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With hundreds of new strings applied for, how should I approach them?

The Black IPs rock out at CIPA, aliens ask for copyright rights to the Earth's music, and some eyebrow issues

Trade mark applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office are typically reviewed by an examining attorney in the order in which they are received. In practice, this means that a trade mark applicant would usually not expect to receive any action on a newly filed application for approximately three to four months from the filing date. Although certain rights are conferred to an applicant upon filing, in certain instances special circumstances may exist in which an applicant requires that its application receive priority in the order in which it is reviewed. With those needs in mind, the USPTO has established a procedure whereby a trade mark applicant can file a petition to make its application "special" and reviewed faster than otherwise.

Thailand has several amendments in the pipeline for the Trade Marks Act. Amongst them is the introduction of smell and sound marks. The bill extends the meaning of a "mark" to include non-visual trade marks such as sounds and smells, which will bring Thai trade mark law in line with international standards.

In a decision on patent infringement by the IP Court in March this year, the patentee was awarded the claimed damages but denied an injunction.

In a recent patent infringement case, the plaintiff and appellant had requested the Commercial Court of Argovia to conduct pre-trial evidence proceedings, to allow the plaintiff to assess the available evidence and chances of success for an eventual patent infringement action against the defendant. According to the plaintiff, the defendant acted as an accessory to patent infringement by supplying apparatus parts to the main infringer (an operator of a refuse disposal plant). The plaintiff invoked article 158 of the new Federal Code of Civil Procedure (CCP), which grants (among other, alternate grounds) the right to pre-trial evidence proceedings if the plaintiff makes a credible case for an interest that justifies protection.

On January 3 2012, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) introduced a new voluntary mediation option for resolution of all trade mark opposition proceedings before IPOS, as well as all invalidation and revocation proceedings, whereby parties may seek to resolve the issues under WIPO Rules (administered by the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre in Singapore).

The Chamber of Patent Disputes recently examined an appeal filed by Jaguar Cars against trade mark 414218 (below).

Recently, Heineken Romania SA, the Romanian part of the Heineken international group, successfully invoked two senior national trade marks in its portfolio in a cancellation action filed with the Bucharest Tribunal against a combined national trademark registered for goods in class 32.

On May 31, the Portuguese government published Ordinance 176/2012 with a new table of official fees for the Portuguese PTMO. There is now a substantial increase in annuities from the sixth year of patents, an increase in the fees for applications of trade marks, logotypes, awards, appellations of origin and geographic indications, and for fees relating to renewals of trade mark registrations and logotypes.