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Our firm has virtually abandoned filing applications on paper. We feel that online filing is safer than paper filing, provided that some sensible precautions are taken.

Bilateral trade between India and the US has increased exponentially over the past two decades, and gathered a full head of steam last year. In March 2006, US president Bush visited India for a meeting with prime minister Manmohan Singh on increased global partnership between the two nations. This was well received and very successful. This meeting was followed by meetings of the CEO Forum, the Trade Policy Forum and the Commercial Dialogue and High Technology Group, a clear indication of the two countries' desire to work together.

The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic has considered an appeal against decisions of courts of lower instances in the case of the infringement of trade mark rights (8Tdo239/2004).

The Patent Appeal Board in Canada recently issued its decision following a hearing at which we challenged the decision of an examiner regarding inter alia the patentability of subject matter. The claims were directed to a system for trading diamonds from remote computer terminals in communication with a host computer, including the use of data structures for presenting diamond characteristics in an orderly and structured manner. The examiner's rejection reflected a trend in Canada of examiners rejecting claims to less than fully tangible inventions, or to what can be loosely called business methods.

Article 15 of the TRIPs Agreement provides that combinations of colours – among other kinds of signs – can be registered as trade marks. Article 1 of the Argentine Trade Mark Act 22,362 specifically requires that combinations of colours can be registered as trade marks provided they are applied in a fixed place on products or containers. Article 2 says that the natural or inherent colour of the products or a single colour applied on them cannot be considered to be a trade mark.

Acacia Technologies: an aggressive patent troll that feeds off the litigation fears of large corporations, or the champion of small technology companies who might not know how to go about enforcing their patents? Shahnaz Mahmud weighs up the evidence

The GPL has become the most common open source licence since its release in 1989. But only recently has a body of case law begun to develop on whether it is enforceable. James Gatto argues that cases in the US and Germany suggest that it is

Foreign IP owners used to think that China was reluctant to grant well-known mark status to their trade marks. They need to think again, says Huang Hui, as he explains how brand owners can use the rules to maximize their rights

Ensuring that expert witness evidence is used to maximum effect is crucial in IP litigation. Nick Gardner and Duncan Ribbons introduce a guide to the most effective way to marshal and deploy your expert evidence prepared by lawyers in seven jurisdictions

Trade secrets (including so-called tricks of the trade) are commonly protected by confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure agreements and exclusivity clauses or contracts. Exclusivity clauses are often attacked as being null and void on grounds of public policy because they restrain trade or occupation unreasonably. In Avon Cosmetics Incorporated v Leticia Luna, GR No 153674, dated December 20 2006, the Supreme Court ruled on an exclusivity clause. The facts of the case are as follows: In 1978 Avon acquired Beautifont Inc, a Philippine company, where Luna was an employee. In 1985, Luna and Avon signed the so-called Supervisor's Agreement. This had the following terms: (i) that the Agreement does not make the Supervisor an employee or agent of the Company (ii) that the Supervisor is an independent retailer/dealer and has sole discretion to determine where and how Avon's products will be sold, except that the Supervisor cannot sell such products to stores, supermarkets or to any person who sells things at a fixed place of business, (iii) that the Supervisor shall sell or offer to sell, display or promote only and exclusively products sold by the Company; (iv) that either party may terminate the agreement at will, or without cause, at any time upon notice to the other.