Director-general Puangrat Asavapisit yesterday said that most local enterprises lacked awareness of intellectual-property-right protection via copyrights, patents and trademarks.

Speaking at the seminar "Promoting Intellectual Property Right Awareness to Protect Thai Otop Enterprises in Both Domestic and Overseas Markets", Puangrat said only a small number of local enterprises had registered their intellectual property, compared with foreigners.

About 10,000 patents and 38,000 trademarks are registered in Thailand each year, with more than 60 per cent of these registered by foreigners.

"Local enterprises, particularly Otop manufacturers, understand local wisdom and knowledge but neglect to register them," she said.

To encourage local awareness of property-rights protection, the department will conduct several campaigns next year.

Meanwhile, the department yesterday announced awards for 16 Otop enterprises out of 113 such operations around the country. The successful 16 developed their products to four- or five-star Otop ranking.

Puangrat said such recognition would encourage local producers to develop their products to meet market demand, as well as to encourage them to register copyrights and patents with the department.

It will also increase awareness of Thai intellectual property among local manufacturers.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation