MORE LEGAL ACTION

The Thai Government Pharmaceutical Organisation has announced that it intends to take legal action against the USA for Innovation group for comments it has published in newspaper advertisements and on www.thailies.com.
Maybe I am wrong about this, but in the UK you take action against the publisher for printing the alleged defamatory comments. In this case the publications that carried the 'problem' advertisement include the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and The Nation here in Bangkok.
The Nation has issued a statement about its position, and how it stands by its editorial independence, etc, but I think they are missing the point. They've carried an ad that has the potential to be defamatory and that's got nothing to do with editorial freedom.
The issue is about Thailand's compulsory licensing for patented AIDS drugs, so unless the Government are 100 per cent confident about their position and the facts then any legal dispute could get messy and backfire.