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Patrick Kartes, Trent Kirk and Jason Cooper tell patent owners what strategies they must implement as the US officially becomes a first-to-file patent regime

As brand owners ready for the launch of new gTLDs later this year, Flip Petillion, John Murino, Jan Janssen and Emily Alban explain that litigation against Icann indicates the best ways to challenge aspects of the process

The US Supreme Court recently issued a decision in Already v Nike which may have a large impact on how trade mark owners handle enforcing their proprietary rights and how those accused of trade mark infringement defend themselves.

The Patent Law implemented on January 1 2013 has introduced a final notice procedure for patent applications. This new procedure limits the amendment of claims with a view to expediting examination of applications.

The Swiss Federal Patent Court recently ordered for the first time a description of an allegedly patent-infringing method at the premises of an alleged infringer. Although within the framework of provisional measures, which usually require the requesting party to show that the infringement will cause damaging effects that can not be easily repaired, a description can be ordered by the court without this prerequisite. The requesting party needs only to make credible that a claim it is entitled to is infringed.

In Singapore, a patent application can claim either a single invention or a group of inventions that are linked to form a single inventive concept. This unity of invention convention is also present in many other jurisdictions.

It seems that some Russian applicants are short of inspiration in their own country and are forced to derive it from elsewhere. Or, they believe that giving the goods the acoustic fragrance of another country will be popular with consumers. In this case Rigla, a Russian pharmacy chain, filed a trade mark application (priority of March 18 2011) in classes 3 (cosmetics, toothpaste), 5 (pharmaceuticals) and for some classes (8, 25 and 35) for which goods will hardly be sold by a pharmacy. The applied designation was Pompidu. Despite slight camouflage in the spelling, the name of the former French president is clearly recognisable.

An unusual trade mark case recently involved an overt statement of being fake, and therefore possibly detrimental association.

On February 4 2013, the Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines (FDA) issued FDA Circular 2013-002 revising its rules and regulations in licensing cosmetic establishments which engage in business in the Philippines. The rules specify that:

To be patent-eligible, apart from being novel, non-obvious and industrially applicable, patent laws require that an invention must not fall within the list of subject matter specifically excluded from patent protection. Such a listing in Pakistan effectively precludes patenting of "substances that exist in nature or if isolated therefrom". However, in the absence of any judicial precedent, the extent of exclusion has invited controversy.