Category: Legislation

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States Are Proposing Their Own CCPA-Like Privacy Laws

Businesses that have just about come to terms with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) may have more privacy rules and regulations to deal with going forward. Legislators in a number of other states across the country have recently proposed their own privacy bills. In many instances, these bills are similar to the CCPA, but … Continue Reading

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS: IP&IT NOVELTIES IN RUSSIA OF 2019

THE GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS AS THE NEW INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ITEM According to the Federal Law “On the Introduction of Amendments to Part Four of the Civil code of the Russian Federation” that shall come into force on the 27th of June 2020, a new civil law institute – the geographical indication is appearing in the Civil … Continue Reading

Collective management of music authors’ rights in Greece: Recent developments in a long-suffering field

The field of collective management of music authors’ rights in Greece is currently experiencing a series of ongoing developments regarding the establishment and operation of collecting societies representing music authors in the country, with the situation still remaining uncertain as to how the landscape will look like in a few months’ time. It is noted … Continue Reading

California Clears the Way for College Athletes to Get Their “Fair” Share of Licensing Pie

Sending shockwaves across the collegiate landscape, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 206, the Fair Pay to Play Act (the Act) on September 30, 2019. The Act takes aim squarely at the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) amateurism rules which prohibit student athletes from profiting from their athletic skill while in college and threatens to … Continue Reading

NEW DOJ ANTITRUST DIVISION POLICY INCENTIVIZES ROBUST CORPORATE ANTITRUST COMPLIANCE PROGRAMS

Last month the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division announced a landmark new policy to incentivize companies to develop robust antitrust compliance programs. For the first time, the Antitrust Division will now consider a company’s antitrust compliance program as a factor in evaluating whether or not to bring criminal charges against the company and its officers. … Continue Reading

United States Licensed Attorney Required for Foreign-Domiciled U.S. Trademarks

Since August 3, 2019, all foreign-domiciled U.S. trademark applicants, registrants and parties to proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board must be represented by an attorney licensed to practice law in the U.S. (as defined in 37 C.F.R. § 11.1). Such U.S. licensed attorneys are required to both affirm that … Continue Reading

PATENT TROLL SUITS DOWN, NOT OUT IN 2018

Over the past half-decade, Congress and the courts have made aggressive efforts to curb the worst abuses of the patent system. In 2013, Congress passed the America Invents Act (AIA), which established the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to hear patent validity challenges outside of the federal court system. In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling … Continue Reading

NO LONGER “FUCT” – SCANDALOUS MARK PROVISION STRUCK DOWN BY SUPREME COURT

What constitutes a “scandalous” trademark? The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been grappling with this question since the enactment of the 1905 Trademark Act, later codified in the 1946 Lanham Act, which forbids registration of any mark that “[c]onsists of or comprises immoral . . . or scandalous matter.” Since the creation of this provision, the USPTO has regularly rejected marks for … Continue Reading

A NEW MECHANISM FOR PROTECTING FASHION COMPANIES IN RUSSIA

At the end of June a mechanism providing for temporary protection of industrial designs was introduced into the Russian legal system. In short it requires somebody who uses an industrial design during the period of its patenting to pay compensation to the future holder of the patent.  Previously, this type of protection was available only … Continue Reading

Establishment of the Intellectual Property (IP) List in the Court of First Instance of the Hong Kong High Court

According to the 2018 Global Competitiveness Report released by the World Economic Forum, Hong Kong was ranked 9th out of 140 economies in terms of IP protection.  In accordance with the recommendations made by the Working Group on IP Trading in 2015 (of which the writer is a member), a wide range of measures were … Continue Reading

Understanding Trademarks Act Changes

On June 17, 2019, Canada’s Trademarks Act changed, resulting in its modernization. Canada has now joined five international intellectual property treaties, including the Madrid Protocol, Singapore Treaty and Nice Agreement, all related to trademarks. There has been a great deal of activity to get ready for the changes. To implement the changes, the Canadian Trademarks … Continue Reading

Information on Filed Applications for Registration of Drugs has Become Publicly Available in Russia

Under the Federal Law “On drugs circulation” (Law), information on state registration of drugs in Russia shall be publicly available. Pursuant to Art. 37(1) of the Law, MoH-s obligation is to disclose information regarding all filed applications for drug registration on its official website. For a long period, MoH used to turn a blind eye to … Continue Reading

Rospatent gives the green light to foreign applicants from 11 states

As outlined in art. 1247 of the Russian Civil Code, any applicant may choose one of the options how to be represented before Rospatent: directly, or by a Russian patent attorney, or by another representative (e.g., attorney-at-law) The list is significantly shortened for foreign applicants: under art. 1247 (2) of the Civil Code, foreign citizens … Continue Reading

New Process for Timestamping IP works in Greece

On 26 February 2019, the Hellenic Copyright Organization (Greek acronym: “OPI”) launched a new online service for “electronic timestamping” of all types of works. The service, which can be accessed at www.timestamp.gr/en , claims to offer the opportunity to creators, both amateurs and professionals, to easily get certified proof of existence of their work at … Continue Reading

Troubled Waters for Online Pirates in Greece

On November 6, 2018 a remarkable blow was delivered to online piracy in Greece. On that day, the newly-formed “Committee for Online Copyright Infringement” – informally and more descriptively also known as the Greek “Anti-Piracy Committee” – published its first decisions, ordering, by one of those (Decision No. 3/2018), all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in … Continue Reading

Copyright law update – proposed amendments to website blocking laws

Background The Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2018 (Act) which passed both Houses of Parliament on 28 November 2018, and is due to commence the day after it receives Royal Assent, amends section 115A of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Section 115A of the Copyright Act was introduced in 2015 and enables a copyright owner to apply to the … Continue Reading

AMENDMENTS TO THE NEW LEGAL FRAMEWORK IN GREECE ABOUT CASH REBATES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF AUDIOVISUAL WORKS

INTRODUCTION The present article constitutes an amendment of my article “The New Legal Framework in Greece about Cash Rebates for the Production of Audiovisual Works” dated 16.04.2018 (available here), which provided a brief and general outline of the legal framework in Greece about the state aid scheme for the production of audiovisual works in Greece … Continue Reading

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT TO CONSIDER ‘ON-SALE BAR’ DOCTRINE

Recent focus on the United States Supreme Court has surrounded who President Trump will nominate to replace retiring Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy.  (The nominee is Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit.)  However, once October is here, the 2018 Term begins and focus will shift back to the cases before the Court.  One of those issues … Continue Reading

WILL THERE BE TRADEMARK TROLLS IN CANADA OR ARE THEY ALREADY HERE?

The Canadian Trademarks Act amendments, which are allegedly coming into force in early 2019, include the removal of the requirement that a trademark applicant declare that it has been using its trademark before it files the application or before registration in Canada. The amendments are meant to bring Canada’s laws in line with international treaties. The … Continue Reading

The Danish implementation of the Trade Secrets Directive – does the new law benefit the owners or the infringers?

As of June 9, 2018, an entirely new Law has been implemented in Denmark, namely the Danish Act on Trade Secrets, which implements the Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on protection of trade secrets (hereinafter “the Directive”). The new law replaces paragraph 23 in the Danish Marketing Act, which up until now … Continue Reading

Smartphones, tablets, hard drives and the blank tape levy: Recent developments in Greece

The issue of the blank tape levy, due for certain devices and media which are suitable for the reproduction of protected works as equitable remuneration for the reproduction for private use, and which is payable by the importers or manufacturers of such devices, has often in recent years been a subject of dispute between creators, … Continue Reading

THE NEW LEGAL FRAMEWORK IN GREECE ABOUT CASH REBATES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF AUDIOVISUAL WORKS

INTRODUCTION The purpose of the present article is a brief and general outline of the new legal framework in Greece about the state aid scheme for the production of audiovisual works in Greece based on the incentive of a cash rebate of the 25% of the eligible costs of the production incurred within the Greek … Continue Reading

Greek Supreme Court contests the validity of Philips’ EFM+ (DVD) Patent

Summary In its decision no 1589/2017 the Greek Supreme Court upheld the appeal brought by the Greek company “DPH” against the Dutch company “P”. The Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeals’ decision, which had upheld definitely the lawsuit of “P” against “DPH” for breach of “P”’s essential patents, was wrong in finding they … Continue Reading
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