International Update Continued Novartis further argued that the holder of the domain name dailies.me does not have any rights or legitimate interests to the subject domain and that this domain name was registered and used in bad faith. The holder of the domain name, Adam Strongbow, failed to respond to Novartis’ complaint. The WIPO Arbitration Center reviewed Novartis’ complaint and decided to accept it, establishing that: ⁃ the domain name is identical to Novartis’ trade mark DAILIES; ⁃ the holder of the domain name does not have rights or legitimate interests to the subject domain name, i.e., he is not known by this domain name, he is not the authorized reseller of Novartis’ products and Novartis has not authorized him to use the domain name or its trade marks; ⁃ the holder of the domain name has registered and used the domain name in bad faith; i.e., he was likely aware of Novartis’ trade mark when registering the domain name and he has used the domain name to intentionally attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to his website www.dailies.me by creating a likelihood of confusion with Novartis’ trade mark. Adam Strongbow failed to challenge the above Decision of the WIPO Arbitration Center before the US Court and the domain name dailes.me was transferred to Novartis. Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, which states that a mark cannot be registered if it: (h) Consists exclusively of signs that are generic for the goods or services that they seek to identify; (j) Consists exclusively of signs or indications that may serve in trade to designate the kind, quality, intended purpose, value, geographical origin, time or production of the goods or rendering of the services or other characteristics of the goods or services. The BLA issued a Notice to Answer to Platinum, however, no response was filed. Based on the pleadings submitted, it was observed that both terms began and ended with identical letters, namely O, M, E and Z, O, L, E. The only noted difference was the absence of the middle letters P, R and A which were removed to arrive at OMEZOLE. As such, the mark used by Platinum was found to be nondistinctive for registration as it was a mere abbreviation of OMEPRAZOLE, an official generic name identified by WHO. In view of the substantial similarity between OMEZOLE and OMEPRAZOLE, the BLA ruled that the mark OMEZOLE lacked distinctiveness and that allowing its registration would be in violation of Sec. 121.1 of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines which defines a mark as any visible sign capable of distinguishing the goods (trademark) or services (service mark) of an enterprise. The BLA further ruled that the similarities were so obvious that the purchasing public could be misled into thinking that OMEZOLE and OMEPRAZOLE are one and the same, and as such, the registration of OMEZOLE was akin to permitting the registration of the generic term OMEPRAZOLE. Pharmaceutical companies formulating trade marks should be cautious not to take a name which is identical or similar to a generic term. Otherwise, the proposed mark will not be allowed registration for lack of distinctiveness. registration of industrial property rights in Romania are established in the Government Ordinance no. 41/1998 on the official fees for the protection of industrial property rights. According to art. 4 of the said Government Ordinance, the level of official fees for the registration of the industrial property rights can be upgraded every year by a Government Ordinance according to the fluctuation of the exchange and inflation rates. Law no. 31/2015 for suspension of the provisions of art. 4 of Government Ordinance no. 41/1998 on the official fees for the protection of industrial property rights and the use thereof was published in Official Gazette of Romania, Part 1, no. 169 dated 11 March, 2015. The normative act suspends, until 31 December 2016, the appliance of the provisions of the Government Ordinance no 41/1998 on upgrading the official fees in lei owed by natural and legal persons in the field of industrial property protection. Russia PETOSEVIC Russia has recently amended its Federal Law no. 311-FZ On customs regulations in the Russian Federation of 27 November, 2010. The new Federal Law No. 73-FZ, adopted on 6 April, 2015 will enter into force on 8 May, 2015. The amendments concern the rules for the entrance of protected intellectual property rights into the customs register. In the previous version of the law, the IP rights were entered into the register if the IP rights holders provided a written liability declaration that they will provide compensation for any damage suffered by the goods’ declarant, owner, recipient or other specified persons due to the unjustified suspension of the goods. However, the rights holders were only entitled, but not obliged, to submit the bank insurance contract covering their liability for any property damage caused to the specified persons.  Under the new rules, the protected IP rights will be entered into the customs register only under the condition that the rights holders submit the bank insurance contact. The sum insured should amount to at least EUR €5,230 (USD $5,620). Phillipines Gladys Mirandah & Jennifer Fajelagutan, Mirandah Asia Singapore Westmont Pharmaceutical, Inc. (Westmont) filed an opposition against the registration of the mark OMEZOLE in the name of Platinum Pharmaceuticals (PVT), Ltd. (Platinum) for use on pharmaceutical preparations for the treatment of duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer, gastrooesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and management of Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome. In September 2014, the Bureau of Legal Affairs of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (BLA-IPOPHIL)) found the trademark OMEZOLE to be similar to the generic drug name OMEPRAZOLE and ruled that the mark was not distinctive for registration. Westmont argued that OMEZOLE was similar to the generic drug name OMEPRAZOLE and as such could not be registered as it was in violation of Sec. 123.1 (h) and (j) of the Romania Nicolae Muresan, Andra Musatescu Law & Industrial Property Offices, Bucharest The official fees which are to be paid to the Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademarks for the 5