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Judge Colin Birss loses his cool, while a Polish lawyer gets a little too aggressive

Linda Chang explains why bad faith under Chinese law is often misunderstood by foreign trade mark owners, and how new amendments to the law could improve enforcement

James Whymark compares Customs recordal programmes and other aspects of counterfeit seizures around the world

Courtenay Brinckerhoff explains how companies should use the new third-party prior art submission process under the America Invents Act

Often a company develops a brand and secures trade mark protection only to later receive notice from an entity claiming ownership of an identical mark in a limited geographical location. The question is then how the presumptive rights of nationwide exclusivity conferred on the owner of a US trade mark registration interact with the prior non-registered common law rights of a third party in a limited area.

The Patent Act that will take effect on January 1 2013 introduces three main changes to the invalidation proceedings.

The Act on the Federal Patent Court provides that one of the official languages of Switzerland (German, French and Italian) is designated by the Court as the language of proceedings. As a general rule, the Court designates the language of the statements of claims by the plaintiff – if it is filed in an official language.

The Patents Amendment Bill was passed in parliament earlier this year as part of an initiative to bring Singapore's IP regime up to the level of well-established patent offices such as the UK IPO, EPO and the USPTO. The passing of the bill will herald a number of changes in Singapore's patent system, the most significant of which is the move from a self-assessment to a positive grant system. As a result of this change, it will no longer be possible for an application to proceed to grant unless it fully meets the criteria for patentability under Singapore law. It will no longer be possible for an application to proceed to grant despite an adverse examination report.

As we get closer to Christmas we receive unexpected gifts from the Chamber of Patent Disputes. Back in October 2010 A Livensk Confectionary (named after a small town of Livny some 400 miles south of Moscow) filed a trade mark application for Christmas Lamb for goods in Class 30.

In the case of Rolex Rodriguez y Olayres v Allied Domecq Spirits and Wines, decided by the Supreme Court on October 24 2012, the court ruled that the so-called fresh period rule applies to criminal cases.