Articles

"Can anyone have a monopoly over love?"

This is an interesting and deep question ... and perhaps even more so in a trade mark context, as the Singapore IP Office recently discovered.

The function of patent drawings is to aid understanding of an invention, but are they fit for purpose? Embodiments of a mechanical invention may be easier to explain and understand as a drawing compared to a lengthy description. The European Patent Office (EPO) considers good quality drawings as very important for the correct disclosure of an invention (Guide for applicants, Drawings). Scientific data necessary to support biotech and pharmaceutical inventions are also provided as “drawings”.

This summer, the U.S. government came into possession of 22 massive shipping containers filled with counterfeit designer goods. Acting upon information gained from a 6-year-long investigation into a sophisticated and elaborate scheme that stretched from China to the U.S. and involved at least 33 different men and women, the Department of Homeland Security seized tens of thousands of Gucci, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Burberry-branded products that would have been worth more than a half a billion dollars if authentic and sold at retail.

The Opinion, which is not yet available in English, advises the CJEU to rule that, among other things:
The exception within Article 5(3)(d) of the InfoSoc Directive requires one to consider the purpose of the quotation at issue, and
Fundamental rights like freedom of expression do not allow EU Member States to go beyond the catalogue of exceptions in Article 5 therein to envisage new exceptions or even introduce a general fair use clause.
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