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The doctrine of equivalents is provided under Section 75.2 of the IP Code of the Philippines (Republic Act 8293). However, in deciding actions for patent cancellation and infringement, the Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHL) as well as the Supreme Court rely for the most part on American case law. The recent patent infringement case of Eddie T Dionisio v Visita International Phils, Inc and Lal K Tulsiani (IPV No 10-2013-00034, July 28 2016) citing a cancellation case also between the parties shows this.

A Dutch court issued decisions in two court actions that illustrate the remedies that are available from the Dutch courts in cases of contributory infringement. The court found that it had jurisdiction to issue a preliminary injunction on offering and supplying a contributorily infringing product inside and outside the Netherlands, also against a non-Dutch party. The patent acts throughout Europe were essentially identical on contributory infringement. However, the court held that patent law excluded an injunction on holding a contributorily infringing product in stock.

As part of the organisational reform of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO, aiming at safeguarding their independence, it has been decided to move the Boards to a new location in Haar, some 10 km east of Munich city centre. The relocation will happen in the summer of 2017. While it has not been officially communicated if oral proceedings in appeal cases will take place in Haar in the future, a review of summons for appeal hearings in the fall of 2017 indicates that, at least for the time being, the EPO's current Isar building site remains the venue for oral proceedings in appeal cases.

Enforcement of IP rights can sometimes culminate in litigation. In Canada, as in most jurisdictions, litigation related to IP is rarely inexpensive, with significant costs incurred for both counsel fees and for disbursements as varied as travel, scientific testing and the engagement of expert witnesses. Fortunately, in Canada successful parties are generally entitled to compensation for the costs of bringing their case. Indeed, most IP litigation in Canada occurs in the Federal Courts which have recently evinced an increasing willingness to ensure the adequacy of that compensation even in the most complex cases.

Highlights at the International Trade Commission in 2016 included the most Section 337 investigations since 2011, the first live hearing for a decade and the first antitrust claim for 25 years. Michael Loney asks ITC practitioners what trends they expect in 2017

On January 12 2017, the Ho Chi Minh City Court rendered a ruling in favour of a major Silicon Valley high-tech company. This ended a lengthy dispute between the company and a Vietnamese entity over the latter's unauthorised use and registration of a company name and a domain name which incorporated the former's registered trade mark. To the delight of the US company, the court resolved the dispute in an expedient 55 days. The brand owner's course of action provided a useful test of new regulations on domain name and company name disputes.

Generally, when faced with competitor's illegal copying of a product's package, unless the design of such package is a registered design patent or a trade mark, the claimant used to rely on Article 22 of Taiwan's Fair Trade Act to seek injunctive relief. However, under the Fair Trade Act, there will be a heavy burden on the claimant to show to the judge that the asserted package is a "famous representation" that is "commonly known to the general public". Thus, if the design of a product package is eligible for copyright protection, it would be another powerful tool to combat copycats and free riders.

In accordance with Article 4bis (1) of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, a national registration can be replaced by its posterior international trade mark registration. This provision concerns the situation where a trade mark that is subject of a national registration is also subject of an international registration designating the same country and applies when both registrations stand in the name of the same person and cover identical goods or services.

Both parties in this case produce and commercialise ticket and entry systems for skiing areas, stadiums and similar establishments and have the same customer circles. The plaintiff additionally runs server installations for internet use by its customers, who use its systems to store clients' data. This data is protected by a login requiring a username and password. The data can be read in the form of reports, for example concerning names and addresses of buyers of tickets. The same is possible on a server of a larger customer on which the plaintiff runs that application for the customer. These reports were routinely stored on caches as intermediate storage media.

Africa is highly attractive to counterfeiters. But, explains Chris Walters, several governments in the continent have recently taken action to tackle the problem