It appears that the Registrar in Guyana is now interpreting Section 21 of the Patents & Designs Act, which provides for the payment of renewal fees on local patents (filed under Title I of the law), to apply equally to reregistration patents (filed under Title II of the law). We strongly disagree with this interpretation of the law, as we believe that the intention of the legislators when drawing up this law was that Title II, from Section 54 onwards, was meant to deal specifically with...

As previously reported on this website, Patent Law No. 2 of 2003 finally came into force in November 2015, and the Registration of UK Patents Act (CAP. 80) was thereby repealed.   The Vanuatu IPO advised us at that time that the transitional provisions of the new law should be interpreted to the effect that any UK-based reregistration patent granted under the Registration of UK Patents Act is taken to have been registered under Patent Law No. 2 of 2003, such that the term of such patents...

In the absence of a trade mark law in Myanmar, trade mark owners have sought protection of their rights through the registration of Declarations of Ownership with the Ministry of Deeds, and the publication of Cautionary Notices in local newspapers, in order to alert the public of their rights to a trade mark. Although Myanmar has no trade mark law, it has been possible for proprietors of trade marks to take action against counterfeiters for passing off, under common law.   On 30th January...