Patents

Abstract: Djibouti becomes the 150th PCT Member-state

Djibouti has become the 150th Member State to join the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), it filed its instrument of accession on the 23rd of June, 2016 and the treaty is expected to be enforceable from the 23rd of September, 2016. The law in Djibouti is due to be amended in order to cater for PCT international applications.

Abstract: The UK has voted to leave the EU – what are the consequences for IP Rights?

The surprise came on the morning of Friday, the 24th of June: Voters in the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Apart from all of the other economic and political issues, this event has created a chorus of concerns among IP stakeholders.

Past April 20th, 2016 the Rwandan government has released an Official Gazette Special.

This important document, drafted in Kinyarwanda, French and English, makes effective recently promulgated laws and modifies various IP laws. The main changes are the following:

Since the 8th of June, 2016, the Industrial Property Office of Kosovo, one of the youngest countries in the world, has tighten its requirements for filing applications for protection of trademarks, designs, patents and other intellectual property rights.

Founded in 2010 by the entrepreneur Lei Jun, Xiaomi is one of China’s largest mobile brands, just recently announced a licensing deal of around 1,500 patents from the software-giant Microsoft. Pundits suggest this move is an effort to expand from China into western markets.

The Kuwaiti Council of Ministers approved Law No. 11/2016 declaring accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The newly approved law was published in the Kuwaiti Official Gazette on the 27th of March, 2016. Adhering to the PCT enables Kuwait to register international patents through its national office, and as a consequence, improves legal protection for national and regional inventions as well as facilitate administrative procedures for obtaining protection.

The long-standing dissension between Apple and Samsung continues, with an appeals court invalidating two Apple patents and ruling a third that had not been infringed by Samsung.

Samsung and Apple have been battling over patents since 2011, with both sides firmly claiming that the other has violated patents that they own related to mobile technology and design.

Apple had originally sought $2.2 billion, claiming Samsung infringed on eight software patents that cover features such as ‘slide-to-unlock, ‘autocorrect’, and ‘interactive phone number’.

The Ugandan Industrial Property Act of 2014 is now in force.

The main features are summarised below:

a) Patents and Utility Models

Finally, PCT international and national phase applications will be recognised.

Apart from this, some major rules regarding biotechnological inventions are introduced, namely, some patent exclusions were provide, such as, natural substances, whether purified, synthetized or otherwise isolated from nature.

The Principality of Andorra was, until January 2016, one of the only two European countries where it was not possible to protect inventions throughout patent applications (along with the Vatican City).

This is no longer the situation, as the Patent Law 26/2014, passed by the Principality of Andorra in 30th October in 2014, entered in force in January 2016.

Patent stakeholders are already familiar with the problems of patent trolls. Every day they are used to hearing about the problems resulting from the behaviour of such “patent owners”. As it is commonly known, a patent troll is a pejorative term employed to describe certain individual persons or companies that misuse patents as a strategy to obtain royalties.