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
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
Last August, two new judges joined the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, Judge Colm F. Connolly and Judge Maryellen Noreika. Judge Connolly filled the seat previously held by Judge Sue L. Robinson and Judge Noreika filled the seat previously held by Judge Gregory M. Sleet. In recent months, both Judge Connolly … Continue Reading
While in some jurisdictions the concept of a “patent attorney” or also a “patent judge”, referring to persons who not only have knowledge of patent law but also acquire technical expertise in relation to patents, is common, this is not the case in Greece. Of course, there are lawyers with high-level expertise in patent law, … Continue Reading
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
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
Apple, the technology giant which runs successful Apple Stores all over the world, announced that it will close its only two stores in eastern Texas by Friday, April 12. Apple, however, did not announce why it was closing those two stores. This is especially intriguing since Apple likely generates millions of dollars in revenue each … Continue Reading
in PDF format CATEGORY: Trademarks CASE: Sony vs. PAG DETAILS: Resolution of the Constitutional Court No. 8-P dated 13 February 2018 SUMMARY: Unlike the counterfeit, the original (grey) product cannot be destroyed under the court judgment (unless it endangers human health, the environment or cultural heritage) and it is impossible to recover a large compensation… Continue Reading
The Amazon Marketplace, an online sales platform for third-party sellers, has seen a significant increase in popularity. It is not, however, the only third-party sales platform, Walmart.com, e-Bay, and Etsy are other popular marketplaces in the U.S., and all offer great ways for international sellers to enter the U.S. market. There are, however, some IP … Continue Reading
On 24 April 2018 the Intellectual Property Court published its Decision in case A41 85807/2016 between Swiss-based Novartis AG and local generic Nativa LLC. The IP Court’s position in this case may result in an extra defense granted for patent holders against unfair practice of registration of generics drugs until patent expiry. Under the auspices of the … Continue Reading
Korean Court Makes Efforts to Create a More Patent-Friendly Environment. Although Korea has been very active in the development of intellectual property, Korea has a reputation for being relatively unfriendly to foreigners utilizing the Korean patent system. Korean courts have been trying to rectify this situation by changing the environment for patent protection and patent … Continue Reading
Suppose that you want to file a design patent application for an article that is three-dimensional. What views of the article will you need for the design patent application that will be sufficient to support your claim? The answer is a sufficient number of views to constitute a complete disclosure of the appearance of the … Continue Reading
In a recent precedential decision, a split Federal Circuit (Judges Dyk and Taranto in the majority, Judge Newman, dissenting) issued a lengthy, 53-page decision, regarding the obviousness doctrine. Judge Taranto, writing for the majority, engaged in a fact-intensive analysis to determine that a ‘blocking patent’ mooted evidence of objective indicia of non-obviousness and found the … Continue Reading
IP cases, by their nature, proceed in more than one country simultaneously. For instance, the patent lawsuits between Samsung and Apple have occurred at the same time in the courts of more than 10 different countries including Korea, the U.S., Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and Australia. Because these cases are proceeding simultaneously, IP right holders … Continue Reading
Suppose that you have an invention disclosure for a design of an article that you want to protect. When you review the invention disclosure, you notice that the inventor has only supplied photographs of the design and not any line drawings of the design. Can you file the design patent application with the photographs? The … Continue Reading
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
On 24 April 2018 the Intellectual Property Court published its Decision in case A41 85807/2016 between Swiss-based Novartis AG and local generic Nativa LLC. The IP Court’s position in this case may result in an extra defense granted for patent holders against unfair practice of registration of generics drugs until patent expiry.… Continue Reading
On 26 April, the UK ratified the EU’s Unified Patent Court (UPC) agreement. Although much of intellectual property law and practice is already harmonised amongst EU member states, a UPC would set up a common patent court for the hearing of intellectual property cases, and the direct applicability of its rulings, across all EU member … Continue Reading
Recently Rospatent officially launched a service for fast-track registration of trademarks and patents. The fast-track option has become available for those applicants who ordered and payed an official trademark search report in Rospatent in respect of all 45 Nice classes. The official fee for this service is EUR 1 500 (RUR 94 400), the term is 10 … Continue Reading
Suppose that you want to obtain a patent for an invention related to your cannabis business. What if the invention is a device for extracting oils, an ornamental design for a new vaporizer, or a new breed of cannabis plant? Should you attempt to patent your invention with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office? Can … Continue Reading
Trade secrets, together with patents, trademarks, and copyrights, are one of the four main types of intellectual property. Unlike the three other types of IP, trade secrets are never made public. Trademarks and service marks are obtainable only through public use that creates an association between the mark and the origin of specific goods or … Continue Reading
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
In a suit alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition, the Korean Patent Court concluded that the use of the mark “” in connection with “unmanned lodging services” used for so-called love motels with an image of a naked woman, did not infringe Outback Steakhouse’s trademark. But it did constitute unfair competition because that use harmed … Continue Reading
