Kowit Somwaiya studied law in Thailand and the United States. He is a licensed Thai lawyer and registered patent attorney. He founded LawPlus Ltd. in Thailand in 2003 and established LawPlus Myanmar Ltd. in 2013.
With over 30 years of experience, Kowit is a highly respected intellectual property practitioner who advises multinational corporations and leading businesses on a broad range of complex IP matters, including trademark and patent prosecution, IP enforcement, anti-counterfeiting, IP litigation, licensing and IP-related commercial transactions. He has extensive experience developing and implementing practical, commercially focused strategies to protect, manage and enforce intellectual property rights in Thailand and internationally.
Kowit has played an active leadership role in prominent international and regional intellectual property organizations. He served on the Board of Directors of the International Trademark Association (INTA) from 2018 to 2020 and as Vice President of the Intellectual Property Association of Thailand (IPAT) from 2017 to 2019. He has also held various leadership and committee positions within INTA and the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA), contributing to the development and advancement of intellectual property protection and enforcement.
Kowit has been consistently recognized by leading international legal directories and publications, including The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, Chambers and Partners, IAM Patent 1000, World Trademark Review (WTR 1000), Asia IP and World IP Review (WIPR) for his expertise and contributions to intellectual property law.
- Represented a leading Japanese retail company that owns globally recognized brands on trademark prosecution in Thailand.
- Represented a leading Thai consumer product company on IP management, prosecution, enforcement and litigation in over 160 countries.
- Advised one of the largest US film production houses on music license agreements with two largest copyright collection organizations for digital distributions of films in Thailand.
- Represented a very large German manufacturer of polyethylene and polypropylene innovative products on patent prosecution in Thailand.
- Intellectual property (contentious)
- Intellectual property (prosecution)
- Patent
- Automotive
- Consumer goods and services
- Film
- Media
- Pharmaceutical
- Certificate of Instruction for Lawyers, Harvard Law School, USA - 1991
- LLM, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA - 1991
- LLB, Thammasat University, Thailand - 1990
- BA, (English), Ubon Rajabhat University, Thailand - 1981
- INTA (International Trademark Association) – 2003
- AIPPI (International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property) – 2024
- APAA (Asian Patent Attorneys Association) – 2003
- ASEAN IPA (ASEAN Intellectual Property Association) – 2003
- IPAT (Intellectual Property Association of Thailand) – 2009
- Thai Bar Association - 1993