Louise Audhlam-Gardiner

Georgia has recently joined Morocco, the Republic of Moldova, Tunisia, and Cambodia as a “validation state” of the European Patent Office. Validating a European patent in Georgia provides patentees with a potentially attractive prospect due to the country’s strategic geographical location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.

On 15 January 2024, some new official fees will come into force in the UAE. Inter alia, the official fees for patent annuities (which were abolished some time ago) will be reinstated, and various new fees for the examination of patent applications will be introduced.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Council of Ministers has approved an amended Patent and Industrial Design Law, which entered into force on 03 October 2023. Our article addresses a number of the key points of this new law, for your convenience.

Following the approval of Jamaica’s Patents & Designs Act 2020, and becoming the 154th PCT member state, we take a look at the state of PCT national phase prosecution in Jamaica three years on.

The Industrial Design Law and Copyright Law, which were both enacted in 2019, finally came into force on 31 October 2023. This development follows the coming into effect of a new Trade Mark Law earlier this year and the Grand Opening of the Intellectual Property Office on 26 April 2023.

Bangladesh was granted leave to delay examining applications relating to pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products until 2033. To date, such patent applications have therefore been filed as "black box" or "mailbox" applications and then held in abeyance pending the commencement of this examination.

Montenegro will soon become the 39th member state of the European Patent Organisation, by virtue of its accession to the European Patent Convention (EPC). Its accession will take effect on 1st October 2022, and from that date, Montengro will be a full Member State of the EPC and not merely an Extension State.

On 14th July 2022, the Republic of Cabo Verde (commonly known as Cape Verde) deposited instruments of accession to the Lusaka Agreement, Banjul and Harare Protocols of ARIPO. Consequently, Cape Verde has become the 22nd contracting state to the ARIPO Agreement.

The Government of the Republic of Iraq deposited its instrument of accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) on 31st January 2022.

The Government of Jamaica has announced that its new “Patents and Designs Act, 2020” is expected to come into force on 11 February 2022. Read our complete article for essential information about this new legislation.

Various amendments have recently been made to the Harare Protocol on Patents and Designs and the Implementing Regulations, which came into force on 1 January 2022. Our article has all the information you need.

It has just been announced that the new OAPI IP Laws concerning Trade Marks, Designs, Utility Models, and Geographical Indications, will enter into force on 1 January 2022. Please review our article for further information.

Kiribati deposited its instrument of accession to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property on 5 November 2021. Please review our article for further information.

The Republic of Seychelles has acceded to the Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs, becoming the 21st ARIPO Member State. Please read our article for further information.

With effect from 1st January 2021, the UK’s membership of various WIPO-administered treaties, including the Paris Convention, the Berne Convention and the PCT, was extended to include the territory of Gibraltar.

A new “Federal Law for Protection of Industrial Property” came into force in Mexico on 5th November 2020. Please read our article for all the information you need.

The Nauru Solicitor General has just advised that, nearly a decade after their Patents Registration Act came into force, the Nauru government has finally announced the publication of its "Patents Registration (Forms and Fees) Regulations 2020". Please review our article for further information.

A new law, The Industrial Property Act 2019, has been recently passed by the Mauritius Parliament. Please review our full article for all the information you need.

It has been announced that Hong Kong will introduce a new system for standard patents, which will present an alternative option for applicants seeking patent protection in Hong Kong. Amendments to the Patents Ordinance and Patent Rules were published on 11th October 2019, and the new patent system will be implemented on 19th December 2019. Please review our article for additional information.

It has just been announced that Samoa has deposited its instruments of accession for the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement for the International Registration of Industrial Designs and the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement for the international registration of appellations of origin and geographical indications. Please review our full article for further information.

The UAE Ministry of Economy has recently issued a circular email announcing that Powers of Attorney and other required documents no longer need to be legalised by the Consulate of the UAE for use in patent and design applications and that notarisation of these documents will suffice. This development will greatly ease the formalities burden on applicants.

A new Design Rights Bill 2019 was published in the Cayman Islands on 19th February 2019, which will replace the current Design Rights Registration Law 2016 once it comes into force. Please review our article for further information.

We have just learnt that a new Patents Act and new Regulations have been passed in Antigua. The new Act (“The Patents Bill 2018”) was enacted on 8th November 2018 and came into force on 22nd November 2018. Please review our article for further information.

Following a recent decision by the Bahraini Patent Office to begin substantively examining patent applications, the long-awaited Implementing Regulations of Law No. 1 of 2004 concerning patents and utility models were published on 13th December 2018. It is hoped that these Regulations will provide a clearer prosecution procedure for patent applications in Bahrain. Please review our full article for further information.