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I am starting a business and want to expand to only a few countries. The process for registering a trade mark in those countries looks simple. Should I do it myself?

Just before the 2010 New Year some of the big Russian banks received a notification from their colleague, the Eastern Express bank, to the effect that the words Christmas, New Year, Vacation can be used only after signing a licence agreement. Eastern Express registered the words as trade marks and decided to improve its business by collecting royalties from the other banks using those words. The marks were registered in relation to bank and insurance services, and also services connected with evaluation of real estate and works of art.

The National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP) has issued an official Notice in favour of General Electric, who lodged an opposition against Vietnamese trade mark application GE mancy & Device for real estate services in Class 36 under the name of Phong Thuy One-Member Co. In the Notice, the examiner concluded that the representation of GE mancy & Device would certainly result in association between the mark and General Electric in the minds of the public. The application was refused in accordance with Article 74 of the Vietnamese Law on Intellectual Property.

As reported in Managing IP, the Competition Council of the European Union has recently agreed on a set of conclusions on an enhanced patent system in Europe. The main features of the system include an EU patent to be granted under the provisions of the European Patent Convention, that is by the EPO, as well as a European and EU Patents Court (EEUPC).

The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has proposed an amendment to the law governing copyright collective management organisations (CMOs). The draft amendment is expected to be implemented in 2010.

A monthly column devoted to IP curiosities and controversies, named in honour of John of Utynam - who received the world's first recorded patent in 1449

Article 29 of Law 3784/09 revises the provisions of the Unfair Competition Act regarding the limitations period for unfair competition claims.

Countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have embarked on their first regional cooperation in intellectual property, specifically in patents, by introducing ASEAN Patent Examination Cooperation (ASPEC). There are eight participating IP offices from: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Once a search and examination report is issued by any of these countries, the applicant may use the report to file an ASPEC request in another member state. The report from the first IP Office will be used as a reference. However, the second IP Office is not obliged to adopt any of the findings or conclusions made by the first IP Office. At the moment, there is no additional fee to file ASPEC Request.

On December 13 2009, the CNNIC, the regulator of the .cn TLD, issued an urgent notice. The gist of the notice was that beginning at 9am on December 14 2009, no individuals are qualified to register a domain name. A domain name applicant is also required to submit a copy of the business licence (or a business bar code certificate) to the domain name registrar.

Last November the European Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution to introduce the compulsory labelling of the mark "Made In" to indicate the origin of goods imported into the European Union.