For the fourth time in less than 12 months, Monster Energy Company (‘MEC’) initiated trademark opposition proceedings at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) with the aim at preventing another party’s registration of a mark containing the word “MONSTER”. In this case, MEC, the proprietor of the mark “MONSTER ENERGY”, challenged its most high-profile […]
Rectification of the Register – A Singapore Perspective
Novartis (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Co [2017] SGHC 322 I. Introduction In the recent case of Novartis (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Co [2017] SGHC 322, the Singapore High Court addressed, for the first time, key procedural issues associated with corrections to patent forms and priority data, as well as […]
A Prefix Can Fix - Apple's iPad v Xiaomi's MI PAD
A clash between two tech giants before the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), Apple Inc. v Xiaomi Singapore Pte Ltd [2017] SGIPOS 10, ended when the ruling favored Xiaomi (“the Applicant”) to register the mark ‘MI PAD’ for its computer tablet products in the face of a move from Apple Inc. (“the Opponent”), the […]
Thailand - Mediation Achieves Impressive Success Rate
Litigation in Thailand has often been stigmatised as lengthy, expensive, cumbersome and convoluted. Indeed, the weight of this fear burdens not so much the infringers of IP rights but, disproportionately more in fact, brand owners themselves. Where litigation in Thailand has revealed many shortcomings, it has been cast away as commercially non-sensical for the protection […]
Malaysia -Parallel Import Law Clarified
Parallel import is a prevalent business model in the new age economy. However, the laws governing parallel imports are still in infancy and require clarification in many jurisdictions, including Malaysia. In Tien Ying Hong Enterprises v Beenion (2010), the High Court of Malaysia provided the much needed clarification. The plaintiff in this case was the […]
Malaysia - Generic Pharma Seemingly Manage to ‘Invent Around’ Innovator Patent
Sanofi-Aventis took on Dabur Pharma in the latest pharmaceutical patent case law to be decided at the Malaysian High Court (D-22IP-46-2009). Sanofi is the owner of a process patent - MY ’481 - for the production of Docetaxel trihydrate, which they market as Taxotere. Worldwide annual sales of Taxotere totaled approximately US$3.1 billion dollars in […]
Useful Considerations When Filing A PCT Application In ASEAN
The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) came into force in 1978 after being ratified by 18 countries and has since become the preferred method of filing patent applications for most applicants with plans to file in several contracting states. An applicant can secure a filing date in all 143 member countries. (The newest PCT contracting state, […]
India - Exhaustion In Copyrights
The doctrine of exhaustion or the first sale rule affirms the exhaustion of an asset’s intellectual property rights vested with its owner after its first use or sale. As a result, no further control can be exercised by the owner vis-à-vis distribution or resale of the product. Applying the principle more specifically to the realm […]
The End of “Swiss-type” Use Claims in Thailand
In a recent Decision No. 1/2533, the Thailand Board of Patents has considered the subject matter of Patent Application No. 0201003643 entitled "Method for Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus" as a method of treatment and rejected the application despite that the claims were amended to a "Swiss-type" use format. A "Swiss-type claim" or "Swiss-type of […]
Campomar v. Nike: Finale To A Long-Drawn-Out Saga
Nike International Ltd (NIL) and Campomar have been at loggerheads over the use of the mark NIKE in Class 3. The finale of this long saga was the recent decision of the Court of Appeal. Campomar SL v. Nike International Ltd, (2011) SGCA 6 (Feb. 28, 2011). NIL sought to register the mark NIKE in […]