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The Court of Justice’s senior legal adviser says the Court of Justice of the EU should harmonise the way that IP offices in Europe interpret class headings. In his opinion in the IP Translator case, Advocate General Yves Bot said that OHIM’s class-heading-covers-all approach to applications does not provide the clarity required for registering trade marks.

The Australian government has rejected a ban on gene patents, but proposed adding an ethical test to the Patents Act that could cause IP owners some headaches. In its response to three enquiries into aspects of its patent system – the Senate Community Affairs Committee inquiry into gene patents, the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP) review of patentable subject matter and an Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) report on gene patenting and human health – Kim Carr, the minister for innovation, acknowledged concern over gene patents, but said that a ban was not the answer. “We need the incentives provided by the patent system to encourage the development of new technologies. But this government will not allow patent owners to block reasonable access to affordable medical treatments and essential diagnostic tests, nor to stifle legitimate research,” he said.

On June 1 this year, Maria Pallante was named the 12th US register of copyrights. Pallante had served as the acting register since January 1, following Marybeth Peters’ retirement from 16 years in the position. Pallante first joined the Copyright Office in 1996, serving two years as a policy adviser, then returned in 2007 to serve first as deputy general counsel and then as associate register for policy and international affairs. Much of her career in copyright law was spent in New York, where she was the IP counsel and director for the Guggenheim Museums’ licensing group.

The UK Supreme Court’s first patent judgment will be welcomed by patent owners, but could block future research. James Nurton examines the impact

K&L Gates has established an office in Charleston, following the addition of a seven-partner team from Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein.

Christian Louboutin found two allies in the past two months in its fight to protect its red-sole trade mark. Jewellery company Tiffany submitted its amicus brief to the Second Circuit Court of Appeal in October, while INTA submitted in November. Both reveal interesting aspects of the issues behind the case, and its potential impact should Louboutin fail to reverse the decision by the Southern District of New York.

The unitary patent in Europe is now almost a certainty. One way to tell is that most people have stopped talking about the languages and procedure, and begun concentrating on the location of the central division of the court. The UK and Germany have something other than the debt crisis to fight about. Legal abstraction has been replaced with concrete self-interest.

A trade mark licence agreement may include a specified amount of minimum royalties during each year that the agreement is in effect. This promise of a minimum payment to be remitted whether or not there are actual or adequate sales is often a material inducement to the licensor to enter into the agreement. It assures the licensor that it will get paid a specified amount regardless of the number of licensed products sold by the licensee. The concept of guaranteed minimum royalties serves, in essence, as a form of certainty of minimum returns to the licensor and compensation for the foregone opportunity to exploit the mark differently.

As the division of claims in a patent is not possible under the Patent Law, a patent may be cancelled through invalidation proceedings even if some of the claims are patentable. This has given rise to grave concerns. The views held by the courts in this regard may be apparent from a judgment on a patent invalidation case by the Supreme Court in December 2010, and a subsequent ruling on the same case by the IP Court in July 2011.

The Federal Administrative Court recently rejected, on appeal, an application to register the scent of caramelised almonds as a scent mark.