Twenty cases that will change the way you work

December 10 2012

Managing IP's cases of the year for 2012 includes the annual top 10, plus 10 smaller rulings you might have missed. By Emma Barraclough, Simon Crompton, Peter Leung, Paul Madill, Eileen McDermott, James Nurton and Alli Pyrah

This has not been a year for blockbuster cases. Even though the volume of litigation remains high, neither Europe nor Asia has thrown up many surprising results. And though the United States has given us Louboutin's red-soled shoes and the first jury trial in Apple v Samsung, both cases covered issues that had been raised the year before.

Rather, 2012 was characterised by a series of cases with important but often subtle points. UsedSoft in Europe and OptusTV in Australia addressed fundamental issues about the future of copyright. Oracle v Google in the US threw up both patent and copyright issues, without any particular one grabbing the headlines.

As usual, we present our 10 biggest cases of the year, which can be accessed from the links below. But we also include a selection of smaller cases that readers might have missed. They often received little mainstream coverage, but settled important points such as the prevention of parallel imports in Russia, or highlighted worrying trends such as Monsanto's loss in Brazil.

The cases were all selected by Managing IP's journalists in London, New York and Hong Kong. Cases could not be nominated and no one could vote for their inclusion.

We welcome comments on the cases. Please use the comment button at the top of the page, or join us on Twitter (@ManagingIP) to join the debate there.