Local Insights

Duncan Maguire and Paul Ramara of Spoor & Fisher explain how Tanzania’s recently introduced trademark recordation system now accepts ARIPO and foreign registrations, while national filings remain the strongest enforcement tool

New patent and utility model procedures and updated fees form part of a legislative update to the Bangui Agreement that became effective in the new year, explains Craig Kahn of Spoor & Fisher Jersey

James Davies and Vishen Pillay at Adams & Adams discuss IP protection strategies and ownership considerations for AI

In the past, Japanese patent litigations were notorious for being slow, having narrow claim interpretation, low damages awards, poor evidence collection procedures, and having a low winning rate. Cases and Materials on Patent Law, Second Edition says, "No countries' patent system has received more criticism than that of Japan. Among the chief complaints is that the courts award patent claims with an extremely narrow scope, and that the Doctrine of Equivalents does not exist at all." Global Patent Litigation: How and Where to Win, Third Edition, edited by Finnegan says that the winning rate of patentees from 2006 to 2016 was 24% in Japan, ranked second from the bottom out of the 10 countries. However, Japanese patent litigation has been reformed and is now transformed in order to be more convenient for patentees than ever before.

In the midst of a pandemic that has disrupted economic activity so much so that Indonesia recently entered its first recession in over two decades, a proposed law on job creation brought thousands of protesters out to Jakarta's now almost deserted streets. The law weakens worker and environmental protections in the name of increasing business ease and underwent a somewhat unconventional and confusing path to implementation (there were four separate final drafts circulating at one point with differences of hundreds of pages). As a result, the law has been controversial from beginning to end. In its final form, it is over 1,100 pages long and amends approximately 75 separate laws, packaged together as the Job Creation Law No. 11 of Year 2020 or just the Omnibus Bill.

On August 28 2020, the Chinese Supreme People's Court (SPC) granted the very first anti-suit injunction in the standard essential patent (SEP) royalty dispute case of Huawei v Conversant, which enjoined Conversant Wireless Licensing (Conversant) from seeking enforcement of the Dusseldorf regional court's injunction ruling against Huawei Technologies (Huawei). This case thus opened the door for Chinese courts to issue anti-suit injunctions (ASIs).

Selin Sinem Erciyas of Gün + Partners examines whether the EU Pharma Package’s expanded Bolar exemption aligns with the TRIPS Agreement, drawing lessons from Türkiye’s long-standing pharmaceutical patent jurisprudence

Igor Charles and Théo Coquis of INLEX analyse a Paris Judicial Court ruling confirming that trademark exhaustion applies to bundled genuine products where the original packaging remains unaltered

Vera Albino of Inventa explores how Portuguese wine producers use seemingly offensive names rooted in local history and folklore, and why trademark law often permits their registration

Eduardo Hallak, Juliana Neves, and Sarah Lucas of Licks Attorneys examine Brazil's growing debate over patent term adjustment and the legislative proposals seeking to address examination delays

Stephania Cardiel of Becerril, Coca & Becerril examines how recent reforms signal a regional move towards faster, more internationally aligned innovation systems

Roberta Arantes of Daniel Law looks at how the Brazilian legal landscape has responded to shifts in the concept of branding and its related levels of protection

Red Points, in partnership with Managing IP hosted a webinar on April 7 at 9am PDT / 12pm EDT / 5pm BST to discuss best practices in uncovering and dismantling large-scale counterfeiters

Mauricio Sámano of OLIVARES explores how the pandemic has changed IP processes for businesses in Mexico

Santiago Pedroza of OLIVARES looks at how the opposition procedure has undergone changes to protect right holders

Raluca Vasilescu of Cabinet M Oproiu considers how AI and pricing pressures could affect patent attorneys’ work in the near future

Nick Aries of Bird & Bird LLP examines how agentic AI could reshape brand discovery, trademark enforcement, and comparative advertising, and outlines key risks for brand owners

Tariq Shajahan and Willem Niesing of NLO analyse dredging-related patent filings in key jurisdictions and highlight contrasting Western and Asian approaches to innovation, from component-level engineering to system-wide methodologies and AI-driven optimisation