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The ratification of the US free-trade agreement has led to changes that will make copyright easier to enforce and patent rights more beneficial for owners, say Wonil Kim and Dong Oh Hong

A monthly column devoted to IP curiosities and controversies, named in honour of John of Utynam – who received the world’s first recorded patent in 1449 diary@managingip.com

Comments on social media bring up trade mark, PR and libel issues. How do we protect our reputation without appearing too aggressive?

Seven treaties covering 110 years, plus the firms that coincided with their agreement

Australia

In-house counsel got advice on litigation and prosecution issues at the IP & Innovation Forum in New Delhi in March. Peter Ollier picks out the best bits

In South Africa, Adams & Adams has merged with corporate rival Bowman Gilfillan's IP practice. Fifty-nine new staff including 19 lawyers joined the IP specialist's 60-lawyer practice on March 1. Five Bowman Gilfillan partners Eugene Honey (head of the IP practice), Darren Olivier, Marius Gerber, Johnny Fiandeiro and Debbie Marriott will retain the same position at Adam & Adams. Partner Marius Haman moved to an in-house role at Microsoft.

A record number of brand owners filed cybersquatting cases with WIPO last year – and the IP organisation says that the introduction of new gTLDs will stretch trade mark owners' resources still further

A decision by the Court of Justice of the EU in a dispute concerning lists of football fixtures in the English Premier League and other tournaments, will make it harder to protect databases comprising original data. Protection for the football fixture databases under the sui generis database right provided for in the 1996 EU Database Directive had already been ruled out following earlier Court of Justice decisions in 2004.

The Ukraine has launched legal proceedings at the World Trade Organisation over Australia's plans to force tobacco companies to sell cigarettes in plain packs. Ukraine's representative in Geneva requested consultations with Australia on March 13. This is the first step in a legal dispute at the trade body. The Ukrainian government argues that Australia's Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 and its Trade Marks Amendment (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Act 2011 violate the TRIPs Agreement and GATT, the umbrella agreement covering trade in goods. Questions about the compatibility of TRIPs with Australia's new plain packaging law were discussed at the last meeting of the TRIPs Council in February. The issue was placed on the agenda by the Dominican Republic. At previous meetings, a number of WTO member states, including the Ukraine, Mexico, Nigeria, Cuba, Honduras and Zimbabwe, have argued that the law will violate Australia's obligations under TRIPs by preventing cigarette and cigar companies from using their trade marks. Representatives from a number of other countries have argued that they should be able to use the flexibilities in TRIPs for public health purposes.