Expert Analysis

Descriptive marks can be great for marketing a product, but difficult to defend and enforce. Bonita Trimmer argues that a series of cases in Europe is making that a little bit easier

After attracting headlines for good and bad reasons in 2009, China’s IP system had a quieter 2010. There was no litigation to rival that of Chint v Schneider and no new legislation to match the third amendment to the Patent Law. The implementing regulations for that amendment have so far caused few problems for patent owners. Worries about the length of time it would take SIPO to do a secrecy examination for foreign filings have so far proved unfounded, with a response time of two to three weeks being the norm. Companies doing R&D in China remain concerned about how the inventor remuneration policies will be interpreted by the courts, but no cases have emerged of yet. IP practitioners are still waiting for the first case to test the IP provisions of the Anti-Monopoly Law.

Publishers can survive and even profit from piracy, argues Peter Ollier, as long as they learn the mistakes from the movie and music industries, and focus on innovation

As Managing IP was going to press, Judge Denny Chin of the US District Court in Manhattan said that the proposed Google Book Search settlement would effectively reward Google "for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission".

One way in which book publishers might learn from the movie industry is to consider the suggestions from the Don't Make Me Steal Manifesto. In February this year a group of web developers, designers and consumers of digital content produced the manifesto. Signatories, (14,995 and counting) promise never to download a film illegally if the following criteria are met.

Here are some examples of how authors and publishers are using new technology to improve the experience of readers.