Over the past two decades, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has been working on a Design Law Treaty focused on aligning examination and procedural guidelines associated with what have historically been...more
“Hey Chat GPT, finish this building.” This dare, written on a billboard that went viral last year, captures a truth and a stereotype about the world of construction. The truth is that the construction industry will, for the...more
The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) published its final rule, creating a separate design patent bar where admitted design patent practitioners will practice in design patent proceedings only. (88 Fed. Reg. 78644 (Nov. 16,...more
Investing in the creation of industrial designs is critical in modern business practice, as it allows a company’s product to stand out in an increasingly competitive market dynamic. Just as important as creating distinctive...more
The Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) defines a “Clear Zone” as an unobstructed, traversable roadside area that allows a driver to stop safely or regain control of a vehicle that has left the roadway. While the...more
CIPO has recently announced that most of its official fees will increase by at least 25% in 2024. These adjustments will affect all pending applications for patents, trademarks, industrial designs and copyrights, as well as...more
The recent proliferation of useful Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) tools for tasks like text, image, music, and software code generation is all the rage. In the intellectual property sphere, one of the hottest topics...more
The last decade has seen the emergence of Big Data platforms allowing parties to major construction projects to digitize and integrate more and more of the engineering, design and build phase of their projects. Such...more
Graphical User Interface (GUI) refers to icons, windows, and/or menus to offer a mechanism to interact with electronic devices visually. There has been quite a bit of debate around the registrability of GUIs under industrial...more
This article provides helpful advice for companies wanting to protect their IP rights and increase their profits. Smart & Biggar IP experts detail the importance of investing in industrial design or design patents to ensure...more
Earlier this fall the Federal Court of Canada issued a rare decision concerning industrial design infringement and reaffirmed several points of law favouring holders of industrial design registrations in Canada seeking to...more
The U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (commonly known as the Access Board) announced that it intends to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) under the Americans with...more
Less than a year ago, Texas Senate Bill 219, addressing liability for construction defects due to defects in design documents, went into effect and was codified as Chapter 59 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code. Where the...more
On June 8-9, 2021, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) TRIPS Council will hold their first meeting in the wake of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announcing “the Biden-Harris Administration’s support for waiving...more
Earlier today, a group of fifteen industry and trade organizations sent a letter to five members of the Biden Administration, to express their strong support for the Administration's work to leverage international mechanisms...more
3D Graphic Fatality and injury data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that methods of functional safety design and testing among America’s automobiles is falling short of protecting the...more
Through Resolution No. 61157 of 2020, which has been in force since Jan. 1, 2021, the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) in Colombia increased its official fees for the procedures regarding industrial property,...more
For months, global patent practitioners have been expecting China to announce sweeping, significant changes to the nation’s system of intellectual property laws—and they were not disappointed. On Oct. 17, the Standing...more
In view of the ongoing COVID-19 disruption, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has further extended patent, trademark, and industrial design deadlines fixed under the relevant legislation....more
This article was last updated on July 10, 2020. In view of COVID-19, we have compiled a list of important updates as it relates to the pandemic and its impact on Life Sciences. We will continue to update this page as new...more
The UKIPO will temporarily reduce the fees applicable to: extensions of time periods for the filing of documents; surcharges for the late payment of certain other fees.....more
On 30 June the House of Representatives voted and approved 3 decrees whereby A new Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property is enacted, Federal Copyright Law is amended; and, Federal Criminal Code is also...more
In view of the ongoing COVID-19 disruption, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has further extended patent, trademark, and industrial design deadlines fixed under the relevant legislation. Deadlines through...more
On 27 May 2020 WIPO launched new online business service, WIPO PROOF, that provides tamper-proof evidence of the existence at a point in time of any digital file, including data sets, in any format. The WIPO PROOF service...more
In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has further extended patent, trademark, and industrial design deadlines fixed under the relevant legislation. Deadlines through Friday...more