BANGKOK (The Nation/Asia News Network): Locals and tourists in Chiang Rai province on Thursday (Aug 31) flocked to Pang Cha Chiang Rai, an eatery in Muang district of the northern province, to show their support after it was slapped with a copyright infringement notice from Bangkok-based Pangcha Thai Tea Café.
Pangcha Thai Tea Café, which has four branches in Bangkok, is reportedly demanding a compensation of 102 million baht from the local eatery for violation of its copyrighted name, “Pang Cha”, which is used as the restaurant’s name and its signature dessert menu (Thai tea-flavoured bread).
Earlier this week, a dessert place in Hat Yai district of Songkhla province, south of Thailand, also received a similar notice from Pangcha Thai Tea Café, demanding some 700,000 baht in damages for having the word “Pang Cha” on its illuminated sign board.
The issue caught the attention of netizens on social media, and the public is questioning how the name of an ordinary dessert can be a copyrighted trademark of a business.
Weerachart Airakanjanasak, owner of Pang Cha Chiang Rai, said the allegation has affected the sales of his business, as he had to change the signboard of a branch located in a Chiang Rai shopping mall.
The new signboard, now without the world “Pang Cha”, has led to the restaurant losing some regular customers, as they thought a new business had taken over the space, he said.
On Wednesday, the Department of Intellectual Property posted on its Facebook that the restaurant does not own exclusive rights to the word “Pang Cha”. It, however, has registered a product design patent for the vessel of its dessert menu of the name “ปังชา” and “Pang Cha”, under the Trademark Act of 1991. This product design is protected and cannot be used by others without authorisation from the owner, said the department.
