Asia-Pacific

Yanling Zhou of Deqi provides an insight into the evaluation report system for patents, used in proceedings relating to utility models and designs

Paul Ranjard and Zhu Zhigang of Wanhuida examine the different cases selected by the Supreme Court in 2019, including those involving position trademarks, OEM processes, and prior use

Singapore design registrants are able to enjoy greater benefits from March 19 2020 as the city-state has become the 58th member to join the Locarno Agreement, an international agreement on classification of industrial designs.

As of December 2019, designs of trendy fashion items can be registered within 10 days in Korea.

C.A. Brijesh and Sakshi Sharma of Remfry & Sagar examine the law on designs in India, detailing the requirements for design protection and assessing the overlap between this form of protection and copyright and trademark law

In the US-China Phase One trade deal signed on January 15 2020, notable agreements on patents mostly relate to pharmaceutical sectors – Articles 1.10, 1.11 and 1.12. It is possible that these articles may also have implications for other sectors, which remains to be seen in the subsequent implementation. In addition, the provisions on judicial enforcement and procedures should benefit all patent owners. More technical issues such as indirect infringement or changes to the judicial review of invalidation decisions are not addressed. This update provides a brief overview of these key changes.