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Copyright NoticeThailandGuru.com > CopyrightThe ThailandGuru website (text and photos) is copyright 1999-2008 by Mark Evan Prado, All Rights Reserved. The Thailand Home Search www.kkBkk.com (aka the later www.kkBkk.in.th mirror) website is also copyright by Mark Evan Prado, All Rights Reserved, as well as other websites created by Mark Prado, some of which are linked to this notice page. On this website, I, Mark Evan Prado, promote the services of some companies in which I own a stake, and this promotion may be on a temporary basis, namely Export Quality Services Co., Ltd. (2002 to date), and Prado Property Co., Ltd. (previously Serena Property Co., Ltd., from 2006-2008, but I changed from my youngest daughter's name to my own surname for company name in 2008), but I retain all options and rights to the copyright of the text and most of the photos. Copyrighting vs. copycatting is mainly an issue of personal honour. However, as they say, "Praise the Lord but pass me some bullets." The founder of ThailandGuru, Mark Prado, worked in Intellectual Property (IP) for the U.S. Department of Commerce in the mid-1980s. This included completion of official academy training in copyrights, patents and trademarks, and official work (mainly as a patent examiner). I know the laws and practical & effective means of dealing with infringers. Thailand is a member of the Berne Convention, which means that anything copyrighted in any member country is enforcible in another member country, so you need only copyright in one country to enforce protection in any other country. (There are 163 countries which are members of the Berne Convention.) Further, Thailand is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which further includes The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Mark Prado is a beta tester of the Electronic Copyright Office (ECO) of the US Copyright Office, a way of filing copyrights instantly by internet, which is one way that copyrights of Thailand Guru and other material have been filed. (ECO is still a beta, not open to all, as of mid-2008.) We are also familiar with the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) of the Thai Ministry of Commerce. One of our Thai partners (my wife) was a journalist of high stature, and dealt with intellectual property matters at one stage. Notably, the leading IP infringement investigation company in Thailand is Quantico, Ltd., formerly the Bangkok Branch of the American multinational Pinkerton, and its longtime Managing Director, Rusty Lerner, is a longtime associate of mine, since 1995. Their customers include Adidas, Nike, Nokia, HP, Lacoste, Disney, Harley-Davidson, Motorola, General Motors, BMW, several premier league soccer teams, etc., etc. Rusty has vast inside contacts to find out most kinds of information in Thailand ...
Obviously, I didn't keep my badge when I worked for the US government in intellectual property (and later for the Pentagon in space defense and advance planning), but I did get the privileges of a credit union! After this job, I switched to working in advanced planning in the U.S. space program, and after that became a communications (and computer) consultant, networking worldwide, long before the internet became mainstream. It was my role as a communications consultant that eventually led me to come to Bangkok in 1994 to help out associates of the Asia Regional Office, which is located in Bangkok, Thailand. After a decade in the Washington, D.C., region, I didn't really want to go back, and frankly, I'm not fond of government related work, nor many of my country's politicians, some of its bureaucrats, some inside contractors, etc. So I switched to purely private sector consulting in Asia, and choose my own policies, responsibilities, and customers. Now, I have a Thai wife and 2 daughters. About copycats, while we don't mind competition, on the other hand we don't tolerate crooks and criminals who just copy copyrighted stuff shamelessly, and as a private investigator I have the skills, contacts, and of course motivation and focus to deal with that kind of low life. So do my Thai employees. This is the livelihood of ourselves and our families. Being a copycat is low class. Being proudly original is the better way to be in the evolutionary progress of life & spirit in our generation.
Here's my main mission in life (and yes, I registered the trademark by myself, no lawyer, and also got permanent.com ): www.PERMANENT.com
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