If you regularly have documents notarized as part of your practice, you’re probably like me. Under normal circumstances, you probably have the privilege of walking down the hall or perhaps driving down the street to your local notary. As a result, you rarely consider the legal requirements for a proper notarization and how to get something notarized under exigent circumstances. Yet, these are not normal circumstances. In many places, that is not currently an option…

The UK officially left the European Union on 31 January 2020. We are now in a one-year transition period, during which the UK has basically maintained many pre-Brexit positions. That said, once the transition period expires, we anticipate a number of changes to UK consumer law. That is because much of existing UK consumer law is derived from EU legislation and case law, and there is a desire within the UK government to deviate from…

For years Western companies have relied on Chinese factories to manufacture their products at low cost and export them back to other markets to be sold with high margin of profit. This is normally referred to as OEM manufacturing, where OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. This was for decades the main business model for China’s industrial and economic development and it earned China the nickname of “World’s Factory”. In recent years, things have changed.…

On June 15, 2020, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a prioritized examination procedure for COVID-19-related trademark and service mark applications. Usually, the USPTO examines applications in the order in which they are received, with limited circumstances under which an applicant may file for a petition for the advance of an application. However, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to develop medical services and products, the USPTO announced that…

Open for registration until 30 June 2020, the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) is about to launch the third edition of its EUIPO Trade Mark and Design Education Programme (ETMD EP). The ETMD EP is a training programme for IP practitioners delivered by EUIPO staff, IP professionals and academics. It focuses on all practical aspects related to the registration and prosecution of European Union trade marks and European Community designs delivered through workshops at the…

Our monthly newsletter reports on the patent law developments in biotech, biologics and pharmaceutical cases, legislation and federal agency actions. This month’s issue covers relevant news from May 2020.…

Oklahoma is one of a number of states that allows the sale of medical cannabis.  The high consumer demand, combined with relatively low license fees and barriers to entry in the market, has led to reportedly fierce competition among dispensaries. One dispensary, operated by “DOK Corporation,” sought to set itself apart from the competitors by attempting to trade on an existing company’s name by using a “pun.”  Specifically, DOK decided to go by the…