We were pleased to have Mr. Victor Basilio N. de Leon and Mr. Jose Eduardo T. Genilo from ACCRLAW (Philippines) visit our firm. We discussed the effects of the global pandemic on working environments both there an in Japan, as well as exchanging information and strategies on conducting Oppositions in the Philippines, which presents some unique challenges to Opposers.

Ms. Dan Chen, Mr. Ning Yue, Mr. Jialai Yuan were kind enough to visit our firm. They provided us with some of the finer points about the current practice in China concerning Cancellation Actions due to non-use. We discussed recent trends and what criteria decisions are based on as well as what kinds of evidence are most beneficial in defending against such Cancellation Actions.

Ms. Claudia Giusi Crisci and Mr. Andrea Tiburzi from the Italian firm of BARZANO’ & ZANARDO graced us with a visit. We took the opportunity to better acquaint each other with our respective firms and discussed a variety of topics including strategies against counterfeiting.

Mr. Andrew Conduit from SKC Law (Indonesia) visited our firm today. Aside from catching up on changes and events at our two firms over the last several years, we also discussed things to keep in mind regarding the submission of declarations in Indonesia (renewals in particular), as well as the pitfalls and difficulties of pursuing non-use cancellation actions or invalidation actions against third-party registrations, as in Indonesia much of the burden of proof is placed on the plaintiff. He also updated us on the development of the Customs registration system that was recently put in place and what future expectations it might represent.

Mr. Jialai Yuan from Fairsky Law Office visited our firm. He provided us with a detailed presentation on the “necessity” requirement to be recognized as “well-known mark” based on actual Chinese court decisions, the interesting practice of deliberately choosing a specific court (geographic location/jurisdiction), as well as changes in the new patent law to accept applications of partial design patents. We also discussed the common and different points concerning the “well-known mark” practice in Japan and China.