Prosecution

A fierce battle broke out in the IP field because of the war in Ukraine. The Russian Government issued Decree No. 299, dated March 6th, 2022, which allows national companies or individuals to use inventions, utility models and industrial designs, belonging to “unfriendly countries” of Russia, without owner permission or compensation. Its aftermath may result in deep uncertainty regarding the enforcement of IP rights in Russia.

On May 26, 2022, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal issued a decision in a case involving two tobacco manufacturers, Open Horizon and Carnilinx.

Open Horizon filed a lawsuit against Carnilinx for infringement of its ‘Pacific’ trademarks (with several variants) for tobacco products and cigarettes, on the grounds that the competitor, which was trading the same products under the ‘Atlantic’ (with several variants) trademarks, was infringing its trademark rights and because there was unfair competition.

The greater heritage of a nation remains in the creativity of its citizens. Since the beginning of the 20th Century, the world has continued to experience astronomical advancement in scientific and technological innovations, which has changed the phase of modern society, leading many thinkers to term this present civilization “the jet age”.

This technological advancement has had an enormous impact on the world's legal systems. It has disrupted traditional modes of IP protection, which have been forced to change to keep abreast with the ever-changing forms of innovation.

Inventa has been contributing to updating several chapters related to African jurisdictions in the Manual of Industrial Property (also known as The Brown Book), published every year by Wolters Kluwer International Group.

As usual, the contribution of Inventa outlines the procedures and laws involved in filing applications for patents, trademarks or designs specifically in ARIPO, OAPI, Somalia, South Sudan, Madagascar, DR Congo, Seychelles, Zambia, Malawi, Gambia, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Liberia, Libya, and Sierra Leone.

In the past decade we have been seeing a rise on marketing and sale of products containing Cannabidiol (more commonly referred to as CBD), which is an active compound that derives from the marijuana plant.

We are delighted to share that Inventa has been again recognised in the 2022’s IAM Patent 1000 - the world’s leading patent professional guide - for Portugal. It is with great satisfaction that we continue to see our IP practice being recognised, always maintaining the objective of going further and better for our clients.

The IAM Patent 1000 shines a spotlight on the firms and individuals who distinguish in legal patent expertise.

Patents can be defined as an exclusive government-granted right for an invention (a product or process), which allows its owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling the patented technology for a limited time.

Inventions can belong to any technological field and the patent document must disclose the invention in detail to enable a person skilled in the art to reproduce it without unreasonable experimentation.

We are proud to see Inventa recognized once again in the "Trademark Prosecution" (Leading Firm), "Patent Prosecution" (Leading Firm) and "

At a ceremony held in the Embassy of Cape Verde in Geneva, the Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry of Cape Verde, Alexandre Monteiro, deposited the instruments of Accession to the Lusaka Agreement, Banjul Protocol, Harare Protocol, Swakopmund Protocol, and Arusha Protocol with the ARIPO Director General on 14 July 2022.

4D printing adds a new dimension to the process: time. Whereas 3D printing technologies allow users to construct a 3D product, 4D technologies allow a 2D product to gradually change its shape over time in response to an external stimulus or energy source. This technique is also known as active origami or shape-morphing.