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Dynamic injunctions have been the newest device used to curb the menace of resurfacing pirated websites. In a recent case, UTV & Ors. v 1337x.to & Ors., the Delhi High Court issued India's first ever dynamic injunction, putting a control on websites resurfacing with a different name, by extending an existing injunction to new websites which could emerge with a different name in the future. The objective is to help the right holder avoid the cumbersome process of filing a fresh suit. The right holder can simply approach the joint registrar of the Delhi High Court with appropriate evidentiary documents and extend the existing injunction to the website publishing the same infringing content. Until recently, the right holder had to file a fresh suit or possibly use a John Doe order/injunction by adding the party to the existing suit. Dynamic injunctions specifically help in cases where an infringing website may resurface as a redirecting, mirror or alphanumeric website.

On December 17 2019, Taiwan's Legislative Yuan (equivalent to a parliament in other democracies) passed a draft bill on creating an IP and Commerce Court (IPC Court) which will consolidate the IP Court which was established in 2008. The new court, estimated to come into existence in 2021, will be made up of two independent special tribunals, the IP Tribunal and the Commercial Tribunal, governed by respective adjudication rules.

The TRIPS Agreement, to which the Philippines is a signatory, enables governments of member countries with no capacity to manufacture medicines to import/export cheaper pharmaceutical products via a compulsory licence. These are medicines for which they would otherwise have paid a higher price because of existing patents.

On March 11 2019, the Myanmar parliament enacted the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 7/2019 (Patent Law) heralding the dawn of a new era in patent registration in Myanmar. While the new Trade Mark Law passed on January 30 2019 is expected to come into force this year, the new Patent Law is pending and will come into operation only upon notification from the president of Myanmar.

Europe’s highest court will decide Sky v SkyKick tomorrow, January 29, in a case that has attracted much attention in trademark circles

The Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department (HKIPD) made major reforms to the patent system in Hong Kong in December 2019, with the introduction of the original grant patent (OGP) system. The OGP system provides a direct filing route for an application for a standard patent (O) in Hong Kong and will be offered in parallel with the re-registration route. This reform is an important development that brings the Hong Kong patent system in line with other major patent offices. It is expected to better support innovation and technology development in Hong Kong.

The long-awaited Trademarks Act 2019 (2019 Act) finally came into force in December 2019. The enactment of the 2019 act effectively repeals its predecessor – the Trade Marks Act 1976 (1976 act). Among its various developments, a notable addition is the criminalisation of the act of counterfeiting trademarks. Part XV of the 2019 act deals with criminal offences, which were not dealt with under the 1976 act. Prior to the enactment of the Trademarks Act 2019, the criminal offences and enforcement provisions lay within the ambit of the Trade Descriptions Act 2011 (2011 act). The 2019 act has consolidated such provisions to comprehensively cover criminal offences, enforcement and penalties within the act.

In-house counsel from automotive, telecoms and tech companies are split on proposed changes that seek to close the injunction gap and give judges more discretion to grant automatic injunctions

Protection of geographical indications (GIs) has attracted increasing attention from the governments of various countries, and GIs have become one of the key issues that led to the creation of an important component of bilateral and multilateral international trade agreements. According to the 1994 Agreement On Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement), GIs are defined as "indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin."

On December 25 2019, the Supreme Court promulgated amendments of Several Provisions on Civil Evidence Rules (amendments). The amendments, which will come into effect on May 1 2020, have attracted lots of attention from IP practitioners. The rules are expected to improve the accuracy and standardisation of evidence production procedures and balance the burden of proof between litigants. Below are some highlights of the amendments.