Posts in International

Every year, U.S. companies expanding into Africa make the same planning mistake: they treat the continent as though it has one intellectual property system. It has two, and choosing the wrong one, or failing to choose at all, can leave a brand or invention unprotected across dozens of countries a company assumed it had already covered. Africa is the only continent with two regional IP registration systems operating side by side. Understanding the difference between them is not a technical footnote. It is one of the first strategic decisions a U.S. company should make before it files anything.

In a previous article, the authors showed that Chinese courts ask a different question than U.S. courts — not whether the inventor possessed what is recited in the claim, but whether the scope of the claim matches the Technical Solution that the invention actually contributed to the advance of the art. This difference in underlying premise leads to one conclusion: a U.S.-style specification needs to be adjusted when filed in China. Below, the authors propose several strategies, offered as their personal views.

Brazil is one of the world’s largest economies and one of the most important markets for companies seeking expansion in Latin America. However, many foreign applicants quickly discover that success before the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (the Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial – INPI) requires more than simply filing an application. The Brazilian system combines procedural formalities, relatively long examination timelines, unique legal requirements, and several acceleration opportunities that are often overlooked by foreign applicants. Understanding these practical aspects can help businesses avoid unnecessary delays, reduce costs, and build stronger intellectual property portfolios.

In 2025, a patent dispute between Chinese companies in the camera-module space drew close attention across the industry — SUNNY v. AAC [Patent Reexamination and Invalidation Department Decision No. 566288, et al.]. The case ended with 11 patents invalidated, four of them in their entirety. There was a single reason: the claims were not supported by the specification.

U.S. companies planning to enter Nigeria typically build a careful playbook for market research, distribution, hiring, and regulatory compliance. Intellectual property is often the item furthest down that list, treated as paperwork to handle once commercial activity is already underway. That sequencing is backwards, and it is worth understanding why.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction in a decision on August 13 barring Meritain Health, Inc., ProAct, Inc., Rx Valet, LLC, Advanced Pharmacy, LLC, Aqua Enterprise Inc., and Gregory Santulli from importing, advertising, or facilitating the importation of foreign-market Gilead Sciences, Inc. medications into the United States. Judge Agee wrote the opinion on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, joined by Judge Harris and Senior Judge Keenan.

Red Tape Index (RTI), a project of the regulatory intelligence platform Labrynth, published a patent index today placing the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) below every peer office measured on the price, speed, and openness of the patent system. The Patent Friction Index assigned the United States a composite score of -42.62, a figure that stayed negative under every alternative scoring rule tested.

On Tuesday, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services released its annual report on artificial intelligence patenting, IFI Insights: Inventing AI. According to the report, worldwide AI patent grants reached 107,279 in 2025, marking the first time the total has surpassed 100,000 in a single year. The figure also represents an 83% increase over the past three years. Globally, AI patent applications reached 209,518 in 2025, of which 23% related to generative AI and 9% related to agentic AI, which is up from 5% in IFI’s previous study.

Yesterday, the UK Supreme Court issued a ruling in Tesla, Inc. v. InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. representing the latest development in UK jurisprudence surrounding fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) obligations on standard-essential patents (SEPs). Applying the reasoning of its landmark SEP decision in Unwired Planet, the UK Supreme Court revived Tesla’s claims that InterDigital’s SEPs to 5G vehicle communications technologies are not being offered on FRAND terms through Avanci’s patent pool and further upheld the jurisdiction of UK courts to decide global FRAND terms.

This week on IPWatchdog Unleashed, I speak with Martin Correa. Correa, who leads foresight work at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Correa’s job is not to predict the future of IP, but to consider what futures are possible so WIPO and Member States can be better prepared for whatever eventuality does materialize. And since there is no data about the future—as he puts it—his work uses signals of change, horizon scanning and competing scenarios to expose assumptions and identify the decisions that could push the IP system in one direction or another.

Alden Abbott recently captured Europe’s digital-policy contradiction with a memorable image: Brussels says it wants technology champions, but when a champion emerges, it makes the winner share the trophy. The European Commission’s July 16 binding specification measures (BSMs) against Google turn that metaphor into an administrative program. One measure requires Google to provide eligible search engines—including AI chatbots with search functions—access to anonymized ranking, query, click, and view data. The other requires “free and effective” interoperability with 11 categories of Android functionality, including device sensors, app context, app and operating-system control, on-device AI models, and background execution. Google must furnish documentation and technical assistance and extend access to covered future functionality when it becomes available to its own services.

On December 31, 1959, Calixto Lopez led armed men into the Arechabala family’s rum distillery in Cárdenas, Cuba. The family had made rum there since 1878, building Havana Club into a brand whose English name reflected its success in the U.S. market. According to testimony Ramón Arechabala gave the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2004, Lopez pointed a machine gun at him and announced he was taking over as “Pepe,” the nickname of the company’s president and Ramón’s uncle. The family’s rum business now belonged to the Cuban government.

Yesterday, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published a report on the global patent landscape for generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies showing that newly published patent families in the sector increased more during 2024 and 2025 combined than the preceding decade. While the United States has enjoyed greater annual growth rates in published patent families in the sector, six of the top 10 patenting entities are located in China, underscoring the dominant position that country is securing in an incredibly valuable and critical sector of emerging technology.

In any patent dispute, the strength of the patent still matters. But increasingly, it is not the only thing that matters—or even, in some cases, the thing that matters most. That means where a patent dispute takes place cannot be a tactical afterthought or viewed as a choice of federal district courts in the United States alone. This is true today more than ever because despite patents ostensibly being property—at least according to the Patent Act—which tribunal and which judges make the ultimate decisions affecting the patent often matter most of all because patents and patent enforcement have become driven by ideology and the type of fervor normally reserved highly emotionally charged discussions, like religion and politics.