Confidential information relating to any enterprise may be in the form of any business formula, process, R&D capabilities, client related or operational information, that ought to be protected as a trade secret. Any breach in handling such confidential information violates the IP rights of the concerned party and has been pursued through the courts on […]
News
Malaysia - Patents, Nucleic Acids And Microorganisms
The Malaysian Patents Act 1983 (hereinafter referred to as ‘The Act’) requires that an invention, to be patentable, it should be new, involving an inventive step and industrially applicable. Section 13 (1) (b) of ‘The Act’ lists non-patentable inventions and it excludes the patentability of plant or animal varieties or essentially biological products for the […]
India - Copyright Societies Expand Role
Under the Copyrights Act 1957 copyright societies are authorised to grant licences for copyrighted works. No other person except the owner of the work or a copyright society can grant a licence. A copyright society has the task of collective management of the rights of the owners and furthers their interests to prevent infringement of […]
Malaysia - Raytheon Wins Battle Of The Bombs
The battle between Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, the two of the largest companies in the global defence industry, reached a new level at the High Court in Malaysia last year. The argument was over the registration and use of the trade mark Paveway, a type of laser-guided bomb made by Raytheon in Malaysia. Both companies […]
Philippines Battle Between Pfizer And Unilab Continues
One of the world's pharmaceutical giants, Pfizer, owns a patent for the anti-cholesterol drug "Atorvastatin Calcium" under Warner Lambert, which is valid and is in force until September 2012 in the Philippines. Pfizer marketed this drug under the brand Lipitor. The largest Philippine drug-maker, United Laboratories Inc. (Unilab), started selling in 2009 the generic version […]
Singapore gets a WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre for Intellectual Property
A. Arbitration and Mediation Centre The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has established its first Arbitration and Mediation Centre in Singapore, the first of its kind outside Geneva. The Centre will primarily deal with intellectual property (IP) disputes originating in Asia Pacific. B. What type of cases will it hear? The new centre will focus […]
Indonesia Makes Headway in Cancellation Action Proceedings
For Civil law jurisdictions like Indonesia, where rights in a trademark arise from registration, not use, a trademark cannot be enforced unless it is registered. The owners of internationally famous Trademarks such as LOUIS VUITTON, YVES SAINT LAURENT and GUCCI often face serious problems with world-wide infringement of these marks. If the mark is registered […]
Patent Revocation in Singapore
In recent years, there has been an increase in patent litigation in Singapore contributed by the speed and quality of decisions, relatively low costs and transparency in the legal system. Since the enactment of the Singapore Patents Act in 1995, patent law and enforcement has grown in strength. It has to be noted that since […]
India - Protecting Traditional Knowledge
In March 2009, India completed the compilation of its Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), the pioneering digitised database of traditional knowledge handed down over generations. Being rich in traditional therapies of medicine and the knowledge of health remedies, India has been struggling to protect them from being patented by other countries. The lessons from neem […]
ASEAN Launches Patent Cooperation Programme
Countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have embarked on their first regional cooperation in Intellectual property, specifically in patents, by introducing ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation (ASPEC). There are eight participating IP offices from: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Once a search and examination report is issued by any […]