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This month the Madras High Court in India will hear nine petitions by German company Enercon against decisions revoking 12 of its patents. The politically tinged dispute has exercised the top lawyers in India for and against the controversial revocations, as well as undermining two institutions that are already damaged: India's Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and the Indian IP system itself.

The Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that use of a trade mark in one geographic region of the country confers national rights

OHIM officially started its review of service standards under its new Strategic Plan yesterday, but processing times for designs have already improved rapidly.

A proposal that will make it possible to implement patent prosecution highway agreements between Norway and other countries has been launched by the government. The proposal includes amendments to the Norwegian Patent Regulations enabling cooperation between the Norwegian Industrial Property Office and other patent authorities. Denmark and Finland already have such agreements with other countries.

There is no telling what Filipinos would have done if they were prevented from viewing on real time the fight between their hero, pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and Sugar Shane Mosley in Nevada last May 8. Fortunately the Court of Appeals affirmed the order of a lower court to execute, pending appeal, its decision to cancel the copyright registration of one Melecio Alonzo. The general rule is that execution shall only issue if the judgment has become final and executory. However, for good reasons and only after due hearing, discretionary or execution of a judgment pending appeal may be issued.

The European Commission has proposed a “suggested solution” for a unitary patent court in the EU, which addresses objections raised by the EU Court of Justice

Writer Dostoevsky would have hardly experienced any problems with trade marks during his life. In fact, one is unsure whether trade marks had any commercial value in those times in Russia. But now his name has come up in a trade mark problem before the Chamber of Patent Disputes.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) issued a circular in the aftermath of the March 11 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, reminding applicants that "Singapore has various existing provisions in our Patents, Trade Marks and Designs Act and Rules regarding extensions of time" and IPOS "will certainly do our best within the permit of our legislation to assist affected applicants". Under Singapore Patent Law, both as-of-right (automatic) and discretionary extensions of deadlines are available during patent prosecution.

In a recent case the defendant, Zürich Insurance Company, had sent several cease and desist letters to the plaintiffs, claiming that their company name Zürich Trust Forum and registered trade mark Zürich Trust Forum infringed the defendant's trade mark and further IP rights. The letters demanded modest amendments of these names and mark. The plaintiffs subsequently sued the defendant for a declaratory judgement holding that the plaintiffs were not infringing any rights of the defendant and did not owe any damages.

The IP Court has jurisdiction over IP-related civil cases pursuant to the IP Court Organic Act and IP Case Adjudication Rules. However, jurisdiction is not exclusive according to the Rules. A legal question thus arises: if a plaintiff commences an IP-related civil action in a district court, could the court refuse to hear the case on grounds of lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and transfer the case to the IP Court?