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Fact they say is stranger than fiction. In the David v Goliath case that is Trovan v Pfizer this is certainly true. In the story David slays Goliath and is proclaimed king. In the Trovan case, Pfizer´ s Goliath is made of stronger stuff. On January 11, Trovan filed an appeal in the Ninth Circuit Court challenging an earlier ruling which overturned a record $143 million damages award to the company for infringement of its Trovan trade mark.

In Mexico when someone seeks protection for a title of a periodical publication, a Mexican intellectual property counsel should recommend obtaining copyright as well as trade mark protection as trade mark protection only will not suffice. The Mexican Copyright Law recognizes sui generis protection for titles of publications including magazines, heads of newspapers, newspapers, pamphlets, supplements and guides. The Law also recognizes other types of titles of publications, however for the purposes of this brief they need not be included.

In October 1995 product and process descriptions were introduced by the Patents Court to reduce the burden of discovery on a defendant in relation to issues of infringement.

US: Sony Pictures Entertainment has abandoned its plans to make new James Bond films under an agreement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The deal settles an 18-month legal dispute between the two companies, and follows a temporary restraining order granted to MGM last year.

Guidelines clarify trade mark law

Copyright protection for foreign works

Civil procedure changes in Japan make it easier to claim attorney-client privilege

The Australian Full Federal Court in Pinefair P/L v Bedford Industries Rehabilitation Association Inc has found that a patent´ s product claim may be infringed by a product that came into existence as part of a manufacturing process. The patent related to a garden edging product consisting of halved pine logs with an elongated band affixed along a flat rear face of the logs to hold the logs together. Pinefair´ s alleged infringing product connected the logs with an extruded plastic strip during manufacture, but sought to avoid the patent by the additional step of cutting the plastic strip at each log, so that the final product did not have the elongated band connected to each element.

Spanish trade marks act amended

Comparative advertising in Mexico is mainly regulated by the Federal Law on Consumer Protection (FLCP) and the Mexican Industrial Property Law (IPL). The FLCP protects consumers against deceptive and abusive advertisements. Article 32 establishes that the information or advertisement with respect to goods or services which is made known by any means, must be truthful, liable to be verified and exempt of texts, dialogues, sounds, images or any other descriptions which induce or may induce to error or confusion due to an inaccuracy of said texts. Since this provision deals with advertising in general, it is applicable to a case of comparative advertising when that is false.