Laos Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in laos, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Protecting Intellectual Property
Last published date:

Intellectual property protection in Laos is weak but steadily improving.
In 2011, the National Assembly passed a comprehensive revision of the Law on Intellectual Property, passing an amended version in 2017, though changes are not considered significant. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is responsible for the issuance of patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Laos is a member of the ASEAN Common Filing System on patents but lacks qualified patent examiners.  In any foreign market, companies should consider several general principles for effective protection of their intellectual property. Please see Protecting Intellectual Property and Stopfakes.gov for more resources 

U.S. IP Attaché Contact 

Name: Matthew Kohner, IP Attaché: 

U.S. Embassy Thailand: Bangkok

Matthew.kohner@trade.gov

 

Name: Mr. Santisouk Phounsavath, Director General of Department of Intellectual Property, Ministry of Industry and Commerce

Address: P.O. Box: 4107, Phonxay Road, Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR

Telephone: (856) 21 213 470 (Ext 154); Fax: (856) 21 213 472

E-mail: dip.laopdr@gmail.com

For additional information about treaty obligations and points of contact at local IP offices, please see WIPO’s country profiles.

To access the Laos Investment Climate Statement, which includes information on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, visit the U.S. Department of State Investment Climate Statement website.

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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