Highlights from the May 2016 issue

The contents of the latest issue of Managing IP magazine are available to read online, and subscribers should also have received their copies in the post. 

If you're not a subscriber yet, take out a free trial online for temporary full access or visit our stand #207 at the INTA Annual Meeting in Orlando this month, where will have some samples available and details of our latest offers. 

This being the issue we distribute at the INTA Annual Meeting, there is lots of trade mark-related content, including an article on the all-important issue of OEM trade mark issues in China, including the Pretul and Dong Feng cases; a timely look at ambush marketing in Brazil ahead of this year's Olympics; how to protect your brand when your endorser goes rogue; and an analysis of the narrowing of the own name defence in Europe, which is possibly an overlooked aspect of the recent EU trade mark reforms (which we covered in depth in February).

Regular readers will recall that in April I reported from the INTA/AIPPI Designs Conference in Singapore, and we continue to see more interest in design rights, following the controversial Trunki case in the UK and with the Apple v Samsung dispute pending at the US Supreme Court.

In this issue we have two articles on design law: one arguing that the jurisprudence of the European courts is improving, and one focusing on protection for GUIs in the US, which may provide an alternative means of protection for software companies who are finding it harder to get patents granted since the Alice ruling.

Undeterred by the potential implications of Brexit, we continue to look at how the UPC and Unitary Patent are likely to work in practice, with our latest UPC scenario taking a defendant's view of how a clear-the-way type pharmaceutical case might be handled. Remember that all our UPC coverage is available at managingip.com/UPC.

This issue also includes all the photos and reports from our two awards dinners in March, which took place in London (Global Awards) and Washington DC (North America Awards), including an interview with outstanding achievement winner Margot Fröhlinger. Thanks to everyone who attended the two memorable evenings. If you were there, see if you can find yourself in the photos. If not, maybe we'll see you next year?

This month marks the publication of our global list of the 250 top women in IP and my colleague Jennifer Ruther provides an introduction to that in the May issue.

Looking ahead, I preview this year's AIPPI World Congress, taking place in Milan in September, while our adventurous diarist Utynam reports from our recent Luxury Brand & Retail Forum in New York.

Plus we have 26 updates on recent cases and developments from our international briefing sponsors - from Africa to Vietnam. These are all free to read.

For information on subscribing, please contact my colleague Daniel Bloomer or visit our stand in Orlando!