Prosecution

During this morning's session (October 4, 2022) of the Patent Knowledge Week, an annual event that aims to help all innovation professionals in matters associated with patents, the European Patent Office (EPO) brought new information about the entry into force of the Unitary Patent System. It is expected to start in April 2023, the same year that the European Patent Convention (EPC) celebrates 50 years.

It is well known that patents are an exclusive right granted for inventions, namely, products and processes which are new, inventive, and provided with industrial application. When it comes to music, original compositions are commonly protected by copyright or trademarks (the latter being only possible in the countries where the registration of sound marks is allowed).

Approved by the Republic Assembly in March and published in the Diário Oficial in June, Decree No. 9/2022 comes into force on 26th September 2022. The new decree revokes Decree No. 4/2001 and updates the issue of copyright and neighbouring rights in Mozambique. 

According to article 9 of the new law, copyright belongs to the intellectual creator of the work and is recognised regardless of registration or any other formality, with the exception of some cases specified in the law, namely title of undisclosed work, title of periodical publication, literary or artistic name.

Although the religious texts do not refer to Intellectual Property (IP), religions are connected to IP.

In a more evident way, religions’ influence on IP ranges from discussing and approving IP laws to registering and using trademarks. In a less obvious way, we observed a displacement of religion in trademarks, through consumerism. Like religions, well-known brands, such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, became ideological structures that shape our ways of being and doing, filling the void left by the withdrawal of the main religions of a partially desacralized world.

The commercial relationships between China and the African continent began as early as the 2nd century BC, having expanded in the 7th century following the development of maritime routes. Trade between China and Africa has expanded since then and China became, in the 21st century, Africa’s first economic partner.

The exchanges between the two regions concern trade, investment, and finance and it is widely acknowledged that China is a major contributor to the economic and social development of the African continent.

The Portuguese Patent Law (CPI) may provide interesting ways for an applicant to file a priority document in Portugal and when filing subsequent patent applications abroad.

The CPI provides users of the patent system with two embodiments of patent applications, namely a provisional patent application (PPA) and a non-provisional patent application (PA).

This article aims to present the advantages to the user to begin a patent family in Portugal, including some careful considerations, especially when the applicant chooses to take the PPA route.

A fierce battle broke out in the IP field because of the war in Ukraine. The Russian Government issued Decree No. 299, dated March 6th, 2022, which allows national companies or individuals to use inventions, utility models and industrial designs, belonging to “unfriendly countries” of Russia, without owner permission or compensation. Its aftermath may result in deep uncertainty regarding the enforcement of IP rights in Russia.

On May 26, 2022, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal issued a decision in a case involving two tobacco manufacturers, Open Horizon and Carnilinx.

Open Horizon filed a lawsuit against Carnilinx for infringement of its ‘Pacific’ trademarks (with several variants) for tobacco products and cigarettes, on the grounds that the competitor, which was trading the same products under the ‘Atlantic’ (with several variants) trademarks, was infringing its trademark rights and because there was unfair competition.

The greater heritage of a nation remains in the creativity of its citizens. Since the beginning of the 20th Century, the world has continued to experience astronomical advancement in scientific and technological innovations, which has changed the phase of modern society, leading many thinkers to term this present civilization “the jet age”.

This technological advancement has had an enormous impact on the world's legal systems. It has disrupted traditional modes of IP protection, which have been forced to change to keep abreast with the ever-changing forms of innovation.

Inventa has been contributing to updating several chapters related to African jurisdictions in the Manual of Industrial Property (also known as The Brown Book), published every year by Wolters Kluwer International Group.

As usual, the contribution of Inventa outlines the procedures and laws involved in filing applications for patents, trademarks or designs specifically in ARIPO, OAPI, Somalia, South Sudan, Madagascar, DR Congo, Seychelles, Zambia, Malawi, Gambia, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Liberia, Libya, and Sierra Leone.