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Recently, the PRC Trademark Office (TMO) has refused to formally accept a number of oppositions on grounds that the initial arguments and evidence filed failed to satisfy new standing requirements under the recently revised Trademark Law. The non-acceptance of these oppositions (referred to below as rejections) has caused consternation among the filers and their agents, as the TMO failed to provide any prior notice of a change in policy with respect to the time for filing supporting evidence in this regard.

The key legislation that governs intellectual property in Laos is Law No 01/NA of December 20 2011, on Intellectual Property, as amended. Under the IP Law, trade mark owners can bring an administrative action, through the Department of Intellectual Property Rights (DIPR), against a shop that sells counterfeit products. This is the most effective anti-counterfeiting measure in Laos.

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.

The new president of the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) – Luiz Otávio Pimentel – took office on August 11 2015 in a formal ceremony in the city of Rio de Janeiro. During his speech, the new president clearly and expressly recognised that the existing backlog of work in the patents and trade marks sectors is a serious and damaging problem: it hampers greater local investments, especially foreign ones, and jeopardizes the state policy on the promotion of local innovation and entrepreneurship.

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.

Generally, the law prohibits registration of trade marks lacking distinctiveness. However sometimes this rule can be waived. There is an international trade mark registration number 1140887 (see picture).

In the case of Dura-Mine Sdn Bhd v Elster Metering Ltd & Anor [2015] 1 CLJ 887, the Federal Court of Malaysia conclusively decided that the exact original copies of artistic works were not required for the purposes of establishing prima facie evidence of ownership of copyright under the "true copy" requirement within Section 42(1)(a)(iii) of the Copyright Act 1987, and applied the common law position that copyright is not limited to the first or earliest work.

In this case, the plaintiff owned the combined word and design trade marks B MEN Thierry Mugler and ALIEN ESSENCE ABSOLUE Thierry Mugler. The defendant owned the younger word and design trade mark Thierry Mugler. Both lower courts decided there was infringement of the prior trade marks.

On August 6, the Decree of the President of the Republic number 90/2015 ratifying the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court signed in Brussels on February 19 2013 was published in the Official Journal of the Portuguese Republic.

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.