Search results for

Several changes to the German Patent Law became effective on November 1 1998. Among the minor changes is a modification of the name of the patent office which now is Deutsches Patent und Markenamt, to emphasize the increasingly important role of trade mark matters. There are also significant modifications of more relevance to applicants, and these will be briefly commented on below, as far as they relate to filing procedures.

After more than eight years of fruitful activity, Mr Ladislav Jakl, president of the Czech Industrial Property Office, decided to resign from his duties and leave the Office on December 31 1998.

Illegal exemptions to music royalty collection in the US are costing European performers $20 million dollars a year.

Joel Smith, Andrea Montanari and Simona Cazzaniga provide an update on the complex Italian regime for protecting industrial designs, in the light of new legislation

When the Trade Marks Act came into force in October 1994, the scope of what constituted a registrable trade mark was broadened.

Following its judgment in the Hermes case, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is again being requested to pass judgment on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). In the Hermes case (case C-63/96), the ECJ had to judge whether the term provisional measures, as used in Article 50, Paragraph 6 of the TRIPS Agreement, also applies to Dutch interim injunction proceedings. Article 50, Paragraph 6 stipulates that a provisional measure must be followed by proceedings leading to a decision on the merits of the case, and the Dutch court had asked the European Court for a ruling as to whether Dutch interim injunction proceedings (kort geding) could be regarded as a provisional measure. The European Court affirmed that such was the case.

Estonian customs authorities have started an active campaign against pirated and counterfeited goods. Within the last few months, different counterfeited goods bearing such famous trade marks as NIKE, ADIDAS, SALAMANDER and WRANGLER have been seized by customs. Such counterfeited goods are usually of extremely poor quality.

On January 28 1999, the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Act 1998 became law in Australia, introducing provisions for the extension of the term of patents relating to pharmaceutical substances.

Sending rockets into space is not NASA’s only role, Robert Norwood, director of its commercial programmes division, tells Ralph Cunningham.

Vietnam’s days as a piracy blackspot could be numbered following the introduction of an agreement with the US on December 24 1998.