IP Counselling and Strategy

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), proclaimed in 1948, marks an irruption of the individual and his rights in the international sphere, shielded by the State’s sovereignty so far.

Aspiring to enshrine “universal” rights, the UDHR assigns to education a value of utmost importance. Indeed, the UDHR, in its preamble and article 26, identifies education as a means for achieving the common ideal of respect, application and promotion of the rights and freedoms recognized therein. Article 26 also enshrines the right to education as a fundamental human right.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently shared statistical data in regards to the companies that invested more in the protection of IP assets, during 2016, namely trademarks, PCTs, designs and domain name disputes. IP assets filing services experienced increases in the number of applications.

The Hague Convention that abolishes the requirement of legalization for foreign public documents, also known as the Apostille Convention, has entered into force past August 14st, 2016.

Before, foreign documents had to be authenticated at a Notary Public and legalized up to Brazilian Consulate, but now the process is simpler and less bureaucratic. Documents that had to be filed at the National IP Institute, notarized or legalized, should now be apostilled.

ARM Holdings, a Cambridge-based internet technology company that designs chips and holds the title as the UK’s only global-scale tech company and is also listed in the FTSE 100 has accepted a takeover offer by the Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank for $31.4 billion.

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.

On an open letter addressed to the forthcoming 45th President of the United States of America, the former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and current Co-Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, Carlos Gutierrez, has stressed the importance that the new head of the executive branch should give to Intellectual Property Rights.

Following several months of political and social unrest, the Republic of Burundi appears to be returning to normality and regaining its commercial and financial interests. A gesture that demonstrates Burundi’s firm commitment is the nation’s recent adherence to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and to the WIPO Copyright Treaty.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation informed that Burundi had deposited the instruments of accession with the organisation on the 12th of January of 2016.

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.

As from the 27th of February 2016, São Tomé and Principe will effectively become a member of ARIPO. It will therefore be possible to designate São Tomé and Príncipe in an ARIPO application filed on or after the 19th of August 2014.

The government of S. Tomé and Príncipe deposited its instrument of Accession to the Banjul Protocol on the 27th of November of 2015.

The accession of São Tomé and Príncipe makes it the 18th member state party to the Harare Protocol (patents, industrial designs and utility models).

Scotch Whiskey will now boast an increased level of protection against falsified products within OAPI countries. The spirit drink which is produced in Scotland, is widely protected and registered as a geographical indication around the world has now proceeded to do the same within the members of the Organisation Africaine de la Propriete Intellectuelle (OAPI), which covers a vast area of the African continent.