On 13th March 2018, some amendments to certain chapters of the Industrial Property Law concerning patents, designs and utility models were published in Mexico. These amendments will come into force on 27th April 2018.   Inter alia, the amendments will:   Define ambiguous terms in the IP Law, including with respect to the requirement for novelty for industrial designs. Currently, the law does not define the terms "independent creation" or "significantly" as stated in the following...

With effect from 13th June 2018, the UK will become a member state of the Hague Agreement for industrial designs, which gives applicants the opportunity to register designs in up to 82 countries through a single international application and a single set of fees.  From that date, users will be able to designate the UK when filing international applications under the Agreement.  Since 2008, UK businesses have had to access the Hague Agreement through the EU’s membership, but...

Today, 28th March 2018, a validation agreement between China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) and Cambodia has come in force. Under this agreement, it is now possible to validate in Cambodia Chinese patents which are in good order and which have a filing date falling after 22nd January 2003.    In order to validate a Chinese patent in Cambodia, a certified copy of the parent patent issued by SIPO, along with a certificate of the patent register and a Khmer translation of...