Thailand has asked the Asean-US Business Council to help provide information on the government's policy on sup?pression of copyright violation as well as protection of intellec?tual property.
Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot said yes?terday after a meeting with the council that having correct information would improve Thailand's status during the US trade review.
A successful strategy will attract more US investors to Thailand. For instance, the giant film-maker Time Warner could use Thailand as the loca?tion for shooting of the sequel "The Hangover 2".
Up to now, Thailand has been placed on the Priority Watch List (PWL) under US trade practices, because of complaints that Thailand has not seriously cracked down on violation of intellectual proper?ty rights (IPR).
Alongkorn has asked the council to provide more infor?mation on the government's policy to crack down on the vio?lations to the US Trade Representative (USTR).
"We hope that the informa?tion we gave to the council will reach the USTR and lead to an upgrade for Thailand," said Alongkorn.
The USTR will review Thailand's status - whether to upgrade or downgrade from PWL - by October.
The minister also invited US companies that had successful?ly applied "creative economy" to develop their business to par?ticipate in the World Creative Forum, to be held in Thailand in November.
In addition, the ministry will work more closely with the Public Health Ministry on med?icine and medical products.