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Provisions on patent term extension vary greatly in different jurisdictions. Kathryn D Soulier and Noel E Day provide a guide to the maze of regulations, and advise on how to get maximum protection

Singapore has moved to a positive grant patent system with amendments to the Singapore Patents Act and Rules taking effect on February 14 2014. This will affect all Singapore patent applications lodged in Singapore on or after this date.

The US Supreme Court recently heard arguments on whether a computerised system for managing settlement risk constitutes patent-eligible subject matter, a question that had left an en banc Federal Circuit divided and without a majority opinion. While this case is similar in many respects to Bilski v Kappos, neither Bilski nor subsequent Supreme Court and Federal Circuit decisions have articulated a definitive test to determine whether computer-implemented inventions are eligible for patenting. Perhaps perceiving a need for such a test, the justices focused several questions on where and how a line should be drawn between patent-eligible and patent-ineligible subject matter.

Europe’s IP offices are harmonising the way they protect black-and-white and greyscale marks. Rebecca Tew and Amy Wood look at how the move will affect trade mark applicants and owners in practice

In two recently published cases, the Federal Patent Court was confronted with cases involving specific marketing activities for generic drugs that occurred a few months before the expiration of the supplementary protection certificate for the original product.

In the Dutch patent system, national patent applications are granted without substantive examination. However, when priority of such a national application is invoked for a subsequent European patent application, the substantive examination conducted by the EPO may give an indication of the validity of the Dutch patent, especially when the claims of the Dutch patent and the European application are the same. In such a case, the examination by EPO may influence infringement strategies based on the national Dutch patent.

In a decision rendered by OHIM's opposition division on April 23 2014, in opposition case no B 002183450 – Automobili Laborghini SPA v Societatea de Investitii Financiare Moldova SA – the examiners found that no likelihood of confusion exists between trade marks having similar figurative elements and dissimilar verbal elements, irrespective of the degree of similarity between the services designated by the two signs.

Getting and presenting evidence to establish your trade secret claims in China can be difficult. Christine Yiu discusses strategies on how to gather and present your evidence

Section 3 of the Industrial Designs Act 1996 defines an industrial design as excluding "features of shape or configuration of an article which are dictated solely by the function which the article has to perform".

The UK will this month host a summit on IP enforcement. James Nurton visited UK IP Minister Lord Younger to ask him what it is and what he expects it to achieve