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Organizations from retailers to charities are continually looking for new ways to exploit their brands.

The Philippines is about to get its first taste of domain name litigation. On September 27, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) sued Gerry Kaimo and the Philippine League for Democratic Communications (PLDTI) to secure ownership of the pldt.com domain name

People, Laws and Courts

Customs - the INTA's perspective

he ECJ decision in Pharmacia & Upjohn v Paranova has been awaited with interest by the pharmaceutical industry. The decision, which was handed down on October 12, offers more hope to pharmaceutical companies in the battle against parallel importers than was expected. The ECJ has found that re-branding by a parallel importer to match the brand used in the country of import (where this differs from the country of export) cannot be challenged by the brand owner if such re-branding is objectively necessary in order that the parallel imported product may be marketed in the country of import.

According to Law No 84/1998 on Trade Marks and Geographical Indications, a mark of certification is a mark indicating the fact that the products or services for which it is used are certificated by the owner of the mark concerning quality, material, the way of manufacturing of products or services carried out, accuracy or other characteristics.

The Mexican Law of Industrial Property (LIP) recognizes as a source of rights to use a trade mark registration and a bona fide use prior to a filing date of a particular trade mark registration for the same or similar trade mark or prior to the date of first use mentioned by the registrant in the application papers.

Malaysia passed and gazetted the Franchise Act in December 1998 and it is expected to come into force in the near future. Once in force, the Franchise Act 1998 will apply throughout Malaysia to any franchise in Malaysia. At present, there is no franchise legislation and the franchise industry is supervised by the franchise division of the Malaysian government under the purview of the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development.

In an apparatus claim, the indication of the intended use or purpose of the apparatus generally does not restrict the scope of the claim. If the purpose involves structural features which are evident to the person skilled in the art, however, the claim has to be interpreted as including these features.

Despite the existence of the European patent, there is little cohesion between countries when it comes to enforcing or challenging patent rights.