Around the IP Blogs

Patents

Lvcentinvs discussed at length a recent decision by the Brazilian Supreme Court, where the rules for calculating the term of protection for patents and utility models have been changed. The decision in question declared as unconstitutional the rule, whereby the term of protection is calculated from the grant date rather than from the application date.

PatentlyO Blog has provided two very interesting infographics (here and here), one comparing the statistics for patents reissued by the US PTO in 1875 and 2020, and the other showing US patents withdrawn since 2000. Notably, the number of withdrawn US patents is growing exponentially (albeit with no apparent explanation).

Kluwer Patent Blog reviewed the compulsory licensing norms that have been applied in the South Africa. The upshot is that no compulsory licence has been granted in South Africa since the introduction of relevant procedure; five applications were made but all were refused by the courts. The post discusses the relevant caselaw and the reasons put forward by the South African courts.

Trade marks

TheFashionLaw discussed a trade mark fight between Nike and Puma, which is unfolding simultaneously in the US and in the UK. In both jurisdictions, Nike seeks to register “footware” as a trade mark for smart electronic devices. Puma has opposed this application, claiming that it is a descriptive term, resulting from the “obvious combination” of “footwear” and “hardware” or “software”.

Other

SpicyIP published a series of posts (here, here and here), addressing the US Special 301 Report and its position towards India. The posts discuss the criticism raised by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) concerning copyright and patent protection, trade secrets, and enforcement of IP in India.

The IP Helpdesk analysed how Zoe Roth (known as the girl from the Disaster Girl meme) has recently sold the original of her famous photo as a non-fungible token (NFT). The image was sold for approximately 470,000 euros.