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How marks won well-known status

Rights holders will have powers to demand that ISPs in Ireland block websites accused of infringing copyright if the government amends legislation before the end of January

Amazon's controversial patent on the so-called one-click method of online shopping was granted in Canada just before Christmas, following a Federal Court of Appeal decision in November. An amendment to the patent application was filed at CIPO just under one month after the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the patent should be re-examined using the guidance outlined in its decision. While the decision is good news for patenting business methods in Canada, some would have liked to see the Commissioner appeal to the Supreme Court to gain additional clarity about the Court of Appeal's decision. Because there was no additional office action, the Office's interpretation of the decision is unknown, and will remain so until new guidelines for examiners on business methods are issued, which is likely to be some time. The quick allowance of the patent suggests that the new commissioner, Sylvain Laporte, may differ significantly from former commissioner Mary Carman on business method patents.

In December Universal Music lost a key decision against Veoh, with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the US ruling that the website benefits from safe harbour protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

The UK is looking at voluntary codes of conduct for collecting societies, following a proposal made by the Hargreaves Review. There is also talk of a Digital Exchange, and centralised reform from the EU. Managing IP interviews two people on opposite sides of the debate

At a conference in Hong Kong last month two of the most successful brand licensors in the world – and one newcomer – explained how they intend to grow their China businesses.

Blame Johnny Depp. With his cocky, cheeky, crafty characterisation of Captain Jack Sparrow in the four wildly successful Pirates of the Caribbean movies, he made piracy cool. What child watching those films wouldn't want to be a pirate – skirting round the edges of the law, turning their nose up at authority and plundering the vaults of big business?

The European Union and 22 of its member states have signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in Japan, three months after most other countries.

The Federal Circuit has ruled that the words “computer-aided” do not limit a claim for a method of managing a credit application meaningfully enough to make it patent-eligible

Just months after the mega-deals for Nortel and Motorola patents, Interdigital has failed to find a bidder for its portfolio. Is the patent boom over already?