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As anticipated in previous articles, the new Civil and Commercial Argentine Code came into effect on August 1 2015, and consequently both the former Civil and Commercial codes were abrogated. Among the regulations that are of interest in our area, we can mention the following:

The opening of Myanmar’s economy presents many opportunities for international brands. Tran Manh Hung and Luc Tung Phong explain how companies can use franchising agreements to enter the market

India and Brazil have a rich bio-diversity. In an attempt to conserve the rich biological diversity and to ensure the sustainable use of the biological resources with adequate benefit sharing arising out of the exploitation of the biological resources, both countries enacted national laws following the UN Rio Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992.

This month, Utynam rounds up some of the IP-related stories in the media during July and August, and takes a trip to see some patent attorneys perform

The Commercial Court of Jakarta has refused a trade mark cancellation lawsuit (number 15/Pdt/Sus-Merek/2015/ PN.Niaga.Jkt.Pst) filed by French designer Pierre Cardin against Alexander Satryo Wibowo.

To meet demand for sustainable energy efficient processes for chemical and material production, Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) executed a master research agreement (MRA) with National University of Singapore (NUS) on July 7 2015. The MRA will enhance research and collaboration in the fields of chemistry, chemical engineering and material science, and facilitate technical exchange between SABIC and NUS. Under the agreement, joint research efforts will focus on advanced chemical process development for energy efficiency, development of solutions for advanced sustainable materials and process equipment design. The aim of these efforts is to identify specific projects that will help develop solutions to meet the increased demand for lighter, cleaner and more efficient sustainable solutions as a result of heightened consumer awareness and the strain on natural resources brought on by rapid urbanisation.

In Taiwan, the determination of patent validity is a dual-track system. According to the Intellectual Property Case Adjudication Act, the IP Court will independently rule on patent validity issues in IP-related civil procedures. On the other hand, an alleged infringing party can file an invalidation action with the IP Office to challenge the validity of the patent in accordance with the Patent Law. When the validity of a patent is determined differently in final conclusive civil and administrative decisions, how the issues would be dealt with has thus received much attention. In this regard, in a recent rehearing case relating to a civil patent infringement litigation, the IP Court and the Supreme Court came to different opinions.

Over the past two years, Vietnam has become a battleground over IP rights in the pharmaceutical industry, especially in protecting and enforcing patent rights to prevent the illegal production and marketing of certain generic drugs. While previous decisions by the authorities have left pharmaceutical innovators puzzled and disappointed, a recent case shows that real progress is being made.

Mexico still lacks of a specific body of legislation for data protection exclusivity (DPE). But, over the past few years, thorough litigation, based on an interpretation of international treaties (NAFTA & TRIPs) along with the Mexican legislation related to approval of new molecules (new chemical entities, formulations and new indications), means DPE for new chemical entities, formulations and new indications has been obtained.

For decades, national plant variety rights in Belgium have been governed by the Plant Variety Protection Act of May 20 1975. With the Plant Variety Protection Act of January 10 2011, the Belgian legislator followed the European Union's example by radically changing national plant variety protection. The entry into force of the new Act, however, required a royal decree. And so, another four years went by before the Royal Decree of May 12 2015 was finally issued. I will focus on a few important changes to the substantive plant variety law provisions effective as of July 1 2015.