Enforcement

"The struggle to protect patents in Africa" an article written by Vítor Palmela Fidalgo from Inventa International for the magazine The Patent Lawyer.

Up until now, there wasn’t any opposition proceeding in Russia whereas any person could submit a notice to examiners after publication up until granting. Afterwards, it is only possible to revert the decision through an invalidation proceeding. The invalidation could be requested in the first five years counting from the publication of the registration of the trademark.

The new Act was approved July 14th, 2016 by the House of Representatives of Liberia and was published past July 22nd, 2016. It is noteworthy that it has received unanimous approval by the Liberian legislators, a decision which was based on a report issued by a join commission with members of the areas of commerce, industry and justice.

THE CONTEXT

The society of today galloped through technological evolutionary steps. Everyday life has been hijacked by Wi-Fi and all types of connectable devices. From smartphones to smart-fridges, everything is connected through wireless systems, various networks existing simultaneously, intertwined amongst themselves. While it may not be possible to protect the aforementioned programs by themselves, what is protected is exactly the method or a system implemented by software.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

The case reports back October 2011 when GS Media provided hyperlinks from its website Geenstijl.nl to external websites that hosted unpublished photographs of Dutch TV celebrity and hostess that were due in the next issue of the Playboy magazine. Sanoma Media Netherlands BV was the publisher of Playboy in the Netherlands.

A case that is currently attracting a lot of media attention has been the case of Pirate Joe vs Trader Joe’s. The first is a Canadian retailer, located in Vancouver, who resells products belonging to the second party at a 30 to 40% increased price, without any authorization to use the similar trademark; the second party is a large company based on Monrovia, California, United States, who sells various food products for almost 60 years.

Kickass Torrents (KAT) is one of the largest file sharing websites in the world that has allowed people to copy and distribute more than $1 billion worth of media. Since its inception in 2008, KAT has provided a directory that allows users to download TV shows, music, movies, videogames and other types of media. It is estimated that the aggregation of media that has circulated the website to be worth $1 billion.

A Chinese court has ruled against Apple in a case over the use of the ‘iPhone’ trademark claiming that the Californian company failed to prove the term was “familiar to the public and widely known” at the time of registration. The trademark ‘iPhone’ was registered by the Chinese company Xintong Tiandi Technology Co. in 2007 on the same year the iPhone was launched, although it was not available in China until 2009. The company is a leather manufacturer that commercialises leather goods such as phone cases, purses, handbags and wallets.

Canadian popstar Justin Bieber and American music producer Skrillex are being sued by an indie pop singer that performs under the stage name White Hinterland due to an alleged copyright violation.

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.