Vitor Palmela Fidalgo
After some uncertainty due to the covid-19 pandemic, the first Angolan IP Congress is now confirmed to take place both physically and online on 23 and 24 April 2021. It will be backed by the new Angolan Intellectual Law Association (AADI) – located in Angola s Catholic University – and aims to teach attendees about the Angolan Industrial Property Law, with a particular focus on trademarks.
The theme of the conference is ‘the protection of industrial property and copyright as a source of attraction for investment and the generation of economic and social development’.
With regard to trademarks, there will be debates on:
Italy jurisdiction report: Complying with public morality
10-01-2021
20-06-2018
Trademarks and advertising are often synonymous with communication. Since they usually transmit a message to consumers, it is necessary that this message respects its recipients’ feelings. In other words, trademark owners and advertisers must be in compliance with rules of public morality.
Article 14, paragraph 1 letter a. of the Italian Code on Industrial Property provides that: “The following shall not be registered as trademarks: a) signs that are contrary to the law, public policy or accepted principles of public morality.”
A similar provision is included in article 7, paragraph 1, letter f of the EU trademark regulation (number 2017/1001). The provisions preclude the registration of a trademark when it concerns a sign that may be perceived as contrary to the fundamental moral standards of the society.
IP laws: Brighter days ahead
10-01-2021
20-08-2018
Mexico’s new Industrial Property Law heralds an improved system for the country’s IP owners in almost every area, says Christian Thomae of Dumont.
November 5, 2020, marked the date on which Mexico adopted the new Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property. This repealed the previous law that had been in force for 25 years and had been subject to several amendments. The new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement made it necessary to reorganise and update the Mexican IP system, as to allow for a smooth implementation of the renegotiated trade agreement.
France jurisdiction report: Protecting your plate
10-01-2021
09-09-2016
French deputies have tabled a draft of law to create a sui generis industrial property right protecting culinary creations.
Current industrial property law only imperfectly allows culinary creators to obtain protection for their creations at a time when French cuisine is enjoying more and more success, especially abroad.
French case law has decided, on several occasions, that a recipe which could be compared to a compilation of non-protectable ideas or to the presentation of know-how cannot be the object of an appropriation, neither by copyright nor by patent law.
The culinary creator may however use patent law in order to protect some of the innovations contained in his or her creations. For example, chef Guy Savoy patented the process of neutralising the taste of iodine while respecting the original taste of sea-urchin.
Double patenting objections
Issuing double patenting objections is a common practice for the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) when examiners consider that the invention to be protected in a divisional application is already covered or protected by the parent case. However, this kind of objection is commonly based on Articles 43 and 44 of the Industrial Property Law, which still governs the patent system in Mexico for applications filed prior to 5 November 2020 and contains no explicit provision prohibiting double patenting in Mexico.
Article 43 of the Industrial Property Law indicates that a patent application must reference a single invention or a group of inventions linked by a single inventive step. Article 44 indicates that, if a patent application does not meet the provisions of Article 43, the IMPI will request the applicant to divide the application. However, both articles are silent in relation to double patenting objections and filing voluntary divisional a