DIP senior official's painting theft goes viral; fallout leads to loss of “asset to Thailand’s IP community”

Reports of the arrest of a senior official from Thailand’s Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) for stealing paintings from a hotel went viral last week, with thousands of messages posted to the office’s social media channels. The official has since resigned from his role and apologised for damaging the integrity of the DIP. But one leading IP law firm tells us of its regret that the fallout from the incident has resulted in the office losing a well-respected figure.