Search results for

In the recent case Mundipharma v Sandoz (Court of The Hague, April 7 2010) the Dutch court of first instance decided that Mundipharma's patent (number EP 0 722 730) was valid and that Sandoz did infringe the claims as granted.

On March 23 2010, the president of the Philippines signed into law Republic Act No 10055 known as the Philippine Technology Transfer Act of 2009. Published on April 23 2010, this law takes effect after 15 days. It provides the framework and support system for the ownership, management, use and commercialisation of intellectual property generated from government funded researches. This law was the brainchild of Estrella Alabastro of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and was inspired by the Bayh-Dole Act of the USA. She stated in the DOST Digest: "For the longest time, we rely mostly on breakthroughs from the outside, while our local technologies generated through public funds remain untapped or archived in laboratories around the country. Hence, this is a significant break for us to roll this out to the market and be availed of by the public." Some of the salient points of this law are:

A new law regulating the marketing of textile, leather and footwear goods – known as the Reguzzoni-Versace Law – was published in the Official Gazette on April 21 2010 and will enter into force on October 1 2010. This new provision creates a system of obligatory labelling for goods in the textile, leather and footwear sectors.

On August 30 2004, the Polish Patent Office (PPO) registered a word-figurative trade mark Ravago (R-154724) in the name of Walter Breitengraser. A Polish company Resinex Sp z o o filed a request for the cancellation of the right of protection. It argued that Breitengraser, by applying for the registration, violated not only Resinex's personal and economic rights – arising from the rights to the name Ravago – but also good morals. In addition, Resinex claimed that the application for the trade mark in question was filed in bad faith because Breitengraser was a president of the company acting as an agent for Resinex.

The Amendment to the Japanese Unfair Competition Prevention Act will come into effect on July 1 2010. This Amendment aims to expand the scope of criminal punishment for trade secret infringement cases.

The revised Korean Trade Mark Act (KTA) will come into effect from July 27 2010. The main contents of the revision are:

In the global endeavour to afford protection to geographical indications (GIs), Malaysia has been an active crusader. There are a large number of GIs particular to Malaysia such as Sarawak Pepper, Sabah Tea, Borneo Virgin Coconut Oil and Kelantan Budu (anchovy sauce), to name a few. In 2000, the Malaysian government enacted the Geographical Indications Act, under which registered GIs were given territorial protection for 10 years from the date of filing (renewable every 10 years as long as they are in use). Although registration is not compulsory, it is actively encouraged to protect the interests of producers and consumers. Non-registration does not put the GI in the public domain (available for use by all and sundry) though, of course, in a dispute the court would be inclined to adjudicate on the tort of passing-off in the extended form rather than in the classic form.

On World IP Day, April 26 2010, key stakeholders of the Indonesian IP community announced the formation of an Indonesian arbitration centre specifically designed to handle intellectual property disputes. The arbitration centre will provide arbitration and mediation services for those with civil intellectual property disputes, which are now handled exclusively by the Commercial Court.

Philip Morris Products has a brand of cigarettes called Eve and a number of trade marks registered in Israel for the brand, including word marks and flowery designs. Atsionerno Droujestvo Bugartabac Holding filed a mark (Israel trade mark TM 196741) for cigarettes called Eva, with a heart replacing the v – Ea. Philip Morris filed an opposition, but neither side submitted evidence.

The April 2010 edition of the Guidelines for Examination in the European Patent Office has been released and applies from April 1 2010. The Guidelines constitute the EPO counterpart to the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).