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Registrants will be brought up to speed on the latest developments in Latin America with a regional update this afternoon, as Michael Loney reports.

In Ava Ruha Corp d/b/a Mother's Market & Kitchen v Mother's Nutritional Center Inc, the US Patent and Trademark Office's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) issued a precedential decision regarding a registrant's ability to assert a laches defence in a cancellation proceeding. The petitioner Ava Ruha, which owned a trade mark registration for the stylised mark, Mother's Market & Kitchen, had filed petitions to cancel trade mark registrations owned by the respondent for the marks, Mother's (stylized) and Mother's Nutritional Center, on the grounds of likelihood of confusion, fraud and dilution. In its answer, the respondent asserted the affirmative defence of laches; and the parties subsequently filed cross-motions for summary judgment on the laches issue.

In trade mark infringement lawsuits, it is not uncommon for a defendant to assert bona fide prior use in a defence. The basis for such prior use is found in Article 36.1.3 of the Trade Mark Act which states that use of a mark identical with or similar to another's registered trade mark is not infringement if such use occurred before the filing date of the registered trade mark and was in good faith.

Etienne Sanz de Acedo has had a busy year as INTA’s Chief Executive Officer. Ahead of this year’s Annual Meeting, he spoke to James Nurton.

The USTR issuing its Special 301 report, Grooveshark shutting down operations, the MPAA demanding torrent sites end copyright infringement, Louis Vuitton losing its bid to save its checkerboard trademark, and Eclipse IP’s patent applications were in the IP headlines this week

According to the Mexican Industrial Property Law, legally organised associations or companies of producers, manufacturers, merchants or renderers of services may apply for the registration of a collective trade mark to distinguish the products or services of their members with respect to those of others from third parties. The law also states that collective trade marks shall be governed in the absence of special provisions, by those set forth in this Law for individual trade marks.

A proposal to consider plain packaging for tobacco products was raised in Malaysia at the International Nicotine Addiction Conference in Kuala Lumpur on April 23 and 24 2015.

A recent IP perception survey commissioned by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) reveals that 4 out of 5 Singaporeans agree that it is important to protect intellectual property rights and the works of IP creators. They are aware that IP right infringement could give rise to legal penalties, and more than half of the respondents cited moral reasons as a key deterrent for not engaging in infringing activities. The household survey was conducted with the objective of measuring Singaporeans' awareness, attitudes and behavioural dispositions towards IP and issues relating to IP rights. These results were announced at a 2015 World IP Day Appreciation Event held in Singapore on April 23 2015.

The Madrid System for the international registration of marks, governed by the Madrid Protocol, is gaining popularity across Southeast Asia. Several countries in the region are preparing to implement Madrid as part of their commitments toward regional integration via the ASEAN Economic Community, which will be created at the end of 2015.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Commil v Cisco encourages trial courts to exercise their powers to award sanctions and attorneys’ fees against parties bringing frivolous patent claims