Law enforcement officers of Ukraine seized tobacco products for hookahs and electronic cigarettes worth $164 thousand
Detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine exposed a scheme of illegal storage and sale of electronic smoking devices without excise tax stamps and hookah tobacco in the Odesa region.
A group of persons was exposed who, starting in 2022, carried out illegal acquisition, storage, and transportation for the purpose of selling excise goods.
Electronic cigarettes were later sold in Odesa and the rest of Ukraine via the Internet.
The detectives searched warehouses and retail premises, residential buildings, and the office of an online store.
As a result of the searches, more than 8,000 electronic cigarettes from various well-known manufacturers, more than 8,700 units of hookah tobacco, and more than 7,000 units of liquid for filling electronic cigarettes were found. Excise products with an estimated value of UAH 6 million ($164 thousand) were seized.
Uzbekistan raises official fees for actions with trademarks and patents by 10%
From May 1, 2023, the size of the basic calculation value used to calculate a number of state fees will increase in Uzbekistan, including for actions with objects of intellectual property.
The size of the basic estimated value increases by 10% (from 300,000 to 330,000 Uzbekistani sum). Accordingly, all fees for filing applications, registration and other actions with trademarks, patents and industrial designs in Uzbekistan will increase by the same amount.
In particular, at the current exchange rate of the Uzbekistani sum, the state fee for applying for TM in one class will be about $700 and $235 for each additional class.
The fee for filing an application for a patent for an invention, a utility model, or an industrial design will be about $500, and $1,500 for an examination of a patent for an invention or an industrial design, and $1,000 for a utility model.
The cost of extending the term of a TM certificate for an additional 10 years will be about $700, a patent for a utility model and an industrial design for the next term - from $500, for a patent for an invention - from $100.
Kyrgyzstan amends patent legislation
On April 7, 2023, a new edition of the patent legislation began to operate in Kyrgyzstan.
In particular, some of the rules were brought into line with the Protocol on Industrial Designs to the Eurasian Patent Convention.
If in the previous version of the Law the term of protection of industrial designs was 10 years with the possibility of extending the term of legal protection for another 5 years, in the new version the term of protection of industrial designs has been increased to 25 years.
At the same time, the list of essential features has been excluded from the list of documents for filing an application for a patent for an industrial design.
Also, the term of legal protection of the utility model has been increased to 10 years, while in the previous edition the term of legal protection was 5 years with the right to extend for 3 years.
Also, the new version of the Law excludes the possibility of issuing a patent for an invention under the responsibility of the applicant. A patent "under the responsibility of the applicant" was previously issued in a shorter time. The search was carried out only for local novelty (the territory of the member states of the Eurasian Patent Convention). In this case, only the applicant bears the entire burden of responsibility for subsequent possible disputes. On the other hand, this approach created some legal uncertainty and also affected the quality of granted patents. These shortcomings are eliminated in the new edition of the Law.
The new version of the Law also provides the applicant with the opportunity to use the system of electronic filing of applications for the issuance of a national patent for inventions, utility models and industrial designs.
The Eurasian and Chinese Patent Offices will continue cooperation under the PPH Program on the permanent basis
From April 1, 2023, the Expedited Patent Prosecution Program (PPH Program) between the Eurasian Patent Office and the National Intellectual Property Administration of the People's Republic of China (CNIPA) will be extended for an indefinite period.
The interagency PPH program was launched in 2018. The signing of the Memorandum of Extension will take place as part of the 64th series of meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO in July 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland.
In connection with the EAPO becoming an International Searching and Preliminary Examining Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Offices also agreed to include work products under the PCT-PPH in the PPH Program.
