In many countries, IP law affords separate protection to functional and non-functional aspects of a newly developed product. While novelty in function (a new invention) is covered by patent law, newness in aesthetics and other superficial features are protected by design law. However, in Thailand, IP protection for functional and design aspects is not mutually […]
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Philippines - Declarations of Actual Use: The Deadliest Deadlines
Trademark owners often find themselves confused (or worse, forget!) about the correct timings for filing the Affidavits of Use or Declarations of Actual Use in the Philippines. I.Affidavits of Use under the Trademarks Law, Republic Act No. 166. The Trademarks Law was enacted on 20 June 1947 under Republic Act No. 166. This is the […]
Thailand - Valuable Precedent For Trademark Hijacking
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 […]
ASEAN Patent Examination Cooperation (ASPEC) – Towards A Faster And Better Quality Search And Examination Of Patents In The ASEAN Region
The search and examination of patents is an activity which consumes many resources. In order to streamline the process and to reduce the turnaround time, IP offices in member states of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) collectively launched the ASEAN Patent Examination Cooperation Programme (ASPEC). ASPEC, the first of its kind in […]
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 […]
Patent Examination in Malaysia Expedited
On 15 February 2011, Malaysia introduced laws to allow expedited patent examination under the Malaysian Patents Act 1983, pursuant to the Patents (Amendment) Regulations 2011. The implementation of expedited examination is aimed at reducing patent pendency, by expediting and accelerating allowance and issuance to grant of a patent. The expedited examination program is only applicable […]
Malaysia - Validity Of Prior Art Ruled Separate To Disclosure
Prior art constitutes all information that has been disclosed to the public in any form before a given date, that might be relevant to a patent’s claims of originality. It may include any patent related to the invention regardless of whether the patent is valid or not, as the act of publication or use of […]
Philippines - Case Notes:Phil Pharmawealth v. Pfizer
The Supreme Court of the Philippines was recently faced with an intriguing issue: Is it permissible to grant an injunction in respect of a patent post-expiration of the patent term? The Supreme Court also had the opportunity to opine on another interesting issue, that of forum shopping. Without jumping the gun by stating how the […]
Medical Use Claims in Singapore
Section 14(7) of the Singapore Patents Act provides an exception to the general understanding of novelty as it says that the fact that a substance or composition for use in a method of treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy or of diagnosis practised on the human or animal body is […]
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 […]