Local Insights

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

Matthew Costard of Spoor & Fisher Jersey considers application of the Madrid Protocol across Africa as Ethiopia’s intellectual property practice looks set to move closer to global standards

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

Khemphet Phonphakdy and Saithong Rattana of Tilleke & Gibbins summarise the changes under the latest revision as Laos aims to attract foreign investment and align its intellectual property laws with international standards

Wongrat Ratanaprayul of Tilleke & Gibbins highlights the complex processes required to secure AI patents across Southeast Asia

Sukontip Jitmongkolthong and Saithong Rattana of Tilleke & Gibbins describe how Laos has improved its framework to enforce IP rights through border measures

The European Commission, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the relevant national authorities recently agreed on a number of measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 disruptions on the conduct of inspections at manufacturing sites or other sites relevant to medicinal products in the European Union. These are included in the Notice to stakeholders: Questions and answers on regulatory expectations for medicinal products for human use during the COVID-19 pandemic, https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/human-use/docs/guidance_regulatory_covid19_en.pdf.

The 11th Civil Chamber of the Turkish Court of Appeals (CoA) has set forth in its decision dated November 18 2019 (2019/359 E. and 2019/7279 K.) that the later dated trademark application was filed in bad faith by taking into account the high level of recognition as well as the original and distinctive nature of the prior dated trademark, which has no meaning.

The UK formally left the EU on January 31 2020, although there is a transitional period running until December 31 2020, and there is a chance that this may be extended. Much has been written about the consequences of Brexit for IP rights.

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

Kene Gallois and Guilherme Coutinho of Daniel Law explain how the success of the plan will pave the way for Brazil to attract further investment and opportunities

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