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From pharmaceuticals to telecoms, software and even copyright licensing, antitrust authorities are clamping down on abuses of IP rights. James Nurton, Eileen McDermott and Peter Ollier examine why IP is under scrutiny and discuss some pending cases and investigations

There is a need for users of social network websites to realise the importance of protecting their uploaded contents. The invasion of their privacy can stem from the social network providers attempting to withdraw users' rights to utilize their uploaded contents or from unauthorised persons exploiting the contents. In the United Arab Emirates, there are laws to protect the right to privacy accorded to individuals.

Is the hoarding of a competitor's product containers an act of unfair competition under the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines? This is the issue addressed in the case of Coca Cola Bottlers Phils Inc vs Quintin Gomez, et al in case no GR 154491 involving two rival multinational soft drink giants; petitioner Coca-Cola Bottlers, Phils, Inc accused Pepsi Cola Products Phils, represented by the respondents, of hoarding empty Coke bottles in bad faith to discredit its business and to sabotage its operation in the Bicol region.

On March 6, the Supreme Court of The Netherlands (Hoge Raad) issued two decisions in patent cases.

In a recent decision rendered following an infringement action brought on behalf of the Greek originator pharmaceutical company Uni-Pharma Kleon Tsetis Pharmaceutical Laboratories SA against a Greek generic company, the Full Bench Court of Athens held for the first time that obtaining a marketing authorisation (MA) for a generic pharmaceutical product that infringes patent rights does not legitimise the circulation of the generic product in the market.

Amendments to the following IP laws were published in the Official Gazette number 30/2009 and entered into force on March 17 2009:

The Canadian Patent Office is currently undertaking an extensive review of the Patent Rules. Among changes proposed is an amendment related to section 6, which currently states that for the purpose of prosecuting or maintaining an application, the Commissioner shall only have regard to communications received from the authorised correspondent which, when appointed, is the patent agent. This has been found to be problematic in circumstances where the Office has received clear instructions from an agent, but could not give consideration to the instructions since the agent was not appointed as the authorised correspondent.

The Federal Circuit last month reversed a lower court ruling that said the USPTO did not have authority to promulgate rules on claims and continuations

Online drugs sales and the economic downturn are feeding a cybersquatting boom, according to recent reports. James Nurton and Eileen McDermott report

In the absence of regulation governing issues surrounding declaratory judgments for non-infringement, judgments of prior cases must be used as a guide. Qing Ge of Liu Shen & Associates in Beijing attempts to navigate the legal complexities that surround this issue