Plavix Patent Invalidated in Korea
On 15 October 2009, the Supreme Court of Korea dismissed the appeal in the ‘(patent) registration invalidation’ trial that SANOFI-AVENTIS filed against 16 Korean generic drug companies.
The Supreme Court ruled that “the original trial decision stating that ‘the novelty and inventive steps (of the original product) are denied’ is fair and has no misunderstanding of legal principles and (there is) no contravention to judicial precedents”.
This decision of the Supreme Court appears to prevent the “evergreening” strategies of the original drug companies to prolong their patents or their exclusive rights to a drug.
It is predicted that this decision will influence the “Lipitor” trial, among others, which is pending in the appellate court.
Beware of Unsolicited Letters and E-Mails
Recently, new scams which cheat unsuspecting trademark applicants out of large sums of money have mushroomed in a big way. Some of our clients have reported receiving unsolicited letters and e-mails from third parties. These letters seem legal and proper, appearing with seals and official sounding names such as “TM Collection Edition 2010 – International Register of Trademarks”, “RIPT – Register of International Patents and Trademarks”, “IBIP – International Bureau for Intellectual Property” and so forth, informing them that their trademark applications are due for registration, and requesting for a payment of registration fees.
Many of these scammers appear to originate from European countries, and attempt to con not only applicants filing international trademark applications, but also those filing national applications. A sample of one of the scam letters received by our clients is attached, to show just how convincing these scammers can be (Note: Details have been removed at our client’s request).
[The Edge Malaysia] Moving Up The Tech Value Chain
[Nanyang Siang Pau] Is Your Design Cool?
[Personal Money] Leveraging On Your Brand
Oftentimes, people see the successful registration of their trademark as the be all and end all of the trademark procurement process, and rarely go on to make full use of the marks once they have claimed ownership. Yes, they may now have a profitable brand in hand, but how can they leverage it?
[The Edge Malaysia] Malaysia as an Innovative Nation
KASS Managing Director, P. Kandiah, shares his thoughts on whether Malaysia is ready to become an Innovative Nation and what must be done so that our journey towards becoming a knowledge-based economy is not a wasted one:
[Nanyang Siang Pau] Local Designs Sold to Countries Overseas
Singapore Trademark Update: Navelbine Vs Vinelbine
In an opposition decision that was published in December 2009, the IP Office of Singapore (IPOS) disallowed the registration of the mark VINELBINE in the country.
Pierre Fabre Medicament, the owner of the mark NAVELBINE opposed the application for the mark VINELBINE by Dabur Pharma Ltd. The application was opposed on a number of grounds, the main one being that the mark VINELBINE was devoid of distinctive character in relation to the goods they are applied to, namely pharmaceutical products containing the active ingredient known by its International Non-proprietary Name (“INN”) or generic name of vinorelbine.
That the mark VINELBINE was confusingly similar to their mark NAVELBINE was one of the ancillary grounds put forth by the Opponent.
To Cross or Not to Cross
In today’s hugely competitive technology market, there is bound to be many instances where one company knowingly or unintentionally uses a patented technology without the consent of the patent owner.
In a recent sparring match between two major players in the mobile phone manufacturing industry, Nokia Corp (“Nokia”) threw the first blow in October when they filed a suit against Apple Inc (“Apple”) for allegedly infringing 10 of its patents. The technology covered by these patents includes both phone calls and Wi-Fi access.
Apple has since responded by counter-suing Nokia, claiming infringement of 13 of its patents. Most of these patents are clustered around technology related to the iPhone, such as: connecting a phone to a computer; teleconferencing; menus on a touch screen; power conservation in chips; and “pattern and color abstraction in a graphical user interface”.
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