Do You Actually Own Your Brand? A Plain-Language Audit of Trademarks, Copyright and Trade Secrets

Key takeaways

• A brand is a bundle of rights: trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, patents and designs.

• In Thailand, trademark rights depend mainly on registration, so file early and in the right classes.

• Register both Thai and English versions of important names.

• Copyright arises automatically but belongs to the creator unless assigned in writing.

• Trade secrets survive only if you actively protect them.

A founder spends three years building a brand. The name is on the shop front, the logo is on the packaging, the slogan is in every campaign. Then a competitor launches with a nearly identical name, and the founder discovers that the name was never registered. Or the logo was designed by a freelancer who never signed anything. Or the trademark exists, but in the founder's personal name rather than the company's.

These are not exotic situations. They are the most common intellectual property gaps we see, and they are easy to prevent. The starting point is understanding that a brand is not one asset. It is a bundle of different rights, each with its own rules.

THE TRADEMARK - The name, the logo and the slogan

Trademark protection in Thailand follows a registration system under the Trademark Act, and in practical terms the first to file usually wins. Using a name for years does give some arguments in a dispute, but it is a weak substitute for registration. A registered mark lasts ten years from the filing date and can be renewed in ten-year periods. Protection is granted by class of goods or services, so a mark registered for clothing does not automatically protect a restaurant. Thailand is also a member of the Madrid Protocol, which lets owners seek protection abroad through a single international application, a useful route for brands planning to expand into other markets.

Two details are often missed. First, a Thai-script version and an English-script version of the same name are distinct signs, and a business that trades under both should usually protect both. Second, a registered mark that is not genuinely used can become vulnerable to cancellation after a period of non-use, so registration is a start, not a finish.

THE COPYRIGHT - The content

Copyright works differently. It arises automatically when an original work is created, whether that is a logo drawing, a photograph, a video, website copy or a jingle. No registration is required, and protection generally lasts for the life of the author plus fifty years. The catch is that the owner is the creator unless the law or a contract says otherwise, which is why unsigned freelance work is such a frequent source of trouble. The next article in this series looks at that issue in detail.

THE TRADE SECRET, PATENT, INDUSTRIAL DESIGN - The know-how

Recipes, customer lists, pricing models and internal processes can be protected as trade secrets under Thailand's Trade Secrets Act, but only if the information is genuinely secret, has commercial value because it is secret, and the owner has taken reasonable steps to keep it so. A confidentiality clause that nobody enforces and a shared drive open to everyone can quietly erase that protection. New inventions and product designs may qualify for patents or design registrations, with terms of up to twenty years for inventions and ten years for designs, but they must be filed before public disclosure in most cases.

Four gaps worth checking this week

• The first is the wrong owner. Marks registered in a founder's personal name, or in the name of a former company, create expensive problems at the moment of a sale, investment or dispute.

• The second is missing paperwork: logos, packaging and website content produced by agencies or freelancers without written assignments.

• The third is incomplete coverage: a name that is registered for the core product but not for the adjacent services the business has since added.

• The fourth is silence abroad: companies exporting or selling through international marketplaces without any protection in those markets.

Turning the audit into action

Start with a simple register that lists every brand element, who created it, who currently owns it and where it is registered. Then compare that list against reality. Search the trademark database for similar marks, check that domain names are held by the company, and confirm that every creative supplier has signed a proper assignment. The exercise usually takes a few days and tends to surface at least one surprise.

Brand value is built slowly and can be lost quickly. A short audit now costs far less than a dispute later.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice. Epsilon Legal can help you audit and secure your brand assets.