Thailand has, over the past few years, been plagued by increasing instances of trade markhijacking. This involves registration of a famous international trade mark (or a very similar looking mark) by a local business, beating the mark's rightful owner in the race to the Registrar's office. Afraid to get shut out of the market, the […]
Vietnam Government Tightens Enforcement through September 2010 Decree
In September 2010, the Vietnamese Government issued a Decree (No: 97/2010/ND-CP) to cut down on red tape and make it easier to initiate action against infringements. The Decree specifies acts of administrative violation, sanctioning forms and levels, remedies, complaint procedures, mechanism for handling complaints, competence of authorized personnel and guidelines for enforcement of procedures. The […]
Indonesia - Trademark Infringement and Improper Use Due to Similarity in Packaging Leading to Cancellation of Mark in Indonesia
Background The Plaintiff PT. Topindo Atlas Asia owns the registered trademark “ ” in class 04 under registration number 504089 for goods such as oil lubricants for motorcycles. The Applicant is related to the TOP 1 Oil Products Company that was founded in 1979 in the United States of America by William A. Ryan, with the […]
Supreme Court Of The Philippines Cancels A Trademark Despite Absence Of A Petition For Cancellation
“Why cancel our trademark when we filed a petition to cancel somebody else’s trademark?” This must have been the reaction of Shen Dar Electricity and Machinery, Inc. (Shen Dar) when it was handed the 21 October 2010 Philippines Supreme Court (SC) Philippines decision. Shen Dar had filed the appeal with the SC seeking to nullify […]
Delhi Sugar Coats Trade Mark Decision
The protection and assertion of IP rights is perhaps as important is its acquisition. While there has been a spurt in the number of trademark registrations, infringement has also been on the rise. A recent decision of the High Court of Delhi in Cadila Healthcare Ltd v. Diat Foods (India) FAO (OS) No. 385/2008 highlights […]
Damages
On April 7 2010, the Court of Appeal of Kuala Lumpur, in delivering its judgment in Taiping Poly (M) Sdn Bhd v Wong Fook Toh & ORS CA (2010 6CLJ 51), drew a distinction between the net loss of profits and the loss of sales, as a result of an infringement and passing off of […]
Thailand finally accedes to Paris Convention
Thailand ratified accession to the Paris Convention and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) on 10 January 2008. The legal instrument of accession to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was submitted to the WIPO on 2 May 2008, thus Thailand became bound by the Paris Convention on 2 August 2008, bringing the […]
Latest Developments in Vietnam IP Law
The Vietnamese government has actively taken measures to ensure that the country's IP laws are effective. They have recognized the relationship between economic development and IP protection. In fact the economic development in Vietnam is one of the most progressive one in Southeast Asia in terms of percentage growth of the GDP. So these IP […]
Malaysian Courts hold that first use of a trademark an important factor in expungement proceedings
The Malaysian High Court, in Yong Sze Fan & Anor v Sharifah bt Mohd Tamin & 4 Ors [2008] 5 AMR 163 had an opportunity to consider an application for an order that a trademark registered by the Malaysian Trademark Registry be expunged (cancelled) from the Register under the provisions of the Malaysian Trade Marks […]
India - Ninth Edition Of Nice Classification Adopted
The Indian Trade Marks Rules 2002 were recently amended to adopt the Ninth Edition of Nice Classification, in order to align the trade mark laws in India with the international system. Additional service classes, namely, classes 43-45, have been added. The applicants are requested to bring their existing applications in compliance with the new classification. […]