By Tipusuda Suttasing
Protect Your Copyright With Us
Although this was a case heard in 2022, it’s a court ruling in Thailand that is worth touching on for the benefit of our readers (especially copyright creators). At first glance, García Márquez Estate v. Samanchon Publishing appeared to be a straightforward dispute between one novel and two publishing houses. But beneath the surface, it told a much larger story.
Two Translations, One Novel, Decades Apart
The story begins in 1986, when Thai translators Panidhan and R. Chansan introduced One Hundred Years of Solitude to local readers. This was a famous Latin American Literature, it mixed fantasy with reality in a natural way and had themes such as love, power, memory, family and loneliness all woven into one story. Things everyone relates to.
Based on the English edition, their translation was accessible and affordable as it was priced at just 68 baht (equivalent of USD 2). It quickly became the definitive Thai version. For more than three decades, Samanchon Publishing continued to reprint it, allowing generations of Thai readers to encounter García Márquez’s masterpiece.
Then, in 2016, a new chapter began.
Botjorn Publishing secured official translation rights directly from García Márquez’s estate, investing 100,000 baht (equivalent of USD 3,125) in the licence. In 2019, they released a new Thai edition translated from the original Spanish by Chanrudee Pluempaworn. Polished, authorised, and significantly more expensive, it positioned itself as the “authentic” version.
Soon after its release, Botjorn filed suit against Samanchon, seeking 4.3 million baht (equivalent of USD 134,000) in damages and an immediate injunction of sales of the older edition. From the outside, the case seemed straightforward: the estate owned the rights, the new translation was authorized, and the older version appeared to be infringing.
But Thai copyright law had a twist.
The Legal Twist That Changed Everything
At the heart of the dispute, lay an unexpected legal twist, one rooted in Thailand’s past.
Under Thailand’s 1931 Copyright Act which was carried forward in effect, particularly Section 29(B) of the 1931 Copyright Act, foreign authors who did not authorise a translation within ten years of a work’s original publication effectively lost their exclusive translation rights in the country.
Here is the relevant provision in verbatim (English translation):
“If the subject work is a work of literature or performing arts, when a delay of ten years has passed from the last day of the year in which first publication of the work took place, the right to prevent others from creating, copying, performing in public, or publishing translations of the work could only continue to exist if the copyright owner has engaged another to create a translation of the subject work in the language in which protection is to be claimed and has published such translation within the Kingdom before the completion of the aforesaid delay.”
It was a provision designed not to punish authors, but to ensure that global literature could still find its way to Thai readers.
García Márquez’s Cien años de soledad was published in 1967. By the end of 1977, no Thai translation existed. So, when Samanchon’s translators published their version in 1986, they were not infringing the law they were operating squarely within it, fulfilling its very purpose.
The court affirmed this position.
Samanchon’s translation was deemed both lawful and original, entitled to its own copyright protection lasting for 50 years after the death of the last surviving translator. The result is both unusual and fascinating: today, Thailand has two legitimate Thai translations of the same novel, each with its own separate copyright owner.
One may wonder about copyright created post the 1978 Act. What happens to such literature? Fortunately, for works created after Thailand’s 1978 Act came into force, the situation changed quite significantly. The 1978 Act removed the old 10-year translation rule that had appeared in earlier law (like the provision applied in the García Márquez case). There was no more automatic loss of translation rights after 10 years and foreign authors kept their exclusive right to authorize translations. Unauthorized translations could now be treated as copyright infringement (as is the case in most countries).
The much-needed change happened as Thailand began aligning more closely with international copyright standards, especially printciples under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
Copyright disputes like this are a reminder that IP is not completely harmonized around the world and there may be historical legal provisions that need to be taken into account. For publishers, creators, or companies looking to expand in Thailand or other South-East Asian countries, understanding the nuances of copyright law is essential. A trusted IP partner can make all the difference. Should you have any enquiries, please contact us at hello@kass.asia.
© KASS International. All rights reserved. This article is intended for practitioner information purposes and does not constitute legal advice.