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Article 27

“A balance should be found between the

protection of the rights of authors and

the public interest”

Commentary

Professor Vichai Ariyanuntaka
Professor Vichai Ariyanuntaka, former Deputy intellectual property law of Thailand is in line
Chief-Judge of the Central Intellectual with the principles of international law. It is
Property and International Trade Court, notes instead a problem of social attitudes. When
that that the first paragraph of Article 27 of society matures, copyright violations should
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights diminish. Both criminal punishment and
refers to everyone’s benefit in participating in public condemnation are crucial to change
the cultural and scientific life of the the attitudes of the people. He says, “The
community, while the second paragraph normal education system does not provide
refers to the rights of creators or copyright knowledge about intellectual property
owners. However, some societies do not violation.”
adequately benefit from intellectual creations,
particularly in the case of pharmaceutical However, Professor Ariyanuntaka also states,
patents, whose utilization in a fair and “At present, the owners of intellectual
balanced fashion should be permitted. property rights and even the Government are
Knowledge should not be monopolized, he emphasizing the importance of the second
argues. For this reason, intellectual property paragraph of Article 27 of the Universal
should be subject to a limited period of Declaration of Human Rights, while virtually
protection. ignoring the first paragraph. This is mainly due
to commercial interests.” He further explains
In his view, the problem of copyright violation that “although much intellectual property is
in Thailand does not result from the privately owned, what is not subject to
inadequacy of the legislation, since the exclusivity is knowledge. A balance should

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