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A new Code of Conduct for Trans-Tasman Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys (the code) came into effect on February 23 2018 to address two issues:

The holder of word mark JOY, Jean Patou Worldwide, filed an opposition against the EU registration of the mark HISPANITAS – Joy is a choice. The Opposition Division upheld this opposition and rejected the application for registration for goods in class 3 on the ground that there was a likelihood of confusion within the meaning of Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation No 207/2009.

Under Vietnamese law, if a logo is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of its holder from those of others, it can qualify for trade mark protection. If the logo is created personally by the author without copying others' works and is fixed in a material form, it can also be copyrighted as a work of applied art (assuming it meets the minimum creativity threshold).

The Thai Alcohol Control Act (ACA) B.E. 2551(2008) sets the legal framework for restrictions on alcoholic beverages in Thailand, as well as establishing governmental bodies to oversee such restrictions, i.e. the National Alcohol Beverage Policy Committee and the Alcohol Beverage Control Committee.

In 2008, a legislator's wig was ripped off at the Control Yuan of Taiwan, an incident which was recorded by photography by a number of reporters at the scene. As a newspaper company used a photograph taken by an on-the-spot reporter hired by another party without obtaining prior consent, the company was sued for violation of copyright law.

One of the two IP courts of Istanbul rejected a crucial precautionary injunction (PI) demand of a patent owner on the ground that the demand requires a full trial due to the pending invalidation action against the relevant patent.

In-house counsel tell Patrick Wingrove how their strategies for fighting counterfeits are evolving

In 1992, the Rio Convention on Biodiversity set the goal of fighting practices known as biopiracy and which are generally seen in developing countries. These involve identifying certain genetic resources of a country and indigenous traditional knowledge that may be linked to their use, developing them, protecting them through patents and extracting commercial gain without any benefit to the indigenous populations in question. The Nagoya Protocol, an extension of the Rio Convention, enshrines a move from mere declarations of intent to concrete measures.

In recent ex-parte appeal proceedings (decision 14 W (pat) 10/16 of January 23 2018), the German Federal Patent Court (GFPC) contributed to the interpretation of Article 3(a) of Regulation (EC) No 469/2009 (the Regulation).

In recent years, the protection system for trade mark rights has become more and more mature in China. Non-trade mark rights have also caught the attention of IP practitioners and even outsiders. After all, who can overlook the news that Disney has profited more from merchandise related to Frozen than publishing the movie and DVD? Even people who barely know anything about basketball or IP must have heard that the NBA superstar Michael Jordan has finally stopped a Chinese company from using his surname in Chinese as a trade mark in the Supreme Court. When posting pictures on WeChat's Moments has become a habit for thousands of Chinese people, it is astonishing to think that posting a picture of the night view of the Eiffel Tower could be an act of infringement.