Category Archives: IP Expert Talk

Thailand Is Now Clearing Its Backlog of Patent Applications

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RegisteredGood news for SMEs wishing to acquire patents in Thailand, as the country is committed to clearing its backlog of patent applications. Today’s blog post has been kindly shared with us by our external IPR experts, Ms. Darani Vachanavuttivong and Ms. Jitluedee Siemanond from Tilleke & Gibbins. In this article, Ms. Vachanavuttivong and Ms. Siemanond further explain the steps undertaken by the Thai Department of Intellectual Property to ensure faster patent application procedures. 

The problem of long periods of pendency for patent registration in Thailand may finally be successfully solved after several past attempts, even though an expected executive order under section 44 of the nation’s interim constitution has not yet been formally announced.

The Thai Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) has put forward great efforts in setting up an effective action plan and has substantially increased its Patent Office manpower in 2016 and 2017, in order to effectively and promptly examine pending patent applications. The number of patent examiners in each examiner group has increased more than 100 percent, with the total number of examiners growing from 39 in 2015 to 143 in August 2017. The approximate headcount of each examiner group at the Patent Office is as follows:
Continue reading “Thailand Is Now Clearing Its Backlog of Patent Applications” »

Domain Name Registration and Protection in China

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matrix-2502958_1920Today’s blog post on domain name registration and protection in China has been kindly shared with us by China IPR SME Helpdesk external expert Daniel Albrecht from Starke Beijing. The article first appeared on the Starke Beijing website. In this article, Mr. Albrecht gives a comprehensive overview of how and why to register and protect internet domain names in China. 

With the development and usage of World Wide Web, mobile internet and mobile phones, the Chinese E-Commerce market got an enormous growth. According to “Chinese E-Commerce Market Data Monitoring Report 2016”, the E-Commerce transaction amount reached 22.97 trillion RMB in 2016.

For both Chinese and international enterprises, to join this market is a trend but also a necessity. As one of the mainly path for entering E-Commerce market, the meaning of domain name registration is therefore getting more and more important.

Worldwide exist 330 million registered domain names currently. In China is the number in the amount of 50 million. China is becoming the second largest domain name market in the world. This market is interesting for both domain name service providers and enterprises as domain user. The foreign providers need to know the policy and rules for running a domain name business in China. And how to register and protect domain name in China is now an important issue that the enterprises should pay attention to.

Chinese government is trying to improve their laws and rules of internet administration service. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the PRC (MIIT) released a new version of the “Measures for the Administration of Domain Names on Internet” on September 1, 2017. These new measures took effect on November 1, 2017. The rules should further promote the foreign investment to come into the Chinese registration market on one hand; on the other hand encourage the user to choose the registrar, which is a in China registered legal person. At the same time the rules accelerate also the development of domain name with Chinese characters. Continue reading “Domain Name Registration and Protection in China” »

The Philippines: Application of The Doctrine of Equivalents

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patent-without backgroundToday’s blog post on the application of the doctrine of equivalents in the Philippines has been kindly drafted for us by our external expert Ms. Editha Hechanova from Hechanova & Co., Inc. In her article, Ms. Hechanova discusses a patent infringement case in the Philippines to demonstrate the applicability of the doctrine of equivalents in the Philippines IP system, which is essentially meant to help fighting patent fraud. The article first appeared in the Managing Intellectual Property. 

The doctrine of equivalents is provided under Section 75.2 of the IP Code of the Philippines (Republic Act 8293). However, in deciding actions for patent cancellation and infringement, the Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHL) as well as the Supreme Court rely for the most part on American case law. The recent patent infringement case of Eddie T Dionisio v Visita International Phils, Inc and Lal K Tulsiani (IPV No 10- 2013-00034, July 28 2016) citing a cancellation case also between the parties shows this.

Dionisio was the registered owner of utility model number 2-2011-000646 for a multi-purpose articulated ladder issued by the IPOPHL on June 6 2012. On December 20 2013, Dionisio filed an administrative complaint for patent infringement against Visita claiming that the latter sold ladders with specifications similar to Dionisio’s patented ladders. Visita countered that there was no infringement since it had its own earlier filed utility model registration 2-2009-000166 issued on December 28 2010. Continue reading “The Philippines: Application of The Doctrine of Equivalents” »

Validation of European Patent in Cambodia

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shutterstock_166598477Good news for the European SMEs wishing to do business in Cambodia, it’s now possible to validate European patents in Cambodia. Today’s blog post on validation of European patent in Cambodia has been kindly drafted for us by our external IPR expert Dr. Phin Sovath from Bun & Associates. In this blog post, Dr. Phin further explains the Agreement on Validation of European Patent between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the European Patent Office.

Summary

On 1st March 2018, the Agreement on Validation of European Patent (the “Validation Agreement”) enters into force in Cambodia. Henceforth, it is possible to request for validation of the European patent in Cambodia and thus obtain the same protection as national patent granted by the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft (the “MIH”).

In January 2017, the Royal Government of Cambodia and the EPO entered into Agreement on Validation of European Patent. In November 2017, the law on ratification of the Validation Agreement was promulgated. And from 1st March 2018 onward, the European patent holder may request for its validation in Cambodia through a simplified and accelerated procedure set forth in the Prakas No. 282 MIH/2017 dated 08 December 2017 of the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft (the “Prakas No.282 MIH/2017”).

In accordance with Prakas No. 282 MIH/2017, the validation procedure is applicable to both European patent and European patent application which refers to either the patent application filed with the EPO under the framework of the European Patent Convention (the “EPC”) or the international application for patent registration filed under the framework of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (the “PCT”) having designation of both the EPO and Cambodia. Moreover, the eligible European patent and European patent application will have a filing date on or after the date of entry into force of the Validation Agreement in Cambodia, i.e. 1st March 2018. Continue reading “Validation of European Patent in Cambodia” »

China’s trademark law: Evicting the squatters

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Today’s blog post has been kindly drafted for us by Ms. Marie Ferey and Mr. Fabio Giacopello from HFG Law & Intellectual Property. Ms. Ferey and Mr. Giacopello use several high-profile case studies to discuss how companies can fight against trade mark squatters in China. 

Several high-profile cases show that trademark owners in China can succeed in removing squatters. Marie Ferey and Fabio Giacopello of HFG report.

When it was introduced the new Chinese Trademark Law (TML) didn’t seem tough enough against trademark squatting, but after three years of implementation we have found that the TML has many resources and provisions that can be used to stop malicious trademarks.

‘Face book’

On January 24, 2011, an individual called Hongqun Liu filed an application for registering ‘face book’ as a trademark before the Chinese Trademark Office (CTMO). It designated “vegetable canned food, potato chips” in class 29, “coffee beverage, tea beverage and candy” in class 30, and “fruit juice (beverage), iced (beverage), vegetable juice (beverage)” in class 32. The trademarks were preliminarily approved by the CTMO.

Social media platform Facebook later undertook legal action in order to invalidate the trademarks and succeeded at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate Court. According to article 44 of China’s TML, the court stated: “If improper means are found in the examination stage of a trademark application, it is detrimental to restrain such means by cancellation of a registered trademark instead of rejecting the registration at the approval stage.”

In this case, Facebook succeeded in proving that Liu had filed multiple applications for ‘face book’ trademarks in many different classes. Besides, Liu has also registered reproductions and imitations of others trademarks with high reputation. Continue reading “China’s trademark law: Evicting the squatters” »