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In a recent decision of the appeals division of the Trade Mark Registry, the proprietor of a well known trade mark has for the first time since the introduction of the Trade Marks Act 1994 (TMA 1994) succeeded in preventing a third party from registering the same name for a completely different product.

New legislation governing the use of electronic signatures came into force in Spain in the form of Royal Decree Law 14/1999, on September 18 1999.

Federal Circuit claim construction rulings with interesting aspects continue to emerge. Among the most recent ones worthy of note are two which demonstrate a worrisome trend on the part of at least some Federal Circuit judges to focus upon specific claim language rather than determining what the whole claim means.

Georgia is an independent state which gained independence after the disintegration of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the decade. Prior to independence, all patent matters were dealt with centrally from Moscow which inevitably affected the potential of local patent experts.

According to Law No 84/1998 on Trade Marks and Geographical Indications, a mark of certification is a mark indicating the fact that the products or services for which it is used are certificated by the owner of the mark concerning quality, material, the way of manufacturing of products or services carried out, accuracy or other characteristics.

The Mexican Law of Industrial Property (LIP) recognizes as a source of rights to use a trade mark registration and a bona fide use prior to a filing date of a particular trade mark registration for the same or similar trade mark or prior to the date of first use mentioned by the registrant in the application papers.

Malaysia passed and gazetted the Franchise Act in December 1998 and it is expected to come into force in the near future. Once in force, the Franchise Act 1998 will apply throughout Malaysia to any franchise in Malaysia. At present, there is no franchise legislation and the franchise industry is supervised by the franchise division of the Malaysian government under the purview of the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development.

The Polish Parliament (Seym) continues to work on improving the system of industrial property protection. It seems the long-lasting and thorough discussions on legal solutions which are to be introduced are coming to an end. However, it does not seem possible that the new Industrial Property Law will come into force on January 1 2000, as it was suggested by the Polish government. The above date of implementation of new regulations adapted to the standards of the European Union would be highly desirable because as from January 1 2000 Poland will be fully bounded by the TRIPs provisions.

Shape trade marks are registrable in Australia by virtue of the Trade Marks Act 1995. As yet there is little case law on the subject but a recent decision of the Australian Trade Marks Office, Re Chocolaterie Guylian NV, gives an insight into considerations that will be made during examination of applications for registration of shape trade marks.

In an apparatus claim, the indication of the intended use or purpose of the apparatus generally does not restrict the scope of the claim. If the purpose involves structural features which are evident to the person skilled in the art, however, the claim has to be interpreted as including these features.