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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.

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.

The Austrian Supreme Court on January 24 gave some guidance on how the remuneration due to an employee for his invention is to be calculated. In an action for a declaratory judgment the question put to it was with regard to an employee inventor of a company 100% owned by a parent company in a group of companies. The subsidiary company, the employer, has its own responsibilities in the group, namely for the economic area of central and eastern Europe (CEE) and worldwide for certain products.

boundaries of patentable subject matter, the Federal Court of Australia recently pronounced on gene patents and business method patents.

In previous briefings – the most recent one published in the December 2012-January 2013 edition of Managing Intellectual Property – we have analysed the liability of internet search engines, as determined by a series of judicial decisions.

Under the old, 1996 Act, trade mark proprietors lost their rights if registrations were not renewed within six months of expiry. Section 88 of the new Act now makes provision for an application to restore lapsed trade mark registrations within the two months following the six-month grace period.

Last month DLA Piper hired IP partners on both east and west coats of the United States.In New York the firm added former Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe IP litigator Paul Gupta (far left) as a partner. He focuses on intellectual property, information technology, cyber-security, privacy and business litigation in the technology sector.

The world's leading copyright firms, ranked across 21 jurisdictions

Canada's Minister of Industry, Christian Paradis, has introduced legislation that would crack down on counterfeits, redefine the term trade mark and allow for so-called divisional trade mark applications. Bill C-56 had its first reading in the House of Commons last month. Among the most significant changes it proposes is a new definition of a trade mark that would recognise non-traditional marks, including colour, smell, taste and texture marks, as well as confirm the registrability of sound and hologram marks.

US politicians have reintroduced a bill that would force patent trolls who sue and lose to cover defendants' legal costs. The SHIELD Act 2013 – an acronym for Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes – was introduced by Representatives Jason Chaffetz of Utah (right) and Peter DeFazio of Oregon. The bipartisan bill, which was originally proposed last year, aims to prevent patent trolls from abusing the court system. In many countries, such as the UK, whichever party loses a case is typically ordered to pay the winner's legal fees. In the US, however, unless a judge decides that an egregious abuse of the system has occurred, each side generally covers its own bills. Since defendants know they will probably have to cover their costs even if they win a case, patent trolls use the high price of litigation as leverage to negotiate settlements.