U.S. Companies Should Register Trademarks in Cuba Early; Boomberg BNA, April 7, 2017

Peter Leung, Bloomberg BNA; 

U.S. Companies Should Register Trademarks in Cuba Early

"The thawing of U.S.-Cuba relations means American companies should consider registering their marks in the island nation to head off trademark squatters, lawyers said.

The expectation of increased trade between the countries has led to more unauthorized registrations of trademarks used by American companies, Katherine Van Deusen Hely of Caribbean IP PLLC said April 5 at the American Bar Association’s Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference...

Timely registration is particularly important with Cuba’s first-to-file trademark system which differs from the U.S., where registration is based on earliest, continuous use of a trademark."

The number of U.S. trademark registrations in Cuba is multiplying — fast; Miami Herald, 11/15/16

Abel Fernandez, Miami Herald; The number of U.S. trademark registrations in Cuba is multiplying — fast:

"The policy of rapprochement with Cuba promoted by the Obama administration has sparked a frenzy in U.S. companies rushing to register their brands on the island.

The Cuban Office of Industrial Property (OCPI), the government agency that examines and awards trademark and trade name registrations on the island, has received more than 1,000 applications so far this year to register trademarks and distinctive signs belonging to U.S. companies.

That is more than double the number of applications received in 2015, and far exceeds the number before Havana and Washington announced a thaw in relations on Dec. 17, 2014. Only 78 U.S. brands were registered on the island that year, according to a report by Reuters."

Cattle researchers fight 'extraordinary' patent of bovine genome; ABC, 11/17/16

Sarina Locke, ABC; Cattle researchers fight 'extraordinary' patent of bovine genome:

"In a move which has shocked cattle researchers and breeders, two American companies are trying to patent the bovine genome in Australia.

Meat and Livestock Australia has lodged action in the Federal Court against the Australian Patent office for granting the patent to Cargill and Branhaven.

Researchers fear it could spread to other livestock research.

Livestock Professor Rob Banks, said he was appalled that a private company could be granted rights over genes that had been publicly available since the 1980s."

Tough sentences in China over huge piracy ring: Microsoft, Sydney Morning Herald, 1/1/09

Via Sydney Morning Herald: Tough sentences in China over huge piracy ring: Microsoft:

"The sentences were the "stiffest ever meted out for intellectual property rights violations in China," said a report on the verdicts by the popular Chinese Internet portal Sina.com...

Washington filed a case in April 2007 at the World Trade Organisation over widespread copyright piracy in China, a practice that US companies say deprives them of billions of US dollars in sales each year.

In November, China's assistant commerce minister Chong Quan told US industry and government officials at a gathering in Beijing that Washington must take into account its difficulties as a developing country in tackling copyright breaches.

But China also has recently touted tougher anti-piracy laws as evidence of its resolve to crush such violations."

http://news.smh.com.au/world/tough-sentences-in-china-over-huge-piracy-ring-microsoft-20090101-78dk.html