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Recently, the so-called Convergence Project 4 (CP4) was finalised and implemented. This is a cooperation between OHIM and a large number of the national trade mark offices and deals with the scope of protection of black-and-white (B&W) marks. CP4 may have a great impact on trade mark practice at OHIM and in EU member states. It may especially affect those trade mark owners who own a registration for a logo – a figurative mark or a composite mark – in B&W.

According to Article 12(2) (a) of Directive 2008/12 a trade mark shall be liable to revocation if, in consequence of acts of inactivity of the owner, it has become the common name for a product in respect of which it is registered.

On 8 April 2014, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) announced an IP financing scheme set to catalyse innovation among local companies. The IP financing scheme is part of the government's initiatives to develop Singapore as a hub for IP transactions and management, taking advantage of IPOS's newly established Centre of Excellence for IP valuation.

As a member of World Trade Organization, Indonesia has adopted the TRIPs Agreement in its IP laws, including regarding injunctions. Nonetheless, due to the lack further explanation especially on how to proceed with the injunction, these provisions could not be applied in practice.

Under the provisions set forth in the Mexican Industrial Property Law (IPL), therapeutic treatment methods applicable to the human body shall not be regarded as inventions and consequently, they are not susceptible of protection. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (MIIP), upon adopting into practice the patentability criteria established in the European Patent Convention (EPC) 1973 of the European Patent Office (EPO), allowed the protection of known substances by reference to their first or subsequent medical use in therapeutic treatment methods using the format "the use of substance X for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of disease Y" (also known as Swiss-type claims), so that the MIIP had usually accepted this format even though the IPL was not amended in order to provide a legal basis for such claims.

Ski in ski out is a registered Community trade mark. Its owner and the plaintiff owns a hotel in an Austrian skiing area situated directly at the skiing slope so that one can directly ski to and from the hotel. The defendant owns a restaurant in the same skiing area. It advertises its business indirectly that its restaurant lies directly at the skiing slope "always in the middle with Ski in & Ski out", "Ski in & Ski out ... in the whole winter". The plaintiff wanted to forbid the use of Ski in & Ski out. The defendant pointed to fair use under Article 12 (b) CTMR to which the plaintiff replied that the defendant would have to file an invalidity action before OHIM if it wants to use an identical mark. Since it did not file such an action, it infringes the CTM.

On June 2 2014, the Director of the Bureau of Legal Affairs (BLA), the adjudicating bureau of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) issued two decisions related to the first-to-file rule. Under Section 123.1(d) of the IP Code, which took effect on January 1 1998, a mark is not registrable if it is identical to a "mark with an earlier filing or priority date in respect of the same goods or services, or closely related goods or services, or if it nearly resembles such a mark as to be likely to deceive or cause confusion". Many domestic applicants have construed the first-to-file rule as an opportunity or entitlement to own marks which have not been registered nor applied for with the IPOPHL. In these cases, the BLA Director makes the clarification.

Since it was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, the incandescent filament lamp had played the leading part in the illumination field for more than a century. However, in the 1990s, Nichia Corporation made a breakthrough by succeeding in the practical use and mass-production of blue LED for the first time in the world and achieved a paradigm shift in the illumination field by the practical use and mass-production of white LED. This case is about the essential patent for the blue LED.

The Patents Act, 1970, as amended in 2005, provides for proceedings for revocation of a granted patent before three different forums: the Patent Office through a post-grant opposition; the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) through a revocation petition; and the High Court through a counter-claim in an infringement suit. As a result the same patent could be litigated before multiple forums. However the Supreme Court of India in a recent judgment has clarified that the same patent cannot be subjected to revocation proceedings before multiple forums.

Over the past few years, the Asia-Pacific region has seen much activity in the area of competition law. In Malaysia, the Competition Act 2010 (CA) came into force on January 1 2012.