Tag:Middle East

1
WIPO Updates Deadlines for Responses to Provisional Refusals
2
Technical Effect Embodied in Technical Teaching
3
Latvian Citizen Fined US$4.5 Million and Sentenced to More than 4 Years of Imprisonment for Fraudulent Trade Mark Renewal Scheme
4
The NFT Collection: A Brave NFT World – A Regulatory Review of NFT’s (Part 2)
5
UAE to Join the Madrid Protocol
6
Board of Directors of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Authority Issues IP Legislation Update
7
Deep fakes, inventorship and ethics – WIPO revised issues paper on Artificial Intelligence
8
More than financial – blockchain’s potential in the healthcare and life sciences industries
9
Does AI generated work give rise to a copyright claim?
10
Momentum.africa – Opening of Top-Level Domain Name to Create Opportunities to IP Right Owners

WIPO Updates Deadlines for Responses to Provisional Refusals

Businesses seeking registration of trade marks overseas will have greater clarity on deadlines for responding to provisional refusals, following an update by the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO). As of 1 November 2023, local intellectual property offices are required to give the holders of Madrid System international trade mark registrations (IR Holders) a minimum period of 60 days or two months to respond to provisional refusals.

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Technical Effect Embodied in Technical Teaching

European Patent Office: Enlarged Board of Appeal decision G2/21

The Enlarged Board of Appeal EBoA is the highest judicial authority under the European Patent Convention. It handles patent examination for about 37 member states including the EU. The EBoA has recently published its decision G2/21 dealing with the principle of free evaluation of evidence in the context of inventive step. This decision is relevant for patents in the pharma, biotech and life science field.

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Latvian Citizen Fined US$4.5 Million and Sentenced to More than 4 Years of Imprisonment for Fraudulent Trade Mark Renewal Scheme

Misleading renewal notices to trademark owners continue to cause confusion and, in some cases, unnecessary fees paid to fraudulent schemers that do not result in renewal of a trademark registration. Recently, a Latvian citizen was sentenced to more than four years in U.S. prison and fined over US$4.5 million in restitution, after he pleaded guilty to a three-year scheme that defrauded thousands of U.S. trademark owners of over US$1.2 million.

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The NFT Collection: A Brave NFT World – A Regulatory Review of NFT’s (Part 2)

In a recent alert, we painted the big NFT picture, highlighting what a non-fungible token (NFT) means and the opportunities they present (see here). In this second part of the NFT series, we will take a deeper look at local regulatory control (or lack thereof) in this uncharted territory.

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UAE to Join the Madrid Protocol

In great news for companies that file trade marks internationally, the Government of the United Arab Emirates has agreed to join the Madrid Protocol from 28 December 2021.

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Board of Directors of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Authority Issues IP Legislation Update

The Board of Directors of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Authority recently issued the DIFC Intellectual Property Regulations (IP Regulations). The IP Regulations took effect on 5 July 2021 and were issued pursuant to the DIFC Intellectual Property Law, DIFC Law No. of 2019 (IP Law).

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Deep fakes, inventorship and ethics – WIPO revised issues paper on Artificial Intelligence

One thing is clear about artificial intelligence (AI) and intellectual property (IP) at the moment: there are more questions than answers. Who should be author? Who is responsible for a work’s liability? What about moral rights? Is a computer programme capable of making an ‘inventive step’ or forming an ‘intellectual creation’ normally reserved for humans? And for those Matrix fans – should we let machines make decisions for us, lest we become seen as the planet’s true virus?

In September 2019, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) launched a much-needed conversation on IP and AI, and consulted with member state representatives on the potential impact of AI on IP. Over the course of the consultation, WIPO received more than 250 responses from a wide range of global stakeholders.

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More than financial – blockchain’s potential in the healthcare and life sciences industries

Blockchain technology is considered by many to be one of the most important technologies developed in recent years. It is often misunderstood and its potential has yet to be fully realised and harnessed. Blockchain has been the subject of a large amount of negative press due to volatile price fluctuations of its biggest user, the cryptocurrency, and this has generated a public mistrust.

However, blockchain could hold the answer to two of technology’s greatest challenges: data reliability and security. These two things are particularly important in the healthcare and life sciences sector where veracity of data is a life or death question and the safety of our most intimate data is paramount.

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Does AI generated work give rise to a copyright claim?

The right to intellectual property protection in “Artificial Intelligence” generated work gives rise to numerous legal, economic and moral issues. “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) is a comprehensive term used to describe the ability of computer systems to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, ranging from translation processes and visual perception to brain simulation.

In this post, we give a brief introduction to the legal issues surrounding claims to copyright in AI generated work in the context of UK law and specifically, who can claim ownership of the work produced.

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Momentum.africa – Opening of Top-Level Domain Name to Create Opportunities to IP Right Owners

The new generic top-level domain (gTLD) .africa, a regional domain for users located in and out of the continent, has been officially validated by ICANN.

More than a decade after its other regional counterparts, such as .eu or .asia, the .africa gTLD has been the subject matter of a legal conundrum for years.

Indeed, a conflict between two operators had to be escalated up to U.S. courts before a final decision entrusted the management of the gTLD to a South African company, ZA Central Registry NPC.

This new gTLD will allow the African continent to seize the full potential of the internet revolution, on a continent where the mobile connectivity is now allowing bypassing the expensive copper wire infrastructure development.

The new .africa domain name extension is expected to lead the continent in its global effort to take part in the global information society and become a strategic place to invest.

Accessibility to the new domain name will be gradual: starting on 6 April 2017, a 60-day preliminary phase will allow trademark owners or companies to benefit from a priority right, as well as African countries that intend to protect certain emblematic names such as “Mount Kilimanjaro”. Then, starting on 2 June 2017, an Early Access Phase (EAP) will take place to prevent any hindrance or ransoming by ill-intentioned people.

The .africa TLD will finally be open to all on 4 July 2017, on a first-come/first-serve basis.

K&L Gates has more than 225 lawyers, including approximately 100 registered patent lawyers, agents, and technology specialists with technical or advanced science degrees – nearly 20 with Ph.D.s – who devote their practices to helping clients establish, enforce, and leverage their intellectual property rights worldwide.

We can thus highlight the pitfall to avoid, the topics on which to focus the attention and better defend and protect our clients’ intangible assets with regard to the opening of this new gTLD, on this emerging market.

By: Claude Armingaud, Alexandre Balducci and Solenn Le Guen

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