The provisions of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works came into force on January 11, 2006 in Nepal. The Copyright Act 2059 B.S. (enacted in 2002) had already incorporated the provisions of the Berne Convention related to copyrights and intellectual property rights protection. This Convention adopted at Berne in 1886 […]
Publications
India - TRIPS Compliance – the Unfinished Agenda
India's Commerce & Industries Minister constituted a Technical Expert Committee to study two critical issues which were not considered by the Parliament when passing the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005. Issues concerning patentability of 'new chemical entities' and 'micro-organisms' were referred to the Expert Committee. If any amendments are suggested to safeguard the interests of these […]
The Mailbox is Opened – Indian Patent Office all set to examine product patent applications!
On January 21, 2005 the Government of India issued a Special Notice that all patent applications filed or claiming priority up to July 20, 2003 shall be deemed to have been published. Accordingly, Requests for Examination (RFE) can be filed in respect of all applications filed or claiming priority up to the aforesaid date. The […]
“New Use Claims” – New Indian patent law heralds fundamental changes
The recently promulgated Indian Patent Ordinance indirectly recognizes 'new uses' as patentable in India. Thus far, new use of a known substance was unpatentable. Section 3 of the Indian Patents Act 1970 excluded 'new use' from the scope of patentable inventions. The recent amendment enables pharmaceutical companies to protect new use of patented drug molecules, […]
Indian Patent Office published Draft Examination Guidelines
The Indian Patent Office has published a Draft Manual of Patent Practice & Procedure. The deadline to send comments on the Draft Manual to the Controller of Patents is June 20, 2005. The Manual runs into 166 pages and it contains 14 chapters and 3 Annexures. In his Opening Remarks the Controller of Patents mentions […]
India’s Patents Ordinance 2004 – A License to Litigate?
India met its TRIPS deadline through the promulgation of the Patents Ordinance 2004 on December 26, 2004. The Ordinance came into force on January 1, 2005. This measure, albeit temporary, reflects the Government's resolve to meet its WTO obligations. The Indian Constitution provides that an Ordinance expires six weeks after Parliament reconvenes, giving it an […]
India’s Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005 & Software Patents
In the last 10 years of India's experiments with TRIPS compliance in the domain of patents, the one section in the Act that was put to a major test is Section 3. In the past a critical amendment to Section 3 was the insertion of a new sub-section 3(k) by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002. […]
Yahoo! Inc success over domain dispute in Thailand
Yahoo!, Inc., known as a web directory and a search engine company, is a global Internet company that offers a wide range of services such as Internet searching and shopping to millions of Internet users worldwide since 1994. In November 2000, Yahoo!, Inc. discovered domain names registered under Somsak Sookripanich, a Thai national and filed […]
The Military Government issues more compulsory licenses
On 25th January 2007, Thailand's military government stunned the pharmaceutical industry by their decision to issue more compulsory licenses with respect to drugs for treatment of heart diseases and AIDS. Earlier, in November last year, Thailand had issued its first compulsory license for making Efavirenz, an anti-retroviral drug manufactured by US pharmaceutical company Merck & […]
The Current Approach Of The Judiciary Towards Well-Known Marks In Thailand
The situation concerning the protection and enforcement of well-known marks in Thailand can be rather good despite there being no mandatory provisions that clearly spell out the constitution of a well-known mark. The Courts and Examiners use the prevailing case law as precedents or the Ministerial Notifications as a guideline in deciding what amounts to […]