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My marketing colleagues want us to add logos to our product to show that we use fair traded, organic, ethically-sourced ingredients. What do I need to know about using these kinds of marks?

When the USPTO issues a refusal to register a trade mark application based upon a likelihood of confusion with an existing third party registration covering a similar mark, one option that the owner of the refused application has available to it is to approach the owner of the cited registration to obtain a Consent to Registration. A Consent to Registration is essentially a written acknowledgement by the owner of a trade mark registration, which can be submitted to the PTO, attesting that there is no likelihood of confusion between the mark that is the subject of the existing registration and the mark that is the subject of the pending application.

Traditionally, the Australian Patent Office carries out the majority of substantive examinations of Singapore patent applications on behalf of the Singapore Patent Office. Lately, however, the European-based patent offices of Austria, Denmark and Hungary are increasingly carrying out substantive examinations of Singapore patent applications.

Apple Inc applied to the Swiss Trade Mark Office to register the word mark IPHONE for broadly worded goods in classes 9 and 28, the specified class 9 goods being essentially telephones and functionally related products. The Office rejected the application for the class 9 goods on the grounds that the mark IPHONE will be immediately understood by consumers as describing a telephone with internet- or information technology-related functions, and accordingly represents a non-distinctive, descriptive indication.

Nanotechnology has sparked activities in seemingly unrelated fields. The Patent Office faced a growing number of applications claiming trade marks that incorporate the word "nano". The businesses try not to be behind the time and swarm to stake a claim to anything nano. The number of nano trade marks is about or more than 400 and almost all of them have been registered in the recent past.

Companies that want to enforce their IP in China are often confused by the options available. Aaron D Hurvitz of Kangxin Partners provides a guide

As China’s business environment develops, foreign companies need more sophisticated IP litigation strategies to stay ahead. Tim Smith, Frank Yu and Carol Wang of Rouse show the way forward

China’s top court has issued a new interpretation clarifying how patent lawsuits should be conducted. Shenping Yang and Zhongkui Li of Beijing Tongdaxinheng explain how it will affect litigation in the country

Jan Liu of LexField Law Offices in Beijing explains the procedures and strategies for trade mark infringement litigation in China, and reviews a recent case concerning the criteria for judging similarity

Zhao Jiaxing of KingSound & Partners analyses how the Patent Law amendments have affected the prosecution and enforcement of design patents