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The European Commission, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the relevant national authorities recently agreed on a number of measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 disruptions on the conduct of inspections at manufacturing sites or other sites relevant to medicinal products in the European Union. These are included in the Notice to stakeholders: Questions and answers on regulatory expectations for medicinal products for human use during the COVID-19 pandemic, https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/human-use/docs/guidance_regulatory_covid19_en.pdf.

COVID-19 has created an unprecedented crisis resulting in the Indian government clamping down on the movement of people, goods and services. This has had an impact on every facet of business and has encouraged consumers to focus on their health and well-being. With social distancing becoming the "new normal", the impact of coronavirus on brick-and-mortar stores during the lockdown phase and post lifting of stay-at-home orders is likely to be profound. It is expected that consumers will avoid close interaction and crowded places such as malls and supermarkets in times to come. Thus, in the short to medium term, consumers' shopping habits will witness a gradual but definite shift from brick and mortar stores to online portals and e-stores. Brands in India are therefore increasingly focusing on setting up their own e-stores, creating arrangements and partnerships with online portals. Big offline stores such as Future Group (Easy Day and Big Bazaar), Spencer's Retail, Metro Cash & Carry and Walmart's Best Price stores have increased efforts to service customers online, building a comprehensive model to deliver groceries and goods. Many stores have started to partner with food delivery platforms such as Swiggy, taxi-hailing app Uber Eats, and bike taxi startup Rapido. This article focuses on how brands' sudden shift to online will need a strategic focus in terms of building a brand protection strategy.

Unfortunately, Mexico remains on the Watch List of the Annual Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Protection and Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy compiled by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). In this document, the United States government reviews and evaluates the protection actions that governments have taken to fight against counterfeits and piracy. The document concluded that the Mexican government has so far not adequately implemented the necessary actions for the protection of intellectual property rights.

Almost a year and a half after Myanmar enacted the Trademark Law 2019 on January 30 2019, the same question still lingers in the minds of many brand owners and attorneys: "When will the Trademark Law come into force?"

In September 2020, New Zealanders will participate in a non-binding cannabis referendum on the question of whether to legalise the use and supply of cannabis. New Zealanders will be given the option of voting either for or against the proposed Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill (the Bill). The final version of the Bill, which was released in May 2020, legalises the use of cannabis for persons over the age of 20, but places severe restrictions around the promotion and packaging of cannabis products.

The city of Manila was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) on March 16 2020 and all government offices and private businesses except those providing essential services, were required to work from home or closed. Public transportation was suspended, and everyone was required to practise social distancing and wear face masks.

A Russian applicant filed a trademark application for a combined colour (blue, red, green, grey) designation consisting of words, a figure, crossed ribbons and the words "your emergency service." The applicant obtained registration No 381613 in Classes 3 and 5.

It is often time that matters in business. For trademarks, a prompt registration is probably the single most important issue in all areas of business, not just in the fashion industry. In Korea, it takes approximately one to 1.2 years to obtain a registered trademark using the regular system. However, this period can be shortened substantially if one uses fast-track examination.

Traditional IP enforcement measures are sometimes ill-equipped to deal with the rapidly evolving nature of internet resources in the digital era. Thailand has been responding to the exponential rise of online IP infringement on a rolling basis – most recently in 2017 when it amended the Computer Crime Act (CCA) to give IP owners the option of blocking websites that post IP-infringing content. This is set out in Section 20(3) of the law.

The 11th Civil Chamber of the Turkish Court of Appeals (CoA) has set forth in its decision dated November 18 2019 (2019/359 E. and 2019/7279 K.) that the later dated trademark application was filed in bad faith by taking into account the high level of recognition as well as the original and distinctive nature of the prior dated trademark, which has no meaning.