China Deepens Its Intellectual Property Protection
By Maria Sol Porro.Trademarks Lawyer and University Professor.
The “X Annual Intellectual Property Conference of China” held in Hangzhou, eastern Zhejiang Province, brought important developments in intellectual property for the Asian global power. The director of the ¨National Copyright Administration of China¨, Shen Changyu, said last September 2nd, that the country is working to implement a strict system of intellectual property protection, in order to continue with the development of a satisfactory innovation and business environment in the territory.
Among the planned measures, in the case of trademarks, the aforementioned director explained that China will apply a very strict new punitive system of compensation to fight trademark violations and it will intensify efforts to deal with malicious trademark registrations. On the other hand, in the case of patents, a patent law review is planned and, also, the development of a compensation system for the protection of drug patents. Moreover, the country will also extend the period of protection of designs, and improve the quality and efficiency in intellectual property review.
Within the global context where China is waging a commercial battle against the United States, these changes to be implemented will have consequences not only in the Asian country, …
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New Brazilian Law makes Life Easier for Startups
By Carlos Cavalcanti, Partner & President Moeller IP Brazil
The Brazilian Supplementary Law 167/2019, which established INOVA SIMPLES, a simplified special regime of companies, which grants differentiated tax treatment, was published in the Official Gazette of April 24, 2019 with the purpose of stimulating the development of startup companies.
The law also determines that Brazilian PTO must create a mechanism that will link from the reception of the data to the summary processing of trademark and patents applications of companies of Inova Simples.
There will be a portal named Redesim, where a field or icon will be created for automatic communication with Brazilian PTO, of the inventive content of the scope of the entrepreneurial initiative, for the purpose of registering the trademark or patent, regardless of the normal registration path, through own INPI portal.
Source: Federal Senate (www12.senado.leg.br)
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Overview of IP filings in Latin America over the Last Decade
In December 2018, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published its annual World Intellectual Property Indicators 2018 report, which shows IP statistics worldwide. Patent filings around the world reached 3.17 million, representing a 5.8% growth on 2016 figures, trademark filings totalled 12.39 million, up 26.8% on 2016, and industrial design filing activity exceeded 1.24 million. China recorded the highest application volume for each of these IP rights.
Regarding patent filings in the Latin American and the Caribbean region, WIPO´s study report a slight decrease (-0.1%) on the average annual growth from 2007 to 2017, with 57,600 patents filed in 2017.
On the other hand, trademark filings in the region showed a 3.3% increase on the average annual growth over the same period, reaching 715,900 applications in 2017. This average percentage annual growth was similar to that for North America (3.9%) and higher to the one in Europe (0.2%).
Industrial design filings during the 2007-2017 period in the Latin American and the Caribbean region also shows a slight average annual increase (0.6%), with 15,500 filings in 2017.
Below are IP data for the period 2007-2018 according to the statistics published by the corresponding PTOs of the top …
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Requirement to keep patent and trademark applications alive
By Marta García
On November 14, 2018, the Industrial Property Bulletin No. 588 (special issue), published by the Venezuelan PTO (SAPI) on November 12, 2018, entered into force.
This Bulletin contains 21 Administrative Resolutions requesting all interested parties to ratify their interest in the continuation of trademark and patent proceedings in which Administrative Appeals have been filed, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 30 and 53 of the Administrative Procedure Law.
Currently, the Venezuelan PTO has a high backlog of more than 15 years for the publication of decisions regarding Administrative Appeals. Therefore, around 20,000 pending cases have been notified for ratification in this Bulletin in order to try to reduce the amount of cases awaiting a decision.
The PTO has provided a term of two months counted from the date of entry into force of the Industrial Property Bulletin No. 588 for the ratification of Administrative Appeals, i.e. until January 14, 2019.
In case a confirmation for a case is not filed at the PTO within the established term, it will be assumed that there is no interest in maintaining the corresponding appeal proceeding and the case will lapse due to lack of action, according to Article …
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