Search results for

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) launched the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Japanese Patent Office (JPO) in 2009. The PPH programme is aimed to share search and examination results between the respective patent offices to expedite grant of corresponding patents.

The word Intel looks very attractive for a trade mark. It implies intelligence because the reader will easily guess the second part of the word, and it is read and pronounced easily. So sooner or later it was going to happen. A Russian company seemingly built a strong defence: it first assumed the name Comintel Ltd and later, registered the trade mark Comintel, No 259074 in Class 38 (TV broadcasting, cable TV, e-communication).

For more than 50 years, Sapanta, a Romanian village in the Maramures County in the northern part of Romania, has been famous for the unique way in which the local cemetery tells the story of the life of its inhabitants. Its initial creator – the craftsman Stan Ioan Patras – has done something that no one has ever done in Maramures, or elsewhere in the world: he has combined sculpture, colour and lyrics to turn this usually sad place into a joyful place to think, visit and remember.

On March 8 2011, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) published on its website Office Order Number 186 Series of 2010, which amends its regulations on administrative complaints for IP rights violations. The amendments focus on the provisions affecting the issuance of a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction. Under the old rules, a temporary restraining order shall only be issued after all the parties are heard in a summary hearing, which shall be conducted within 24 hours of the sheriff's return of service and after the records are received by the assigned hearing officer. Moreover, under the same old rules, a writ of preliminary injunction shall have a maximum life of 90 days, and after payment of a cash bond.

As we wrote in the previous issue of Managing Intellectual Property, before 1992 Norway did not accept product patents on active ingredients in medicaments, only "analogous method of preparation" claims were accepted. This means that there will be active patents in Norway comprising such claims until the end of 2011 and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) throughout 2016.

What is an embryo? Advocate General M Yves Bot provided his opinion on this in case C-34/10 (Brüstle v Greenpeace).

Good news for applicants in Mexico of patents claiming Paris Convention priority or PCT applications. On March 1 2011 the Mexican Patent and Trademark Office launched a pilot programme under which the Patent Department will accept examinations by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

In a significant victory for rice growers and exporters, India has won a trade mark row against a Malaysian firm that was granted registration for the mark Ponni for rice, a premium aromatic variety developed and grown in Tamil Nadu, India since 1971.

The Hong Kong government has promoted Peter Cheung Kam-fai to replace Stephen Selby as director of the territory’s IP department.

The Israel Patent Law is anomalous in that pending applications do not publish automatically 18 months after priority. Only after allowance is an abstract published and the file becomes available for inspection. However, basic details of new patent filings, including the name of applicant, title, priority and filing dates were required by law, to be published in the Official Israel Patent Office Gazette (Reshumot in Hebrew) shortly after filing.