Nonthaburi, The Office of the Vocational Education Commission (OVEC) and the Department of Intellectual Property are pushing for teachers to register Thai handicrafts to keep up with the disruption trend in the future, hoping to create reliable product standards. They pointed out that the Middle Eastern market is worth watching. In the past 5 months, exports have increased by 7.40%, bringing in over 140 billion baht, especially in the silverware and goldware groups.
Mrs. Panwilas Paepuang, Acting Director of the Thai Handicraft Promotion Institute (TAI) or SAICT, said that the institute currently has 4,000 master craftsmen of the nation, master craftsmen, and heirs of craftsmen who produce handicrafts. Most of them have not registered their own intellectual property or work, which makes them at risk of being infringed on their trademarks and product imitations. Therefore, to prevent copyright infringement, the TAIT has collaborated with the Department of Intellectual Property to expand the use of copyrighte
d products to commercial expansion and provide knowledge on filing for intellectual property in handicrafts to show the importance of preserving the value of ideas that are individual think tanks and intellectual property copyrights.
This year, there are 30 master craftsmen of the nation, master craftsmen, and heirs of craftsmen who have joined to register for copyrights. The Office of the Vocational Education Commission supports the development of Thai handicraft products in 9 types of handicraft products, such as woodwork, woven machinery, earthenware, woven (fabric), lacquerware, metalware, leatherware, paperware, stoneware, and 10. Others. These handicraft products are located in the Geographic Indication Area (GI), where producers of products in the GI area have used materials/raw materials related to the production of the products to be a creative part, developing them to make the products stand out and have high identity, due to the use of local capital, such as historical capital, social and cultural
capital, and environmental capital, to create strength, which will be able to add value and worth to handicraft products with potential.
Recently, the Office of the Vocational Education Commission (OVEC) has signed an MOU with the Department of Intellectual Property to drive Thai handicrafts to grow and compete in the Disruption era in time for future world changes, to license products and create standards for products that are reliable and affect their image. An interesting export market for Thai handicrafts is the Middle East because it is a market that likes this type of work and is expected to increase exports. As for the problem of imitation of Thai handicrafts, it is considered difficult because the patterns of Thai handicrafts are unique.
However, this year, the OIE has products from the product design development project to expand commercially and link to community tourism and develop into handicraft products for world-class tourism. The OIE is preparing to exhibit product prototypes at the Crafts B
angkok 2024 trade fair on August 24-28, 2024 at the BITEC Bangna Exhibition and Convention Center.
Mr. Awuth Wongswat, Deputy Director-General, Acting Director-General of the Department of Intellectual Property, said that the department is ready to provide knowledge and consultation on filing for intellectual property, as well as promote and support filing for intellectual property, both domestically and internationally, for national master craftsmen, master craftsmen, heirs of craftsmen, members of the Office of the Vocational Education Commission, producers of handicrafts, and designers, so that they become professional entrepreneurs and realize the value of creativity, and support the operations of both parties to further develop and maximize the benefits. In the past, there have been approximately 50,000 trademark and copyright applications.
For the value of Thai handicraft product exports, the 5-month period (January-May) had a total export value of 145,492.74 million baht, an increase of 7.40 percent
when compared to the same period last year. In May, exports were 31,859.15 million baht, an increase of 7.44 percent when compared to the same period last year. The main export market is still the United States with an export value of 11,520.78 million baht, an increase of 17.95 percent, followed by the European Union with an export value of 6,073.10 million baht, an increase of 3.65 percent, Japan with an export value of 1,921.83 million baht, an increase of 16.96 percent, and ASEAN with an export value of 2,962.84 million baht, an increase of -9.90 percent. The product with the highest export value is genuine gold jewelry, and the product with the highest expansion is flowers, leaves, and artificial trees. The product group with the highest export value is silverware, goldware, etc.
Source: Thai News Agency