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Precision medicine, also known as personalised medicine, is an emerging field in healthcare and seems to have a promising future as it accounts for 42% of new molecular entities which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved in 2018. Since precision medicine aims to provide bespoke medical treatments based on individual patient's characteristics, it essentially incorporates diagnosis and treatment methods. Under Korean patent law and practice, treatment and diagnosis methods are not considered patent eligible subject matter. As such, it is necessary to circumvent restrictive eligibility requirements to obtain protection for precision medicines in Korea. In the past, although precision medicines can be pursued as a pharmaceutical/diagnostic composition claim, it was not easy to claim methodological aspects of precision medicines (e.g. dosage regimen) which were not considered as technical features constituting composition itself (Supreme Court decisions 2007Hu2926 and 2007Hu2933, rendered on May 28 2009).

We have previously discussed Myanmar's new law on trademarks. It should also be noted that the same law is also the primary legislation on the protection of geographical indications (GIs) in Myanmar. Chapter 16 (Sections 53 to 60) of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 3 of 2019, fully titled the Trademark and Geographical Indications Law (TGIL), deals exclusively with GIs, and this is our summary of its contents, as well as our recommendations for those interested in registering GIs in Myanmar under the TGIL.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has released a discussion paper inviting submissions on potential amendments to New Zealand's patent, trademark, and design legislation.

As Taiwan is not a signatory to the Budapest Treaty, the effect of a deposit made in an international depositary under the Budapest Treaty is generally not recognised in Taiwan. Accordingly, even though a biological material has been deposited in an international depositary in order to meet the enabling requirement, the applicant is still required to make a corresponding deposit in a domestic depositary designated by the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO). A late deposit will be deemed valid only if the certificates of deposit issued by both the international and domestic depositaries are filed before a statutory deadline, i.e. within four months from the filing date or sixteen months from the earliest priority date claimed, whichever is applicable. Further, in the event that a deposit is deemed invalid, the applicant may file a request for reinstatement of the deposit procedure within thirty days from the day following the cessation of the cause for delay.

After filing a patent application, 18 months elapse before the application is published. After receiving a request for substance examination, the patent office starts the examination procedure. There may be cases where the application concerns questionable scientific substantiation of technical results on which the claimed invention is based.

On May 20 2019, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) started operating as an international searching authority (ISA) and international preliminary examining authority (IPEA). It now conducts search and preliminary examination of international applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) of the World Intellectual Property Organization. To encourage Filipino inventors, as well as higher educational institutions that are members of the Innovation and Technology Support Offices Network (ITSO), the IPOPHL has launched a programme waiving search and preliminary examination fees for the first 100 applicants which choose IPOPHL as the ISA or IPEA. Under this PCT Filing Assistance Program, foreign applicants from states included in WIPO's list of eligible nationals or residents may also avail of a 90% reduction of certain PCT fees. This programme is in effect until December 31 2019, or after 100 requests for ISRs have been filed, whichever comes first. The IPOPHL's Schedule of Fees as ISA can be found in the PCT Applicant's Guide – International Phase on the WIPO website. The Applicant's Guide also provides a few guidelines in relation to the IPOPHL's function as ISA, such as the conditions for refund and amount of refund of the search fee, whether the IPOPHL requires that nucleotide and/or amino acid sequence listings be furnished in electronic form, and which subject matter will not be searched, among others.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), Lloyd's Asia, and Antares Underwriting Asia have launched an initiative to support innovative enterprises as they enter global markets. Called the Intellectual Property Insurance Initiative for Innovators (IPIII), the programme will give innovative enterprises access to insurance coverage for legal expenses that may be incurred in intellectual property (IP) infringement proceedings worldwide.

The reform of August 10 2018 to the Mexican Industrial Property Law substantially changed the Mexican trademark landscape. Among the most relevant changes brought by this legislative reform, particularly the acceptance on behalf of the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) of non-conventional trademark applications – such as smell and sound trademarks – positions Mexico today at the forefront of innovation.

Zhifei An, Jian Zhang and Xiaoming Zhang of Liu Shen & Associates evaluate the impact of the IoT on data ownership, its relationship to blockchain, why the IoT is vulnerable to enforcement actions from NPEs and the race to patent technologies in this area

Laura Whiting and Alexandra Morgan of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer consider the reasons behind the adoption of the new SPC Manufacturing Waiver Regulation and reflect on whether the message sent out by the European institutions is consistent with their trade policy