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After Romania's parliament rejected in 2007 a bill to modify and complete Law no. 84/1998 regarding trade marks and geographical indications, a new bill has now been approved by the government and will be brought before legislators.

An important task of the State Administration of Industry & Commerce (SAIC) of China is to strengthen its control and supervision of trade mark agencies. To this end, on August 12 2009 the SAIC issued the Notice Concerning Further Regulating the Market Order of Trade Mark Agencies.

US antritrust watchdogs have questioned the concept of settlement agreements between generic and brand drug companies

On October 1 2009, the Law on Simplification and Modernisation of the German Patent Law entered into force.

Article 17, paragraph 4 of Law Number 99 of July 23 2009, the so-called Development Law, which came into force on August 15 2009 has already been repealed.

US judge Randall Rader says those who argue that the patent system no longer works have an "outdated" understanding of the system

Adolfo Athié of Basham, Ringe y Correa says that the law must perceive IP differently in order to encourage innovation and economic growth

The Federal Circuit recently injected some clarity into a key principle of patent damages known as the entire market value rule (EMVR). The EMVR allows a winning patentee to collect damages based on sales of unpatented technology if it is sold with patented technology, such as a patented muffler in an otherwise un-patented car. Applying EMVR, the market value of the entire car would be used as a starting point to calculate the appropriate value of the patented muffler. The EMVR can also be used to establish the value of a patented product, like a razor, if it leads to sales of additional, unpatented follow-on products, like razorblades.

Sectors of the software industry have voiced their concerns over the patent-eligibility of software as part of the review process of the Patents Bill, claiming that patents for software stifle rather than promote innovation. This was previously reviewed back in 2005 and the conclusion then was that there was no reason to treat software differently to other technologies. However, it now appears that there will be some review and possible restriction on the patent-eligibility of software, although nothing has been officially released as yet.

Liliana Chaveznava, David Zamores and Felipe Gutierrez of Panamericana de Patentes y Marcas illustrate the tricky distinction between descriptive and suggestive trade marks