Editing Software patent (section)

===Thailand===
As like as 52(2) of the European Patent Convention (EPC), section 9 of the Thai Patent Act 1999 states that Thai patent law does not include software (or computer program) from patentability because the computer software is not considered as an “invention”, in which it is not the idea of the product itself. Hence, the software is considered as the manual or instruction that was controlled by users to perform the tasks.<ref>Sirivish Toomgum and Kwanchai Rungfapaisan, THE NATION, July 24, 2000, at 7.</ref>

A software patents law in Thailand has been controversial [[Software patent debate|debates]] among the economists and national developers’ overtime since there were two significant developments in the international patent law; (1) the European Union's attempt to harmonize national patent laws by the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and Council on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions,<ref name="Pitiyasak, Saravuth 2002">Pitiyasak, Saravuth. "Thailand Debates Software Patents." ''Managing Intellectual Property''.123 (2002): 62-4. ''ProQuest.'' Web. 11 Apr. 2020.</ref> and (2) the US court decision to expand patent protection to business methods.<ref name="Pitiyasak, Saravuth 2002"/> The opinions are divided into two sides. Dr. Tangkitvanich, the IT specialist of Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), raised his concern that Thailand is not in a good stage for a software patent as there were several flaws in patent rights. For example, the business method prevention has high tendency to hinder the growth in innovations especially for the infant software companies.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/technology/ Newsbytes, Thailand Mulls Software Patent Rules, at (last visited Jul. 25, 2000).]</ref> Moreover, the software patent may cause monopoly and innovation problems. “Monopoly will thwart innovations of new software products, particularly open-source software”, said by a group of Thai Economists. However, Dr. Hirapruk who is the Director of Software Park Thailand, on the other hand, provides his support on allowing the computer programs to be patentable: “Thailand had to provide a patent-right protection for computer software to ensure foreign high-tech investors that software producers' creativity would be secured from violations in Thailand”. As a result, Mr. Sribhibhadh, president of the Association of Thai Software Industry, emphasized that there will need to be a clear overview of the impact on the local industry if Thailand really had to fully implement the patent right protections.