Firm

During the COVID-19 pandemic, IP practitioners in Greece welcomed the new law on trademarks, under which Directive (EU) 2015/2436 was transposed into national law. There was no reason for any caution in this respect, since the implementation had been awaited since January 12 2019, which was the deadline for Greece to transpose the directive.

Coronil, an ayurvedic drug (formulation of herbs and minerals) developed by Patanjali Ayurved that was initially promoted as a cure for the COVID-19 virus and later approved to be sold as an immunity booster to fight Coronavirus, has run into a controversy. A Chennai-based company Arudra Engineering (Arudra) filed a suit before the Madras High Court, alleging trademark infringement. Arudra sought an injunction restraining Patanjali Ayurved (Patanjali) and Divya Yog Mandir Trust, subsequently impleaded as a defendant, from using the mark "Coronil" or any deceptive variation.

The Indonesian government has established a compulsory licence framework in anticipation of a COVID-19 vaccine. The framework also applies to national defence and security patents.

On July 1 2020, and as a result of the entry into force of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), the new Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property was published, abrogating the current Industrial Property Law. It will come into force on November 5 2020.

The Myanmar Customs Department (MCD) organised another Intellectual Property Awareness and Product Identification Workshop at its Customs Training School in Yangon on August 6 2020, for its frontline customs officers. Such workshops are held several times every year, serving as a platform for foreign brand owners and their local representatives to educate and update the enforcement officers on methods for differentiating their genuine products from counterfeits and imitations when inspecting suspicious shipments at ports of entry into the country. The training sessions are also useful in encouraging collaborative discourse between the private and public sectors to improve the efficiency of their joint intellectual property rights enforcement efforts.

COVID-19 has changed the way we live, communicate and do business. In this time of drastic change and upheaval, innovative entrepreneurs and businesses across the world have used this opportunity to redefine ordinary business practices and bring new products and services to the market. New Zealand is no exception.