BANGKOK, 5 August 2015 – The new copyrights law, the Copyrights Act (No. 2) B.E. 2558, took effect on Tuesday.
Created to better protect creators of various types of content on the internet, the new law covers content such as articles, books, software, music, photographs, drawings, news footage and movies.
According to Malee Choklumlerd, director-general of the Department of Intellectual Property, the new law clearly stipulates the penalties for violating the copyright of contents. Examples of violation include social network users posting images or videos found via search engines and then claiming that they are the originators of the content. She said the new law allows copyright holders to more easily take legal action against violators. Social network users who re-post content and give credit to the originator are not considered offenders, although juristic persons taking the same action could be considered ones, especially if commercial motives are involved.
Exemptions to the copyright protection are made for non-profit research or education purposes, news reports that provide credit to the copyright holder, as well as modification of content for teaching purposes. News talk programs are also allowed to redistribute parts of the content, provided that credit be given to the copyright holder.
