Insights
New IP courts major step forward in China’s judicial reforms
By Ai-Leen Lim | Posted on March 24, 2015
In November and December 2014, China announced the long awaited establishment of three specialized IP courts in the Tier 1 cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. These courts are empowered to hear the following cases: First instance civil and administrative cases related to patents, new plant varieties, layout design of integrated circuit, technological secrets and...
The Indian Jungle – an IP perspective, part 2
By Michael Bech Sommer | Posted on March 10, 2015
To foreign applicants filing a patent application in India takes place “at the IPO”, but in reality there is a choice of venue which is not trivial. The Indian patent office (IPO) is headquartered at Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) with branches in Chennai (formerly Madras), New Delhi and Mumbai (formerly Bombay). The office of...
Tags: compulsory license, India, Patent
The Indian Jungle – an IP perspective, part 1
By Michael Bech Sommer | Posted on February 27, 2015
“Now these are the laws of the jungle, and many and mighty are they…” – Rudyard Kipling wrote these lines over 100 years ago in his “Law for the Wolves” from the famous Jungle Book. As IP practitioners we are constantly reminded of the complex nature of today’s Indian IP jungle and the many and...
Swedish Government forms Innovation Council
By Love Koči | Posted on January 28, 2015
According to a recently published article in the Swedish business journal Veckans Affärer, the Swedish Minister for Enterprise and Innovation, Mikael Damberg, has promised the creation of an Innovation Council during the spring of 2015 which is to be headed by the Swedish Prime Minister. Mr. Damberg states that a Council of this kind has...
Tags: Innovation, sweden
Is there anything morally wrong with “Je suis Charlie”?
By AWA | Posted on January 21, 2015
In continuation of the terrible terror attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, social medias were flooded with the phrase “Je suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”) as a message of condolence, outrage and defiance, as well as support for the right to free expression. As expected, this social media wave resulted in a vast...
Tags: OHIM, trademarks
The UPCA Opt-in/Pin-out scenario
By Michael Bech Sommer | Posted on December 16, 2014
The Unified Patent court agreement (UPCA) has been ratified in 2014 by both Denmark and Sweden, so even if the actual advent of the unitary patent and UPC is still some way off, potential patent rights holders in the two countries should already now prepare for the new regime. The coming into force of the...
Filed under: Insights
Tags: Europe, European patent, unified patent court, unitary patent
New Patent Prosecution Highway possibilities for both Danish, Swedish and European applicants
By Troels Peter Rørdam | Posted on November 14, 2014
As the PPH expands further, both Danish, Swedish and indeed European patent applicants are offered new possibilities of speeding up and simplifying examination of their patent applications. In the following the Awapatent IP Blog sums up these new possibilities. To recall, for a given PPH-agreement the PPH allows for requesting accelerated examination at the one...
Revisions to Canadian Trademark Act
By AWA | Posted on November 6, 2014
Earlier this year Canada’s government proposed Canada major changes to the Canadian Trademark Act and in June the bill (C-31) received royal assent. The changes enable Canada, as one of the last (if not the last) western industrialized countries, to accede to the Madrid Protocol, Nice Agreement and the Singapore Treaty. Some of the most...
Filed under: Insights
Tags: Canada, Madrid Protocol, Nice Agreement, Singapore Treaty, trademarks
European patent validation in Morocco and Tunisia
By Troels Peter Rørdam | Posted on October 31, 2014
Recently, the EPO has initiated work on a new interesting possibility for European patent applicants. Namely, the EPO has reported having signed an agreement with the Tunisian government on the validation of European patents for Tunisia. A similar agreement has previously, in 2013, been signed with the Moroccan government. According to the agreements, European patents...
Swedish supreme court: Trademark infringement is not a crime for which “the nature of the crime” motivates imprisonment
By AWA | Posted on October 24, 2014
It is rather well-known that a trademark infringement may result in claims for damages. On the other hand, the awareness is probably not as high about the risk for an individual to end up in jail for the very same violation. The extent to which the latter should happen was the question to be decided...
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