The newly amended Copyright Act will take effect on Aug 23 and expand copyright protection to online material to support the digital content industry of the country, according to the Department of Intellectual Property.
Vuttikrai Leewiraphan, director-general of the department, said that the department successfully pushed for the amendment to the Copyright Act B.E.2537 that suited the digital era.
The amended law allowed internet-based service providers such as Facebook and YouTube to remove pirate content from their systems right when they were informed of the offence without having to seek a relevant court order, he said.
The change supported the important soft power policy of the Ministry of Commerce that wanted to promote internationally the potential digital content industry worth 209 billion baht of Thailand, MrVuttikrai said.
“Apart from tackling online piracy, the law extends the protection of picture copyrights to 50 years after respective photographers die. This supports the country in becoming a party to the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and Thai artists will benefit from it,” said the director-general of the Department of Intellectual Property. (TNA)
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