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IP organisation Asociación Interamericana de la Propiedad Intelectual (ASIPI) has elected a new president. Juan Vanrell, a partner of Bacot & Bacot in Montevideo, Uruguay, replaced Fernando Triana of Triana Uribe & Michelsen as president on December 6. Vanrell, who is also a partner in Ideas Trademarks and Patents in Costa Rica, will govern for the next three years. Before taking over as president, Vanrell had served as ASIPI's secretary since 2006. He also previously acted as president of the Uruguayan Association of Industrial Property Agents (AUDAPI) from 2004 to 2008. He continues to be a member of AUDAPI. He is also member of the INTA where he serves in the non-traditional trade marks committee.

User protests forced Facebook to backtrack from changes to photo-sharing site Instagram's copyright policy one day after the new terms of service were announced. Under Facebook's proposed terms, a third-party company could pay Facebook for images it may want to use, but Facebook is under no obligation to compensate the user. There was no user opt-out provision.

Territorial borders between EU member states should be disregarded in assessing whether a CTM has been put to genuine use in the Community, the Court of Justice of the EU said in December in its long-awaited ruling in the Onel case. Instead, national courts must consider the characteristics of the market concerned, the nature of the goods or services protected and the territorial extent and the scale of the use as well as its frequency and regularity.

Filings at the EPO 2012 – top five countries The world might be reeling from recession but it seems as if companies are innovating – or at least patenting – their way out of it. Filings at the EPO were up 5.7% last year, with China recording growth of 11.3%, according to provisional figures. Only one country in the list of top 10 national filers saw a decline in its number of filings: applications from Italy were down 4%.

Thailand rules the harshest New Zealand will follow Australia India bill at an early stage Australia's tobacco plain packaging law, which requires that all cigarettes be sold in packs with standardised colours, fonts, and devoid of logos, came into effect on December 1 after surviving a constitutional challenge before the High Court.

EU patent looks almost certain Patents could be filed from spring 2014 Cheaper, simpler system for patentees A vote by MEPs in December in favour of the unitary patent means that IP owners planning their patent filing strategies could soon have a new way of protecting their rights in Europe.

Dead zone for challenging patents tackled GATT patents provision removed Some opportunities missed A bill which aims to clarify ambiguities in the America Invents Act (AIA) is set to become law following amendments to remove some controversial provisions.

Land Rover was involved in a landmark trade mark squatting case in 2012 Reforms will speed up procedures Obtaining evidence made easier Larger, punitive damages Trade mark owners have long complained about bad faith registrations in China. Now its parliament has recommended new revisions to the latest version of the country's Trademark Law that would make life harder for trade mark squatters.

The number of industrial designs registered in the Philippines jumped last year, according to data published by the country’s IP Office

The UK minister in charge of intellectual property rejected calls from members of the House of Lords yesterday for the creation of a new IP Tsar post