Search results for

National laws on patent construction may not be harmonized but a series of recent cases in Europe and the US point towards a seemingly comparable approach taken by the courts. Ian Karet and Nigel Jones of Linklaters provide more insight in an in-depth review of some of the most relevant cases

Harmonizing EU laws and practices across all member states is one of the key goals of the European Commission and EU legislators. But how successful has this process been in the IP field, and how has it affected IP-owning businesses? Paul Joseph of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer explains

In June this year, MIP and the Stockholm Network jointly organized a roundtable in Brussels on the future of innovation in Europe. James Nurton, editor of MIP, and Meir Pugatch, of Haifa University, who is head of the IP and competition programme at the Stockholm Network, introduce a special report

Harold Wegner, partner of Foley & Lardner LLP

James Nurton, London

Rule 126 of the Philippine Rules of Court says that a search warrant cannot be issued except upon probable cause. In the case of Sony Music Entertainment (Phils), et al v Hon. Judge Dolores Español et al (G.R. No 156804, March 14 2005), Sony learned this rule the hard way.

In view of the high priority the Malaysian government gives to intellectual property, the Malaysian Intellectual Property Corporation (MyIPO) has undertaken the task of speeding up patent registration in the country. As of last year, at least 33,000 patent applications had been filed with MyIPO and that figure is expected to rise sharply. In view of this huge growth and the impending backlog of applications, the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs has announced that MyIPO will hire between 42 and 100 external examiners to help it assess and examine patent applications. These external examiners will come from various technical organizations, including the Standards and Industrial Research Institute (SIRIM). In addition to being a source of external examiners, SIRIM is also training an additional 500 patent examiners who will eventually be recruited by MyIPO to assist in expediting the registration process.

As reported in the April issue of MIP, the implementation of the so-called biotech directive (EU directive 98/44/EC) into the German Patent Act (GPA) has become effective. This implementation, however, does not only affect material patent law with respect to biotechnological inventions, but also led to a change of §24 GPA regulating the requirements of compulsory licences.

Graphic health warnings have hit the tobacco industry and are threatening to jump to other consumer goods sectors as well. Toe Su Aung warns that the regulators' increased use of shock therapy labelling could seriously impinge on the value of brands and IP rights

A recent US court ruling has given the green light to all kinds of pop-up advertising. But, says Jonathan Moskin, by turning to the fair use doctrine, the court could have blocked infringing cases while leaving most such ads free to pester internet users