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On May 20 2019, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) started operating as an international searching authority (ISA) and international preliminary examining authority (IPEA). It now conducts search and preliminary examination of international applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) of the World Intellectual Property Organization. To encourage Filipino inventors, as well as higher educational institutions that are members of the Innovation and Technology Support Offices Network (ITSO), the IPOPHL has launched a programme waiving search and preliminary examination fees for the first 100 applicants which choose IPOPHL as the ISA or IPEA. Under this PCT Filing Assistance Program, foreign applicants from states included in WIPO's list of eligible nationals or residents may also avail of a 90% reduction of certain PCT fees. This programme is in effect until December 31 2019, or after 100 requests for ISRs have been filed, whichever comes first. The IPOPHL's Schedule of Fees as ISA can be found in the PCT Applicant's Guide – International Phase on the WIPO website. The Applicant's Guide also provides a few guidelines in relation to the IPOPHL's function as ISA, such as the conditions for refund and amount of refund of the search fee, whether the IPOPHL requires that nucleotide and/or amino acid sequence listings be furnished in electronic form, and which subject matter will not be searched, among others.

On April 26 2019, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) issued special rules on its technical patent investigators (provisions), effective as of May 1 2019, which formally stipulate the procedures, duties and liabilities related to the participation of technical investigators in the trial of IP cases. The issuing of the provisions is also an acknowledgement of the successful trial run of the technical investigator system in the last four years.

The right of trademark owners to exclude others from using identical or similar marks has been limited by the principle of trademark exhaustion. Once a trademark owner has placed products on the market, the right of a trademark owner to control further circulation of its trademarked product is exhausted. The resale by the first purchaser of the original products is not deemed as trademark infringement. Although there are no provisions regarding the exhaustion of trademark rights under China's Trademark Law, Chinese courts typically uphold this doctrine.

On June 4 2019, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) issued a cease and desist order and surcharge payment order to KOA ISEI Co LTD (KOA ISEI) under the provisions of the Antimonopoly Act.

Increasingly, law firms strive for a solely digital file system without significant use of paper files. A fully digital deadline management system seems to be the logical consequence.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has released a discussion paper inviting submissions on potential amendments to New Zealand's patent, trademark, and design legislation.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), Lloyd's Asia, and Antares Underwriting Asia have launched an initiative to support innovative enterprises as they enter global markets. Called the Intellectual Property Insurance Initiative for Innovators (IPIII), the programme will give innovative enterprises access to insurance coverage for legal expenses that may be incurred in intellectual property (IP) infringement proceedings worldwide.

As Taiwan is not a signatory to the Budapest Treaty, the effect of a deposit made in an international depositary under the Budapest Treaty is generally not recognised in Taiwan. Accordingly, even though a biological material has been deposited in an international depositary in order to meet the enabling requirement, the applicant is still required to make a corresponding deposit in a domestic depositary designated by the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO). A late deposit will be deemed valid only if the certificates of deposit issued by both the international and domestic depositaries are filed before a statutory deadline, i.e. within four months from the filing date or sixteen months from the earliest priority date claimed, whichever is applicable. Further, in the event that a deposit is deemed invalid, the applicant may file a request for reinstatement of the deposit procedure within thirty days from the day following the cessation of the cause for delay.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his political party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), once again won the elections with a clear majority and formed the government in May 2019. This is the party's second term in a row. Interestingly, during the election campaign, one of the adverts released entitled "Transforming India's IP Landscape" counted, among others, the following achievements:

The legal provisions regarding the pricing of pharmaceutical products have been amended several times during the last decade in an effort to address the issue of very high pharma expenditure and its impact on hospitals and the social security system and to create a stable and predictable reference pricing framework.