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The European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights carried out a series of studies about the economic impact of counterfeiting in nine economic sectors.

On January 1 2017, the increase in official fees covering IP-related applications, averaging about 20%, took effect, in accordance with its Memorandum Circular No 16-012 effective. The last increase was in 2004.

The Industrial Property Code (IP Code) entered into force upon publication in the Official Gazette on January 10 2017. The IP Code has now replaced the respective decree-laws (D-L) pertaining to the protection of trade marks, patents, geographical indications and industrial designs, unifying them into a single code.

Towards the end of November 2016, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office rendered its order in decision G 1/15, which brings an end to the phenomenon of so-called self-collision, also nicknamed toxic divisionals and poisonous priorities. On the date of completion of this article, the reasons for the decision have not been made available. The Enlarged Board's order is, however, clear in the sense that applicants no longer have to worry about self-collision.

Immortalised as a perennial icon of the motoring industry and a prime example of British engineering at its finest, production of the Land Rover Defender finally came to an end in January 2016. Spanning almost 70 years, the Defender had been the longest-running production car in existence.

In Korea, plants can be protected by both Patent Law and Plant Variety Protection Law. Activities to seek the protection of the IP rights pertaining to plants have been growing, particularly with the development of genetic engineering technology as well as with the growth of the agriculture industry. This growing interest is evidenced by the significant increase in the number of applications, not only for patents, but also for plant variety rights. For example, as of December 2015, more than 8,000 applications for plant variety registrations were filed in Korea which makes Korea the seventh most active filer of plant variety rights among the UPOV member countries.

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Since the election of Donald Trump, IP observers have been speculating about what IP-related action he may take. A new report concludes he will likely be much more patent friendly than Obama

An Apple lawsuit against Qualcomm, Sir Paul McCartney’s efforts to regain ownership over Beatles songs, a $625m Merck patent settlement with Bristol-Myers Squibb, a Star Trek copyright lawsuit, the end of Niro Law, and the top 10 TTAB decisions of 2016 were in the recent intellectual property headlines

There were more than 135,000 EU trade mark applications and nearly 25,000 registered Community design applications filed last year, according to statistics published by the EUIPO