Section 274: Imitating a registered trademark
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดเลียนเครื่องหมายการค้าของผู้อื่นซึ่งได้จดทะเบียนแล้ว ไม่ว่าจะได้จดทะเบียนภายในหรือนอกราชอาณาจักร เพื่อให้ประชาชนหลงเชื่อว่าเป็นเครื่องหมายการค้าของผู้อื่นนั้น ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินหนึ่งปี หรือปรับไม่เกินสองหมื่นบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever imitates the trademark of another person which has been registered, whether registered within or outside the Kingdom, in order to make the public believe that it is the trademark of that other person, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year, or a fine not exceeding twenty thousand baht, or both.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Imitation is the lesser sibling of counterfeiting under Section 273. Where counterfeiting reproduces the mark, imitation makes a mark merely similar to the genuine one. The defining extra element here is intent: the imitation must be done in order to make the public believe it is the other person's trademark. Reflecting the lower gravity, the penalty ceiling is one year and 20,000 baht, against three years and 60,000 baht for counterfeiting. Like Section 273, this section is reinforced by Section 275, which reaches importing, selling, or offering for sale goods bearing a mark imitated under this section, and cases are usually charged alongside the Trademark Act B.E. 2534.
Why this matters in practice
The decisive issue in most imitation cases is whether the accused acted with intent to make the public believe the mark was the genuine one, which distinguishes a criminal imitation from a merely similar but honest mark. Because the penalty here is modest, complainants often pursue the parallel Trademark Act offences and civil damages at the same time. A brand owner weighing whether the similarity crosses into criminal imitation, or how to combine Penal Code and Trademark Act claims, can consult a Thai lawyer.
Cited in 48 Supreme Court decisions (1958 to 2015)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 3377/2558 (2015)
- Decision 1255/2552 (2009)
- Decision 269/2549 (2006)
- Decision 4150/2539 (1996)
- Decision 3307/2529 (1986)
- Decision 2213/2529 (1986)
- Decision 2621/2523 (1980)
- Decision 422/2522 (1979)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
- Section 272 28
- Section 275 26
- Section 83 17
- Section 91 13
- Section 33 11
- Section 273 11
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
How is imitation under Section 274 different from counterfeiting under Section 273?
Counterfeiting reproduces the registered mark, while imitation only makes a similar mark with intent to make the public believe it is the genuine mark. Imitation carries a lighter penalty.
Must the prosecution prove intent to mislead the public?
Yes. Section 274 requires that the imitation be done in order to make the public believe the mark is that of the other person, so intent to mislead is an element of the offence.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 274 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 274. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-274/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 274 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-274/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-274/"><p>Whoever imitates the trademark of another person which has been registered, whether registered within or outside the Kingdom, in order to make the public believe that it is the trademark of that other person, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year, or a…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 274 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-274/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.