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The Anticybersquatting Protection Act (ACPA) was enacted in the United States to provide trade mark holders with remedies against cyber-squatters. Under the ACPA, a defendant is considered to be a cyber-squatter and liable in a civil action if the plaintiff can demonstrate that: (1) the plaintiff owns a mark that was distinctive or famous at the time of registration of the domain name; (2) the defendant registered, uses, or traffics in a domain name that is identical to or confusingly similar to the distinctive or famous mark; and (3) the defendant had a bad faith intent to profit from the mark. If a trade mark owner can satisfy these requirements, it may be entitled to various forms of relief, namely transfer, forfeiture or cancellation of the domain name and, in certain circumstances, monetary recovery.

Among the Asian brands that are gaining worldwide fame are: Sony (Japan), Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong), Singapore Airlines (Singapore), San Miguel (Philippines), Wipro (India), Red Bull and Singha Beer, both from Thailand.

The patent prosecution highway (PPH) pilot programme between the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) and the USPTO became effective on September 21 2011 and will last for a trial period of one year. Under this programme, applicants may obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently.

The owner of a supplemental protection certificate (SPC) with duration until August 27 2011, based on the Swiss part of a European patent, suspected a manufacturer of a generic (with a marketing authorisation by Swissmedic as early as March 2010) of planning a market introduction before the expiration of the SPC. Despite enquiries by the owner of the SPC no clear information was given by the manufacturer that they would respect it. The SPC owner then requested a preliminary injunction with the Court of Commerce of Zurich.

A High Court decision in July this year ruled that a cafe chain's use of the name Nutello for a coffee beverage violated the Nutella trade mark.

The corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints filed a trade mark application for exactly that, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was rejected by the Patent Office.

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) will launch the first Philippine Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Summit during the IPR week from October 24-28 2011. The summit, which will be attended by heads and key enforcement officers of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR), brand owners, practitioners and officers relevant government agencies, aims to highlight the convergence of the efforts of both the government and the private sector to combat counterfeiting and piracy, and increase public awareness of the importance of IP rights and the deleterious effects of counterfeiting.

The Norwegian Court of Appeal has decided that Trumf's Oliver chair infringes Stokke's copyright to the Tripp Trapp chair, and that use of the slogan "This great children's chair will grow with the child" infringes Stokke's use of established rights to the slogan "The chair that grows with the child".

The Trade Marks (International Treaties and Enforcement) Amendment Act 2011 was passed in September 2011. The Act allows New Zealand to join the Madrid Protocol.

Mr Justice Kitchin and Lord Justice Jacob were clear that HGS’s patent for the Neutrokine-a protein was invalid for lacking industrial application. But five Supreme Court judges today disagreed. Why?