On 22 September 1997, the Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Commerce was established under Sub-Decree No. 54 by the Royal Government of Cambodia. Prior to its establishment, the Department of Foreign Trade had duties to register and protect marks. The Department of Intellectual Property had the following duties and responsibilities:
1. Studied, researched and gave recommendations on intellectual property policy for Minister of Commerce and the Government
2. Coordinated and prepared laws and regulations regarding intellectual property rights
3. Coordinated the cooperation with international community regarding intellectual property
4. Examined three sectors of intellectual property in Cambodia, served as the focal point of intellectual property and coordinated intellectual property matters with all relevant ministries.
5. Promoted by all means to protect the intellectual property appropriately and effectively
6. Applied to all obligations as stipulated in various Agreements and Conventions.

From 1994 to 1998, the Department of Intellectual Property granted protection of 7,055 trademarks, among of which 198 were domestic marks and 6855 were foreign marks.

Marks that were registered from 1994 to 1998: Despite the intellectual property was a new field for the Kingdom of Cambodia, but with technical assistance of WIPO in training human resources both domestically and abroad in a short-term period, national workshops or international forums regarding the intellectual property and provision of the technical quipments, the Department of Intellectual Property accomplished its tasks regarding the registration and protection of local and foreign marks. Under the supervision and leadership of Mr. Ly Phanna from 1997 to 2004 which he afterwards served as General Director of Ministry of Commerce and the Representative of Commerce Minister in Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone, the Department accomplished remarkable achievements recognized by the public both locally and oversea through registration and protection of intellectual property and through law enforcement activities as well as the cooperation with national and international institutions. At that time, the Department consisted of 40 staff in total and two offices namely Office of Mark Registration and Office of Dissemination and Information. However, if comparing with present times, the workload of intellectual property was then still small, receiving only 1500 to 2000 applications for TM registration (predominantly foreign marks) and the registrable marks were 1500 per year. Moreover, both office equipments and staff’s knowledge were still limited, using a typewriter to type the text or documents.