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Jan Hák of Patentservis Praha in Prague reviews the development of Czech trade mark law and practice, and examines how brand owners can protect their rights in the country

Chinese authorities are conscious of the international attention their anti-counterfeiting efforts receive. Their efforts are showing some success. Joe Simone, a vice-chairman of the Quality Brands Protection Committee, tells Ralph Cunningham what further action the group hopes to see

The Czech Republic has modified its IP laws to harmonize with the European Union. Karel Cermak, of Cermak Horejs Myslil in Prague explains the changes

The obsolete Spanish regulation on industrial models and designs of 1929 has finally been reviewed and substituted by a new modern Design Law, adapted to EU Directive 98/71/EC.

About one year ago Russian Customs drastically intensified its efforts in intercepting the illegal transit of goods across the border. Spurred by the World Customs Organization, the Russian Customs will make the year 2007 the year of combating counterfeiting. There are many reasons for that. The Russian Customs acknowledge that intellectual property rights infringement is the most frequent occurrence among economic offences. According to the Customs, the most frequently stopped goods at the border are confectionery, sports clothes and shoes, perfumes and household chemistry. This means that trade mark infringement is the biggest problem. Competing with trade marks are copyrighted products, such as DVDs and Cds. Piracy of videocassettes is becoming less frequent due to the dwindling demand for video tape gadgetry.

In the case of SAP (M) Sdn Bhd & Anor v I World HRM Net Sdn Bhd [2006] 2 MLJ 678 an application for an interlocutory injunction was made by SAP, the German software company, and its local exclusive distributor after they had sued the defendants for copyright infringement. The defendants had an individual end user licence agreement for the SAP R/3 software. The plaintiffs had alleged that the defendants had breached the licence agreement by providing service bureau applications to third parties without the plaintiffs' consent and by reproducing and downloading the software on computers/servers of third parties.

Beginning July 1 2007, three important changes to the Korean Patent Act will become effective.

On December 30 2006, the Supreme People's Court issued the Explanation on Several Issues on the Application of Law in Adjudicating Civil Unfair Competition Cases. It contains important interpretations of various terms used in China's Anti-Unfair Competition Law. The Explanations came into effect on February 1 2007.

Emma Barraclough, London

In this case, car maker Opel discovered in Germany scale models of Autec that reproduced the Opel Astra V8 Coupe car shape and the Opel Z logotype. Opel owns trade marks in Germany for cars and toys and consequently regarded these scale models as infringing its trade marks. The case was brought before the court and the German judge asked the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ) (1) whether the Opel Z logotype on toys could constitute trade mark use and (2) whether the toy manufacturer was legitimate in raising the necessary indication of a characteristic of the product to avoid trade mark infringement.