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Many readers will be familiar with the concept of supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) and the extended period of protection they provide for medicinal products (and plant protection products) on patent expiry. Questions often arise, however, as to when they are available. The recent UK Intellectual Property Office Decision in Re Gilead Sciences, Inc provides some guidance on this subject – in particular, with regard to combination products.

A specialized Intellectual Property Department has been established in Jordan to fight IP crimes. The new department will empower its officers to take action against IP criminals. It will operate within the Criminal Investigation Department. The aim of the department is to bring down criminal activities relating to intellectual property, such as counterfeiting and piracy in the internal market.

The first regulation of trade marks in Turkish law, the Alamet-i Farika Regulations, was made during the Ottoman Empire in 1871. Although it was followed by many other regulations and several amendments before and after the republic, the biggest step forward was taken after the foundation of the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) with the enactment of the present law in 1995.

In this case, Hyundai Mobis (Hyundai) applied to register the mark Mobis for a class of goods related to automobile parts. However, Mobil Petroleum Company, Inc (Mobil) filed an opposition with the Trade Marks Registry to object to the registration of the mark on the following grounds:

In view of the ever-growing impact of internet technology on copyright protection, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office, by making reference to the relevant statutes in other jurisdictions, has prepared a draft amendment to the Copyright Act purported to define and limit the liabilities of internet service providers (ISPs), including providers of connection services, caching services, information storage services and search tool services.

In the case of Sanrio Company Limited v Edgar C Lim (doing business as Orignamura Trading (GR No 168662)), the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled on February 19 2008 that in the absence of grave abuse of discretion, the factual findings of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in preliminary investigations will not be disturbed. The facts are as follows: Sanrio, a Japanese corporation, owns the copyright to various animated characters including Hello Kitty, Little Twin Stars, My Melody and Tuxedo Sam. It sold its products through its exclusive distributor Gift Gate who entered into licensing agreements with JC Lucas Creative Products, Paper Line Graphics and Melawares Manufacturing Corporation. These companies were allowed to manufacture certain products bearing the animated characters for the local market.

The Patent Office is staffed with human beings and despite all the laws and regulations the human origin of the decisions takes its toll. But sometimes the diversity of the decisions of the Patent Office is perplexing.

Shape trade marks are at the farthest reaches of trade mark protection and pose difficult questions in any jurisdiction. A recent Australian decision directly at odds with a similar decision in New Zealand shows that the debate continues, and also what difference the particular wording, even a single word, can make to trade mark legislation.

It has been predicted that Malaysia is likely to be a leader in the global pharmaceutical industry. The predicted growth of the pharmaceutical industry in 2008 will be through the increasing numbers of pharmaceutical manufacturers that are seeking to outsource or in-license their operations. The future market trends seem to be shifting towards consumption of generics as well as biotech and specialist therapies. Hence, the opportunity for healthcare companies venturing into Malaysia looks bright. This will, in turn, enable the country not only to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific healthcare industry, but also globally.

The Mexican Copyright Law requires applicants for ISBN and ISSN numbers to submit a catalogue card, showing the following information: