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The Specsavers v Asda case in the UK shone a spotlight on a trade mark’s advertising function under case law from the Court of Justice of the EU. Alexandra Brodie and Bonita Trimmer explain why brand owners will rely on non-origin functions a lot more in the future

Riki Kishimoto gives his recommendations for trade mark enforcement in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, including working with Customs, police and local investigation agencies

IP has an image problem, particularly among young people. Three recent campaigns have taken rather different approaches

While we're all debating how websites that aid the sharing of copyright-infringing content should be controlled, we might as well have some fun, right? It was in this spirit that Utynam read file-sharing website PirateBay's response to a cease and desist letter from games company EA. And it is the spirit in which he reproduces some of it here. Because it is very funny.

Office actions are issued by the Thai Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) on grounds of non-distinctiveness or identical/similar character to a well-known and/or registered mark. However, the procedure for evaluating the response is different from other jurisdictions, making Thailand a difficult territory for IP protection.

Article 10.2 of the Taiwan Fair Trade Act stipulates that no monopolistic enterprise can improperly set, maintain or change the price for goods or the remuneration for services. If a royalty agreement is deemed a violation of that article by the Supreme Administrative Court in a dispute, does the agreement still have legal effect?

Two decisions by the newly established Swiss Federal Patent Court have made clear the Court's position that a plaintiff's request for a cease-and-desist order shall not consist of the wording of the patent claim. The Court confirms the view of the Swiss Federal Court that the subject matter of the infringing procedure is the question of whether the defendant's product with its specific structural or method details uses the claimed technical teaching of the patent.

An applicant recently filed a trade mark application for Библейский Хлеб (Biblical Bread) in Cyrrilic. The Patent Office rejected the application, the decision was appealed at the Chamber of Patent Disputes and the Chamber sided with the examiner of the Patent Office. One of the reasons for rejection was that the designation Библейский Хлеб indicates a certain product and the composition of the product used by many bakeries in Russia. The decision of the Chamber also explained that the claimed designation has a marked religious connotation. The Bible is a sacred book and the use of the associated word for marking any goods may mean that consumers think those goods are produced by persons who have a direct connection to some religion.

According to Polish law the right of protection for a trade mark lapses on failure to put it to genuine use for the goods covered by the registration for a period during five successive years, unless serious reasons of non-use exist. Preparations for the use of the trade mark are not sufficient and the five-year period begins the day after a decision on granting protection rights is issued, in case the owner has not used the trade mark, or if the trade mark had been in use, on the date its genuine use was abandoned.

On April 25 2012 the President of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III, signed the Instrument of Accession of the Philippines to the Madrid Protocol, which is expected to take effect in the Philippines on July 25 2012. Prior to this date, the Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHL) prepared for the accession by improving its trade mark registration processing time, and meeting with various stakeholders to explain the system, and obtain reactions to it.