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Performing trademark clearance searches should always be the first step taken prior to filing a trademark application, as they are an effective way of preventing legal risks before launching a brand.

In Korea, patent term extension (PTE) of a maximum of five years may be granted once for a patent covering a drug or agrochemical that has to obtain marketing approval after patent registration. According to Article 95 of the Korean Patent Act, however, the scope of protection during the extended period is limited only to the working of the patented invention in relation to products whose marketing approval was the basis for PTE.

Pankaj Soni of Remfry & Sagar analyses trends in AI, data concerns arising from AI, global subject matter eligibility standards for AI and whether AI can be classed as an inventor

José Carlos Erdozain of PONS IP analyses the IP challenges raised by AI, looking at what AI seeks to do, how it can be used in the patenting process, how easily it can be protected and whether it should be considered an inventor

Mengmeng Yu and Xia Zheng of AFD China evaluate the approach of the TMO, TRAB, CNIPA and courts to malicious trademark registrations

Korea requires a number of drawings for design applications showing several views that usually comprise one perspective view and six principal views (e.g. front, rear, right, left, top and bottom view, etc.) such that the design for protection can be clearly identified.

Each year more Brazilians engage with e-commerce, and Brazil has taken the position of 4th largest internet market globally, representing 42% of all B2C e-commerce in Latin America.

On August 10, 2018 several modifications to the Mexican Industrial Property Law entered into force, resulting in some new IP figures being recognised in Mexico.

In the latest international briefing for Mexico, Adrián Martínez assesses a new amendment to Mexican trade mark law dealing with bad faith marks

Claims of seniority of national trade marks for European marks have the effect of allowing owners, if they cease to maintain local trade marks, to continue benefitting from the same rights they would have had if their national trade mark had been maintained.

A hotel in a skiing area known for its bar featuring scantily-clad dancing girls was found to have an infringing trade mark. The lower courts issued an injunction in a first partial judgment. A further partial judgment was made requesting accounts of the turnover earned in connection with the running of the bar and all advertisements made for it. Accounts are the basis for all claims of compensation and damages calculations. In this case, the question was which turnovers should be included. On further appeal to the Austrian Supreme Court, the Court upheld the lower courts' judgments. It ruled on this topic as follows.

To raise funds for research and development, start-ups sometimes have to announce the existence of licensing agreements, supply and distribution agreements etc. (i.e. a contract for a future sale of a product embodying an invention). In places like the US, if such agreements were made public more than one year prior to the effective filing date, even though the details of the invention are kept confidential, a statutory on-sale bar may be triggered, resulting in loss of patent protection for the invention in the US.