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In India, original artistic works may sometimes fall under the Designs Act and the Copyrights Act. This overlap has been much debated and has come up for adjudication several times before the courts. In a recent case, the Copyright Board made some pertinent observations, especially with respect to artistic works produced by the application of an industrial process.

In a much-waited development, Israel is to accede to the Madrid Protocol on September 1 2010. This will make it easier and cheaper for foreign entities to register marks in Israel.

Methods for treatment of the human body by surgery are generally excluded from patentability under Article 53(c) EPC. In decision G01/07, the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) of the European Patent Office recently decided on a referral putting forward several questions concerning the patentability of methods of treatment of the human body by surgery, especially in a case where the treatment itself, although including a significant physical intervention on the body, is not of a curative nature per se.

In a recent judgment from the Athens Full Bench Court of First Instance, Commercial Law Division, the court awarded €69,400 as patent infringement damages based on a royalty of 7.5%. The actual amount due is almost triple in view of interest due, dating back to the time the action was filed. By the same decision €6,000 was awarded as non-pecuniary damages.

As reported in Managing IP, the member states of the European Union agreed on the fundamentals of a future European and European Union Patent Court (EEUPC) in December of last year. The legislative process that will eventually lead to a statute on the creation of an EU patent and the EEUPC is followed with great interest and anxiousness by industry, attorneys, national judges and other specialists. In this respect, a number of Europe's most esteemed IP specialists were assembled in Strasbourg, France, on 16 and 17 April at a conference organised by the CEIPI Institute of Strasbourg University to analyse and debate the proposed setup for the EEUPC.

Almost two years after the formation of the independent Appeal Council, which has jurisdiction to review the decisions of the State Intellectual Property Office, Croatian rights holders are feeling the benefits of its shortened procedures and the specialised knowledge of its panelists.

For the first time, China has a specific law on tort. Passed on December 26 2009, the Tort Law will come into effect on July 1 2010.

Canada, like many other countries, has developed a relatively user-friendly electronic filing system for Canadian trade mark applicants. However, is the apparent ease with which an applicant can file and prosecute an application having unintended effects?

Herman Van Rompuy, former Belgian prime minister, was recently elected to be the first permanent President of the European Council. He will soon be joined by his compatriots in leading the EU, as Belgium will take over the presidency on July 1 2010 for a period of six months.

At the end of December 2010, the Austrian Parliament enacted a significant amendment to the Patent and Trade Mark Acts. The Innovation Protection Amendment 2010 abolished annuities for the first five years for all national patents and for the first three years for all utility models. Annuities for the later years have been slightly raised to compensate for this step. This amendment was effective from January 1 2010 so the January 2010 annuities are already affected.