellectual
Property also can apply for a search warrant in order to conduct
raids. This will somewhat alleviate the breach of secrecy in the
raid. |
- |
Right
owners can apply for a preliminary injunction and Anton Piller order
before bringing a civil action or, most uniquely, before instituting
private prosecution in a criminal case. |
X.
Conclusion
One
concept that may describe conventional wisdom in contemporary Thai society
is perhaps globalisation. In 1995 the Criminal Court of Thailand extradited
a Thai national to face criminal charges in the U.S. for infringement
of drug-related offences allegedly committed in America. One of the reasons
given by the court was that the extradition treaty between the United
States and Thailand must be respected and given effect in view of different
opinions of different practices in civil law countries. The decision was
later affirmed by the court of appeal, the final forum on the matter.
It was widely acclaimed internationally as a liberal interpretation of
the extradition treaty by a civil law country. The President of the Thai
Supreme Court was later conferred with an honorary Doctorate in Law from
a prestigious U.S. law school, and the decision was a highlight of this
inaugural speech. The creation of the Intellectual Property and International
Trade Court to foster a fair, speedy, friendly and equitable atmosphere
for settlement of trade disputes and effective enforcement of intellectual
property rights goes in the same direction of globalisation. It is well-equipped
to create an atmosphere of trustworthiness and an investment-friendly
market. It is suggested that this means competitiveness and eventually
economic success in itself.
Appendix
Case
Statistic of the Central IP&IT Court on Nationality of Plaintiffs/Injured
Persons
December
1, 1997 - September 30, 1998
Nationality |
Types
of Cases
|
Total
Number
|
International
Trade Cases |
Intellectual
Property Cases (Civil) |
Intellectual
Property Cases (Criminal) |
U.S.
French
German
Japanese
Thai
Swiss
Italian
Others |
57
9
11
12
182
0
1
49 |
14
1
3
2
22
2
2
1 |
401
287
23
34
93
246
225
192 |
472
294
37
48
297
248
228
242 |
Total
|
1866 |
Endnotes:
(32)
TRIPS Agreement, Art. 45: Damages
"(1) The Judicial authorities shall have the authority to order the
infringer to pay the right holder damages adequate to compensate for the
injury the right holder has suffered because of an infringement of that
person's intellectual property rights by an infringer who knowingly, or
with reasonable grounds to know, engaged in infringing activity.
(2) The judicial authorities shall also have the authority to order the
infringer to pay the right holder expenses, which may include appropriate
attorney's fees. In appropriate cases. Members may authorise the judicial
authorities to order recovery of profits and/or payment of pre-established
damages even where the infringer did not knowingly, or with reasonable
grounds to know, engage in infringing activity."
(33)
W.R. Cornish, supra note 5, at 61.
(34) Id. at 63. |