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UPC – The Ratification Game Update
As noted in an earlier post the agreement on the unified patent court (UPC) was signed by 24 member states on 19 February 2013.
Spain, Poland and Bulgaria were the three member states who did not sign the UPC agreement. Spain are sitting out of the unitary patent package completely at present and so have not signed. Poland and Bulgaria are part of the enhanced cooperation club that the unitary regulations have been prepared under. Poland, however, has decided to take a wait-and-see approach and so did not sign the UPC agreement. Bulgaria intends to sign as soon as it has made appropriate preparations.
In light of the UPC signing ceremony the Ratification Game post has been updated along with the football info-graphic. The full post can be found here but in the meantime here’s the updated graphic.
Power in Numbers – Trade Mark Squatters in China
Trade Mark squatting is big business in China and is becoming more and more common. The new target appears to be up and coming European brands. It would appear that as soon as a mark becomes the slightest bit known in the UK, throughout Europe or the US, the marks are being filed as trade mark applications in China by opportunistic third parties known as trade mark squatters.
It would also seem that these third parties are not just trying to reap the rewards of just one trade mark either. It is becoming more common for trade mark squatters (which are now large ‘squatting’ companies) to file hundreds of well-known or well-publicised up and coming brands belonging to foreign owners.
IPcopy 