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Carlos O Mitelman and Daniel R Zuccherino of Obligado & Cia take issue with Argentina’s system for patenting medicinal innovations

Eklavya Gupte, London

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Peter Ollier looks at the state of plant variety protection in the Asia-Pacific region

A monthly column devoted to IP curiosities and controversies, named in honour of John of Utynam - who received the world’s first recorded patent in 1449

The new R&D Law came into effect as of April 1 2008 in Turkey and introduced incentives and supports for investors in R&D activities, through tax incentives, land allocations and other financial instruments. The new law allows companies to deduct their R&D investments from their tax base.

When the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) granted compulsory licences for five CD-R patents owned by Philips to Gigastorage (a small local manufacturer of CD-Rs) in July 2004, it might not have foreseen the amount of international attention the decision would draw. TIPO's decision, confirmed on appeal, was based on Article 76.1 of the current Patent Act, which stipulates that in addition to coping with national emergencies and non-profit-seeking use of a patent for enhancement of public welfare, a compulsory licence, if used predominantly for the supply of the domestic market, may be granted to an applicant who has offered reasonable terms and conditions to a patentee but has failed to reach an agreement with the patentee within a considerable period of time.

Organizations in the Middle East are becoming more aware of the importance of and the value associated with their intellectual property rights. IP is being recognized as a primary or key asset of an organization and a key tool for achieving and maintaining a competitive advantage. Branding that incorporates the use of IP is also seen as an essential element of success in today's business environment and is responsible for conveying messages to consumers to differentiate a business and its products in the marketplace.

Back in the 19th century the countries signing the Paris Convention agreed that designations contradicting morals or capable of insulting religious feelings should not be registered as trade marks. It is very rare if ever that people apply for obscene trade marks. It may happen that a word trade mark in one country has a neutral meaning but while being pronounced and heard by people in another country has quite a different meaning. In that case, there is a question.

On April 3 2008, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPhil) held the first of its two scheduled stakeholders' forum for the year. The objective of the forum was to provide speedy and effective legal remedies to improve the quality of the decisions rendered and to promote the Bureau of Legal Affairs (BLA), the adjudication division of IPOPhil, as a forum of choice and to promote mediation as an alternative means to resolve disputes. The forum was attended by over a hundred practitioners, and presided by the director-general himself, Atty Adrian Cristobal Jr Some of the suggestions given by the IP practitioners are below.