Enforcement

In the last six years, VW has been cheating on the emissions testing for its cars. The cars' software was able to detect when they were being tested, changing their engines to look much cleaner than they were. This scandal that has been stirred the world, also has great effects in the Intellectual Property field.

The British government intends to introduce a new legislation that would enable registered UK and European Community design holders with the option to mark their products with the address of a website that links to the relevant registered design numbers. The initiative counts with the support of several interested parties within the intellectual property community.

The House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands has passed a new Trademarks Act on the 30th of April 2013. This legislative measure will bring extensive changes to Intellectual Property in the region and it will effectively come into force on the 1st of September 2015. The implementation of the new act will substitute the current Trademarks Act (Cap. 158) dated all the way back to 1887 and the United Kingdom Trademarks Act (Cap. 157) of 1946.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has teamed up with Latinstock and Cheil Spain to create “Animal Copyrights”, the first Image Database whose authorship is exclusively owned by different species of animals. This initiative includes rare images from the animal’s point of view, which according to WWF, has the aim of “presenting the world from their point of view is the best way to put ourselves in their position”.

One of our IP attorneys from our Portugal office, Master Vitor Fidalgo, was yesterday distinguished with the First Award "Professor José de Oliveira Ascensão" as part of his Master's thesis entitled "Compulsory licenses of Industrial Property Rights".

Past July 9th, the European Parliament voted 445 to 65 (with 32 abstentions) against a proposal to restrict the freedom of panorama in the European Union, maintaining the status quo.

Freedom of Panorama consists on a limit to Copyright Law and that permits someone to take photographs, make paintings or videos of other works that are permanently located in a public space (such as sculptures or architectural works), without the need to acquire a license that states the consent of the owner of the work that is displayed publicly.

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