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José Antonio Hernández and Patricia Koch of Herrero & Asociados review how courts have dealt with preliminary injunctions in Spain and provide some tips on what IP rights owners need to prove in order to obtain one

A recent decision of the UK High Court has confirmed that Trade Marks Registry oppositions can create estoppel in subsequent High Court infringement proceedings.

The Singapore Court of Appeal recently overruled a High Court decision upholding the registration of the trade mark NIKE, which had been registered by a Spanish company, Campomar.

According to the Romanian provisions, a trade mark registration can be cancelled if, within a continuous period of five years, the mark has not been put to genuine use on the Romanian territory in connection with the goods or services in respect of which it is registered, and there are no proper reasons for non-use. Not using the trade mark for an uninterrupted five-year period implies that the trade mark is no longer capable of fulfilling one of its basic functions: to differentiate the goods and services of a natural or legal person from those of other natural or legal persons. Thanks to the non-use, the trade mark does not allow the consumers to easily and quickly choose a verified product, which earned a reputation, the competition function no longer being fulfilled.

The Measures on Protection of IPR at Exhibitions (the Measures) were jointly promulgated by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), State Administration of Industry & Commerce (SAIC), State Copyright Bureau (SCB) and the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) (collectively the IP authorities) on January 10 2006. They took effect on March 1 2006. By strengthening protection of IP, China hopes to promote the healthy development of the exhibition industry.

Under German law an invention may be protected simultaneously by a granted patent and a registered utility model.

The Japanese government has introduced a regional collective trade mark system to boost the value of the country's agricultural exports. John Tessensohn and Shusaku Yamamoto explain how it will work and who will benefit

Following two reviews of Australia's intellectual property legislation, the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill 2006 was introduced into the Australian Parliament on March 30 2006. If passed in its present form, the Bill will make a number of changes to Australia's legislation, particularly to the Trade Marks Act 1995 and the Patents Act 1990.

It has been another busy year for the courts in Luxembourg. Ilanah Simon says that, while case law on registrability is now well settled, questions remain on the scope of trade mark owners' rights, and what determines how far they can extend

As the EU expands, the number of oppositions to Community trade mark applications is on the rise. Guy Heath and Eesheta Shah argue that, to be successful, it is imperative that applicants know their enemy