The Ministry of Law and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) published the Singapore Copyright Review Report recommending wide-ranging amendments to the Copyright Act in January 2019. These proposals come on the back of a three-year review and public consultation period which began in August 2016 and represents a much-needed update to the act. […]
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 […]
SINGAPORE: New Intellectual Property Bill Heralds Significant Reform to IP Landscape
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. At present, IP disputes are heard in multiple fora including the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), the Singapore State Courts, or the High Court […]
Patentability of Computer Related or Implemented Inventions (CRIs or CIIs) in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, and India
Patent legislation and practice in the patentability assessment of computer related or implemented inventions differ from country to country. “Computer Related Inventions” (“CRIs”) or “Computer Implemented Inventions” (“CIIs”) has been given an explicit definition in some countries such as in Philippines and India. These countries both define CRIs or CIIs as those inventions involving computers, […]
Curbing Deliberate Online Falsehoods – A Step in the Right Direction?
As was aptly summarized in the Green Paper entitled “Deliberate Online Falsehoods: Challenges and Implications” published by the Singapore Ministry of Communications and Information and the Ministry of Law, around the world falsehoods are being deliberately spread online, to attack public institutions and individuals, with the aim of sowing discord amongst racial and religious communities, […]
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 […]
Myanmar: Updates on Trade Mark Procedures
Whilst the long awaited landmark changes to IP laws in Myanmar are yet to be finalised, the Deed Registration Law 2018 has been enacted by the Union Parliament of Myanmar. The salient features under this law are enumerated herein below: (i) The language of the documents filed must be in the Myanmar Language. (ii) Documents […]
Laos – Patent, Design and Plant Variety Opposition Procedures Now Available
Laos’s new Law on Intellectual Property No.38/NA of November 15, 2017 was published electronically in the Laos official gazette on May 25, 2018, and became effective 15 days subsequent to its publication. This supersedes the previous Law on Intellectual Property No. 01/NA dated December 20, 2011. The new legislation brings reform to a variety of […]
Updates to Vietnam Patent Regime
New regulations with regard to patent applications in Vietnam came into force on 15th January 2018. These amended regulations aim to bring the Vietnamese intellectual property system in line with recent developments. Below are three of the main changes based on guidelines laid out in Circular No. 16/2016/TT-BKHCN from the Ministry of Science and Technology, […]
New Indonesian Customs Regulation for Protection of IP Rights
The Indonesian Government has recently implemented legislation to assist IP owners to enforce their copyrights and trademarks. The Regulation (No. 20 of 2017) came into force on August 2, 2017. The new Regulation provides that IP owners with rights registered in Indonesia may apply for customs recordal to the Directorate General of Customs and Excise […]