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• Lawsuit boost for Microsoft in its piracy battle in China Microsoft has won its first big victory against a Chinese company using unlicensed software. The Shanghai Pudong New Area district court ordered Dazhong Insurance to pay Rmb2.17 million ($318,000) for using illegal copies of Microsoft software in a ruling on April 22. The win, now under appeal, validates the Seattle firm's push to target large companies in China that are infringing its copyright. According to the Business Software Alliance, China is the second largest market in the world for personal computers (PCs) but only the 10th largest for PC software.

Emma Barraclough, London

Mark Schonfeld explains how companies can use trade mark law to thwart parallel traders

Last month a UK court ruled that football fixture lists can be protected under copyright law. In response, lawyers in five jurisdictions consider the role that copyright and sui generis database rights play in protecting such information

It is not uncommon for a plaintiff who has commenced a patent litigation under the Hatch-Waxman Act to eventually move for a preliminary injunction to prevent a defendant from launching its generic drug product during the course of the litigation.

On May 9 2010, Law 66/2010 for the modification and completion of Law 84/1998 regarding trade marks and geographical indications (Law 66/2010 or the Law) entered into force. The Law brings major changes to the trade mark registration and protection system in Romania. Thus, certain steps have been excluded from the registration procedure, while others have been simplified. Also, the period of time for the examination and registration of a trade mark, as well as for challenging the decisions issued in this respect, have been shortened.

Norway is part of the European Economic Area but not part of the EU, hence EU designs do not offer protection in the Norwegian territory. Up until now, the only possibility for protection of designs in Norway has been through national filings.

On March 23 2010, the president of the Philippines signed into law Republic Act No 10055 known as the Philippine Technology Transfer Act of 2009. Published on April 23 2010, this law takes effect after 15 days. It provides the framework and support system for the ownership, management, use and commercialisation of intellectual property generated from government funded researches. This law was the brainchild of Estrella Alabastro of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and was inspired by the Bayh-Dole Act of the USA. She stated in the DOST Digest: "For the longest time, we rely mostly on breakthroughs from the outside, while our local technologies generated through public funds remain untapped or archived in laboratories around the country. Hence, this is a significant break for us to roll this out to the market and be availed of by the public." Some of the salient points of this law are:

In the global endeavour to afford protection to geographical indications (GIs), Malaysia has been an active crusader. There are a large number of GIs particular to Malaysia such as Sarawak Pepper, Sabah Tea, Borneo Virgin Coconut Oil and Kelantan Budu (anchovy sauce), to name a few. In 2000, the Malaysian government enacted the Geographical Indications Act, under which registered GIs were given territorial protection for 10 years from the date of filing (renewable every 10 years as long as they are in use). Although registration is not compulsory, it is actively encouraged to protect the interests of producers and consumers. Non-registration does not put the GI in the public domain (available for use by all and sundry) though, of course, in a dispute the court would be inclined to adjudicate on the tort of passing-off in the extended form rather than in the classic form.

The revised Korean Trade Mark Act (KTA) will come into effect from July 27 2010. The main contents of the revision are: