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In the past three years, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property has increased the number of office actions objecting to a claimed invention due to a lack of support in the description, which has resulted in the conclusion that applicant is seeking a greater scope of protection than originally claimed.

Apioneer batch of 20 people comprising IP professionals, bankers, accountants and venture capitalists commenced training on IP valuation in March this year. The training is being jointly organised by the Malaysian IP Office (MyIPO) and the government agency responsible for driving the ICT industry in Malaysia, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC). The intensive training modules were formulated in collaboration with local IP professionals and IP valuation experts and trainers from Switzerland, the UK and the United States.

The Committee on Price Negotiation of Patented Drugs released a draft proposal recently. In it, the Committee has very clearly noted the difficulty it faces. On the one hand, the prices of patented drugs in India are high compared to other countries, when normalised based on gross national income with purchasing power parity. On the other hand, unilateral fixing of prices by the Government may stop the patented drug being available.

A recent decision by the Supreme Court clarified the criteria used to ascertain the risk of confusion caused between a trade mark and a domain name. In particular, the Court judged that there must be some kind of proximity or connection between the businesses of the conflicting enterprises. The claimant's rights, based on a trade mark registration for Lexicon and the domain name Lexicon.gr, were not infringed by the use of the subsequent domain name Lexicon.edu.gr used by a third party, since the services offered (translation and interpretation services on the one hand, and education – teaching services, on the other), are different and intended for different target groups.

In 1892 Germany and Switzerland agreed upon a Convention about the mutual protection of IP rights. According to article 5(1), legal disadvantages that occur under the laws of the contracting parties when an invention, a design or a trade mark has not been implemented, reproduced or used within a certain period of time shall be precluded if the corresponding action took place in the territory of the other party. The result is that in front of the German patent office and German civil courts the genuine use of a German trade mark, including international registrations with effect in Germany, can be proven by submission of proof of use in Switzerland and vice versa.

Article 84 of the European Patent Convention (EPC) governs the clarity and conciseness of the claims in a European patent. It is well known that objections to the clarity of a claim cannot constitute a ground of opposition under article 100. However, clarity issues can be taken up in opposition proceedings by means of article 103.

Croatia shares borders with the EU, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. National Customs regulations provide Customs officials with discretion with regards to detention of goods in transit that are suspected to infringe IP rights.

Article 10.1.8 of the PRC Trademark Law provides that where a trade mark is detrimental to socialist morals or customs, or has other adverse effects, it shall not be approved for trade mark registration. The PRC Supreme Court's No 12 Opinion (2010) further clarifies that the "other adverse effects" refer to when the mark or its elements would likely raise negative and unhealthy influences on China's political, economic, cultural, religious and ethnic public interests and public order. However, Chinese laws do not provide specific criteria for deciding these adverse effects.

SIPO published an amendment proposal on the Patent Examination Guidelines 2010 on February 4 2013, and invites comments from the public by March 18 2013.

In its judgment on October 13 2011 (Airfield), the Court of Justice of the EU ruled on whether satellite television providers must obtain the consent of copyright holders for their communication of programmes to the public.