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Article 50 of the TRIPs agreement establishes that the judicial authorities shall have the authority to order prompt and effective provisional measures to prevent the infringement of any IP right, and also the authority to adopt provisional measures inaudita altera parte where appropriate, in particular where any delay is likely to cause irreparable harm to the right holder, or where there is a demonstrable risk of evidence being destroyed.

A merchant (not related to the firm Puma) in the perfume market sued a competitor for infringement of Puma's trade mark by its use of a Jungle Man logo. Puma's trade mark has been used for perfumes on the Austrian market through sales by means of its website. The plaintiff sued for trade mark infringement on the basis of Trade Mark Law and on the Law Against Unfair Competition for misleading consumers by use of a confusingly similar sign.

The new Patent Licensing Contract Recordal Measures came into effect on August 1 2011, replacing the old Patent Licensing Contract Administration Measures.

If the EPO considers that a European patent application fails to comply with the EPC such that a search for the European Search Report (ESR) cannot be carried out, a communication under Rule 63(1) EPC is issued. It may be triggered if for example a clarity objection under Article 84, an objection under Article 76 regarding a divisional application, an objection under Article 123(2) or an objection under Article 53c relating to exceptions to patentability is issued.

On April 1 2011, Ministry of Finance of Vietnam (MOF) promulgated Circular 44/2011/TT-BTC guiding the anti-counterfeiting tasks and protection measures for IP rights at Customs. The Circular provides detailed procedures, actions and documents to be submitted to specific Customs Offices (CO) or the General Customs Department (GCD) under the supervision of the Ministry, requesting the CO/GCD to apply necessary statutory measures at the border gates for protection of rights of IP holders. Such measures would be some or all of the following: control on import-export goods related to IP rights, temporary suspension of customs procedure, customs inspection and supervision.

Residual goodwill is the association that a consumer has between a trade mark that may no longer be in active use and its original source. The legal implications of a trade mark's residual goodwill often become significant when third parties attempt to secure rights to it to profit from consumers' nostalgia for older brands. Typically, a new party hoping to revitalise an otherwise dormant trade mark will take steps to cancel the owner's registration based on allegations of abandonment.

On July 8 2011, the decree on the oppositions to Italian trade marks and international trade marks designating Italy was finally published in the Italian Official Gazette. So it will at last be possible to file an administrative trade mark opposition.

Icann is searching for a vice president of Europe after the man who was set to take on the role said he will not be joining the organisation.

The Supreme Court in its decision of June 1 2011 in the case of Fredco Manufacturing Corp v Harvard University denied the petition of Fredco and declared the mark Harvard well-known internationally and in the Philippines.

The world now frowns at smokers. Yet Russia remains one of the countries with the highest smoking rate. Many tobacco companies have a presence in Russia and strive to strengthen their hold on Russian smokers. Philip Morris is one such company. It filed to register the figurative trade mark.