“Exhaustion of intellectual property rights” means that right holders lose the right to control the resale of the protected goods. Without an exhaustion doctrine IPR holders would perpetually exercise control over the sale, transfer or use of the relevant goods, and would have a grip on...

Plain packaging is a new, yet unapplied, tobacco control policy tool. It would remove from cigarettes boxes all fancy and design elements displayed on packaging, such elements usually being registered by tobacco manufacturers as trademarks.The article explores the compatibility of this new...

The number of countries that grant intellectual property rights (IPRs) to agricultural products and processes is growing. Such a move has been prompted by the adoption of two major international treaties, i.e. the UPOV Convention and the TRIPs Agreement. However, the use of IPRs in crop breeding...

The Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (JEPA) was signed on 1 July 2018 and entered into force on 1 February 2019, with Ch.14 focusing on intellectual property (IP) rights. JEPA should be hailed as a positive contribution to strengthening IP protection in the two blocs, and therefore...

This article aims at analyzing to what extent UK copyright law is capable of regulating various forms of art placed in the streets. “Graffiti” and “street art” are the main terms used to define these artistic movements.Particular attention is paid to whether the law is able to...

This paper expands on whether copyright protection may be available for certain new and non-conventional works as diverse as graffiti, sports movements, dj-sets, culinary presentations, jokes, magic tricks, works created by artificial intelligence and engineered DNA. The potential expansion of...

On 18 December 2014, in International Stem Cell Corporation v. Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (C-364/13), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered an important decision regarding the scope of the exclusion from patentability on morality-related grounds...

Are brands untouchable? Do commercial enterprises have complete freedom to register and use any kind of trademark? Can public authorities prohibit the registration and use of signs under certain circumstances? This article tries to provide some answers to these questions. It does so by looking...

In 2012, Australia became the world’s first nation to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products.This public health measure has been challenged in a number of fora, including at the WTO. This chapter focuses on the intellectual property issues of the WTO dispute, and specifically deals...

Culinary creations involve various elements - the recipe per se, the expression of the recipe in textual or other form, the process of preparing the dish, and the presentation, or ‘plating,’ of the dish. Accordingly, a distinction is to be made between rights applicable to food presentation...