Letters of Consent remain one of the most persuasive and effective strategies for overcoming a citation objection from the Trademarks Registry in many jurisdictions, except for a few jurisdictions such as Indonesia. For the longest time, the Indonesian Trademarks Registry would not accept coexistence agreements and/or consent letters as a means of overcoming a citation […]
DIVISIONAL APPLICATIONS IN INDIA: CLARIFICATION AND SUMMARY
In India, every patent application should form a “single invention concept” (and therefore amount to “one invention”). However, where a parent application contains multiple group of inventions and they do not form such a “single invention concept”, a divisional application is taken up. These applications are governed by several provisions, namely Sections 16, 10(5) and […]
INDIA- REGISTERING ‘N95’ AS A TRADE MARK TO ‘MASK’ MALAFIDE INTENT?
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of N95 masks has proliferated exponentially. Research scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) carried out studies and found the N95 masks to be the most effective at reducing the horizontal spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19. Indeed, the term N95 has now become commonplace. In that […]
“Provision of news” (Circular No. 5/2020, dated 18 May 2020)
On 18th May 2020, The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS”) issued its Circular No. 5/2020 superseding its earlier Circular No. 19/2004 dated 3 September 2004 with immediate effect. Circular No.19/2004 stated that for applications lodged on or after 10 September 2004, the Registrar would not accept a specification consisting of the item “provision of […]
India’s TM Registry will issue ‘Speaking Orders’
In India, IP owners and practitioners have found it difficult to fathom the exact reasons for refusal of registered trade mark applications, owing to the issuance of non-speaking orders by the Registrar of Trade Marks. The Intellectual Property Attorneys Association filed a public interest petition before the Delhi High Court, challenging the non-speaking orders passed […]
Indonesia: Implementing regulations for geographical indications
Since the geographical indication general provision was introduced in 2016 (under Law No. 20 of 2016 concerning the Trademark and Geographical Indication Law), there was no specific stipulation from the Indonesian government to support the law, until June 25, 2019, when the government enacted Ministry Regulation No. 12 of 2019 implementing the specific provisions regarding […]
The IP (Dispute Resolution) Bill
Legislative amendments bringing broad-ranging reform to the intellectual property (IP) regime in Singapore were tabled before lawmakers in early July 2019, following public consultations in July 2017 and August 2018. The IP (Dispute Resolution) Bill (the IP Bill) has the following overarching aims: (1) The consolidation of civil IP proceedings in the Singapore High Court, […]
Singapore’s Intellectual Property Initiatives
With the aim of increasing the flow of innovation into the ASEAN region, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has launched new initiatives with eight other intellectual property (IP) offices in the ASEAN region, namely the IP offices of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. I. ASPEC-AIM One of the […]
Myanmar: New Patent Law
Myanmar’s Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 7/2019 (“Patent Law”) was approved on 11 March 2019; implementation is still pending. It follows the Trademark and Industrial Design Laws which were approved on 30 January 2019. Under the old patent registration system, Myanmar has no intellectual property laws or legal framework for filing and prosecuting patent applications. The […]
Marijuana Patent Requests Suspended in Thailand
A special executive order was issued by the Thai government on 28th January 2019 directing the Department of Intellectual Property (“DIP”) to invalidate all pending marijuana-related patents applications within 90 days. This comes less than 3 months after the Thai National Legislative Assembly (“NLA”) approved the “Medical Marijuana” bill to be used for medical and […]