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In September 2017, the Malaysian government exercised its right to exploit Gilead's patented drug, Sofosbuvir, used for the treatment of Hepatitis C without Gilead's authorisation. The Malaysian government proceeded with the exercise of its rights despite Gilead's announcement of the extension of its voluntary licensing scheme for the supply of licensed generic Sofosbuvir to Malaysia. This is the second time that Malaysia has exercised its government rights to exploit a patented invention without the authorisation of the rights holder. The first time was in 2003, when the government exercised its rights for the supply of affordable HIV/AIDS drugs patented by GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol-Myers Squibb after failed lengthy price negotiations with the patent owners.

The direction of drug discovery has moved from focusing on low molecular weight compounds to biopharmaceuticals, and the percentage of biopharmaceuticals being sold is increasing. The first biosimilar patent litigation was also filed.

In Deckers Outdoor Corp. v Australian Leather Pty. Ltd., the US District Court in Illinois addressed the issue of whether a term found to be generic in Australia should compel the conclusion that such term is generic in the US, and whether the doctrine of foreign equivalents should apply to a term used in another English-speaking country.

The Ninth Circuit’s Stairway to Heaven opinion has already been cited in an Ed Sheeran dispute. Copyright practitioners discuss its impact and issues to watch in the retrial

With the cloud of uncertainty around what Brexit will look like, it is worth clarifying the effect, or lack of effect it will have on European patents and the UK.

Malawi deposited its instrument of accession to the Madrid Protocol on September 25 2018, and the country will formally become a member of the international trade mark registration system on December 25 2018. Malawi has also posted the necessary declarations to make it clear that the refusal period will be 18 months, that mere intention to use is sufficient, and that the recording of licences in the international register has no effect in Malawi.

Several years ago, a company registered a trade mark no 616808 on application no 2015721705 with priority of June 14 2015 for services in Class 41.

In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal (the CoA) ruled that the well-known status of the GARANTİ mark for banking services would prevent registration of the KUTUP GARANTİ PLUS mark for different services.

The European Patent Office uses the well-established problem-and-solution approach when assessing inventive step (cf. Guidelines for Examination at the EPO G.VII 5). A crucial part of this analysis is the starting point, known as the "closest prior art".

In early 2018, a radical change to civil procedure was introduced as a result of Law 4512/2018. The change relates to compulsory mediation as an obligatory pre-trial stage for certain civil and commercial disputes. IP-related cases are included in these. Thus, before the filing of any IP-related main action lawsuit, the claimant must follow the designated mediation process, so that there is no procedural impediment to the trial. These legal provisions were scheduled to apply to any main action lawsuits filed from October 17 2018.