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.

Mr. Gang Hu, Mr. Ylongzhi, Mr. Jianzhong Yang, Ms. Limei Liu, and Ms. Shanshan Du from the firm of China Patent Agent (H.K) Ltd. (China) were kind enough to visit our office. After a considerable blank due to the pandemic it was good to catch up and exchange information. They were also kind enough to give us a presentation on several topics including the recent changes to the process and procurement of suspension of reviews with the TRAB (Appeal Board).

Mr. Franck Soutoul, founder of INLEX-Management Europe and Africa (Mauritius/France) visited our firm today. He was kind enough to give us an update on the general trademark examination trends, explain the importance of obtaining IP protection around the African continent and providing us with some strategies for doing so. We also discussed some recent examination decisions of the EUIPO concerning distinctiveness.