What should a Ghostwriting Agreement include under Thai law?

1. Definitions and Interpretation
2. Engagement
3. Interviews and Materials
4. Writing Process
5. Changes
6. Acceptance
7. Fees and Payment
8. Taxes
9. Copyright and Credit
10. Originality, Facts and Lawful Use
11. Use of AI Tools
12. Confidentiality and Personal Data
13. Warranties and Liability
14. Force Majeure
15. Death or Incapacity
16. Cancellation and Termination
17. Notices
18. Governing Law and Disputes
19. General

• A ghostwriting commission is a hire of work (Instrument 4 of the Stamp Duty Schedule). Duty is 1 THB for every 1,000 THB or part of 1,000 THB of the Fee. On the Fee you entered, the duty on the original is the amount the system calculates from the figures entered, and each counterpart carries the amount the system calculates from the figures entered.Because the Fee is in …, convert it to Thai Baht at the exchange rate on the date of signing and calculate the duty on the Baht amount. Each counterpart carries 5 THB, or 1 THB if the duty on the original is 5 THB or less.
• The Writer pays the duty (Clause 8.3). For electronic signing, use the Revenue Department's e-Stamp Duty system within 15 days after signing. An unstamped agreement cannot be used as evidence in a Thai civil court until the duty and a surcharge of up to six times the duty are paid.

• A Thai company paying a writer in Thailand normally withholds 3% from the Fee and issues a withholding tax certificate (Clause 8.2). An individual Client who is not in business does not usually withhold.
• The Writer's share of Net Receipts (Clause 7.5) is income from copyright, which is taxed differently from the Fee; a Thai company paying it normally withholds 3%, and different rules apply if the Writer is abroad. Ask an accountant.

• The Writer has agreed in writing not to claim authorship (Clause 9.2) and to keep the arrangement confidential (Clause 12.1). Thai law allows an author to give up the right to be named only by written agreement, so both Parties must sign.- The Writer will be thanked by name in the acknowledgements, but has agreed not to claim authorship (Clause 9.2). Ask the publisher to include the acknowledgement in every edition.- The Writer must be credited as co-writer on the cover, title page and online listings (Clause 9.2). Pass this requirement on to any publisher or translator.
• Personal and health information about anyone in the Work stays confidential without time limit (Clause 12.3).

• Copyright passes to the Client part by part as each instalment is paid (Clause 9.1). Keep the transfer slips with the signed Agreement: together they prove ownership when you deal with a publisher, a platform or a translator.
• A transfer of copyright must be in writing and signed by both the Writer and the Client. If a company is the Writer, it should hold a written assignment from the individual writer.

• The Client is responsible for the facts it supplies and for what the Work says about other people (Clause 10.2). Have a lawyer read passages that could damage someone's reputation or reveal someone's private life, and get written consent from people who are named in sensitive passages.
• Check that quotations from other books, songs or articles are short and properly attributed, or licensed.
• Do not use the Work for an examination, thesis or competition that requires your own writing (Clause 10.3).

• Interview recordings and transcripts contain personal data and may contain health or family information. The Writer keeps them secure and deletes them within 90 days after delivering the Manuscript unless the Client asks for them to be kept (Clause 12.4). If you want the recordings, ask before that date.
• The Writer has agreed not to use generative AI to write the text (Clause 11.1).- The Writer may use AI tools for research and transcription and must disclose them on delivery (Clause 11.1). Text created mainly by an AI tool may not be protected by copyright. Neither Party may upload the recordings to an AI tool that uses them for training (Clause 11.2).

• Keep the signed PDF, the approved outline, each Draft with the consolidated comments, the acceptance email, invoices, transfer slips and withholding tax certificates.
• A Thai court works in Thai, so English documents need a certified Thai translation in a dispute. Arbitration is private, which may matter if you do not want the arrangement to become public.

Compiled from the notes that accompany the English contract templates on this site, published by Phuwara Krobtaku (ภูวรา ครอบตะคุ), Thai attorney-at-law, licence no. 477/2558. The short answer and summary at the top of this page are put together by the site from the template's clause headings and notes. Statutes are quoted only in the official Thai text: Thai is the only official language of Thai legislation, and an unofficial translation can mislead. Article registry OKC-BC6645. If you reuse this content, please credit the author and link to the original.