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Is it possible to patent biotech and pharmaceutical inventions globally using just one specification? John T Callahan and Ken Sakurabayashi of Sughrue Mion PLLC examine practice in the US, Japan and Europe and suggest some considerations in drafting

Plant variety protection is yet another progression in India's IP evolution. Neeti Wilson of Anand and Anand explains how it works

How you prosecute a patent can affect how enforceable the right is. Blayne Peacock and Tim Watkin explain why legal changes in Singapore could mean that applicants face unexpected consequences if they try to patent on the cheap in one of Asia's burgeoning R&D centres

Trade mark owners are increasingly frustrated at having to police online auction websites to prevent sales of fakes. In an open letter to eBay, one IP lawyer demands action. Ray Black

The US has, until now, been the preferred habitat of the patent troll. But assertive licensing companies are becoming increasingly aware of how they can use Europe's fragmented system of patent rules to their negotiating advantage, explain William Cook and Dafydd Bevan

The US Supreme Court decision in MedImmune gave licensees the right to challenge a licensed patent while continuing to pay royalties. But those patent owners that are responding to the new challenge by redrafting their licences must pay close attention to EU competition rules, say Sangeeta Puran and David Fyfield

In my briefing last month, I explained that US patent litigation is governed by the American Rule pursuant to which the prevailing party is not automatically allowed to recover its attorney fees. Rule 54(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, however, states that "costs other than attorneys fees shall be allowed as of course to the prevailing party unless the court otherwise directs". The US Supreme Court has explained that Rule 54 does not provide "unrestrained discretion to tax costs to reimburse a winning litigant for every expense he has seen fit to incur in the conduct of his case" (Farmer v Arbian Am Oil Co, 379 US 227, 235 (1964)). Rather, federal courts are bound by 28 USC Section 1920, which expressly lists the kinds of expenses that a federal court may tax as costs, and the courts have stated that Section 1920 thereby imposes "rigid controls" on cost-shifting in federal courts ((Crawford Fitting Co v J T Gibbons, Inc, 482 US 437, 444 (1987)).

Sharmila Sekarajasekaran of the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia explains how music companies have made use of landlord liability rules to make life far harder for music pirates

In line with changes made to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) as of April 1 2007, the Singapore Patents Act and Rules have been amended. The amendments make it possible, for patent applications filed on or after April 1 2007 in Singapore, to extend the convention deadline up to two months and correct a missing part of a patent specification, without losing the priority date, subject to filing relevant documents before a specific time period.

The Mexican Industrial Property Law (IPL) does not provide for oppositions to trade mark registration, which is generally understood as the ability of third parties to oppose the granting of a trade mark registration within a set period of time after the publication of the application.