ASEAN’s new ASPEC+ framework marks a cautious but meaningful shift from passive patent work-sharing toward active coordination among national IP offices. While far from a unified regional patent system, it may become an important test of whether procedural cooperation can gradually produce deeper convergence in ASEAN patent examination.

Nearly a month ago, the Korean Supreme Court handed down a notable trade mark judgment, addressing a question that sits at the heart of upcycling and IP law: whether alteration or “reform” of a branded good, where the resulting product still bears the original mark, constitutes trade mark use.