Enforcement

The Sixty-eighth session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) took place in Geneva 18–26 May 2015. One of the issues that have been addressed was the high prices of medicines in Europe. Actually this is a growing problem in the EU. In the past few years the price of the medicines have been increasing exceeding the ability of the patients to pay for it. It is enough to recall the recent case involving the drugs to treat hepatitis C (HCV) which have an unsustainable price when compared to previous generation treatments.

The European Commission has issued a press release on the April 21st that details changes that have the goal of modernising the EU trademark system, adapting it to the Digital Era and promoting its use by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

The Industrial Property Act 2014 in the Seychelles entry into force on March 1, 2015.

The key contributions of the new Act include:

Trademarks:

IP assets are becoming increasingly more important to companies worldwide and regarding several business activities. The geographic scope of the enforcement of these rights knows no frontiers as companies keep battling it out over IP assets in various countries worldwide.

Fashion: Gucci vs. Guess

After the new European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, the new the German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union, Günther Oettinger, took office, the European Copyright Society issued a letter claiming for a unification of the European Copyright Law.

Lionel Messi is currently battling another Portuguese. This time, however, Cristiano Ronaldo is not in the picture, given that this time, Messi is facing a Portuguese wine company, which is unwilling to allow Messi to sell his wine “Leo” in Europe.

In 2010, Leonel Messi has joined the Argentine wine company Bianchi, which union lead to the commercialization of the wine “Leo”. However, upon attempting to sale the wine in Europe, Casa Ermelinda de Freitas stepped in to prevent this situation.