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The Canadian Federal Court emphasised the importance of filing a patent application with the correct set of figures in Scannex Technologies, LLC v Attorney General of Canada (2009 FC 1068). After a US patent application was filed, a corresponding international patent application was filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) with a different and thus incorrect set of figures. This PCT application entered the national phase in Canada as a Canadian patent application. The applicant requested that the Commissioner of Patents substitute the incorrect figures in the Patent Application with correct figures pursuant to section 8 of the Patent Act, which affords the Commissioner the discretion to correct clerical errors. In support, the applicant filed an affidavit stating that incorrect figures were filed due to the unintentional error of a clerk of the applicant's agent in the US, and filed a certified copy of the US patent application containing the correct figures. Notwithstanding the applicant's efforts, the Commissioner refused to correct the figures. The applicant then applied to the Federal Court for judicial review.

The false marking troll is on the prowl following two recent court rulings. Thomas Turano advises companies how to steer clear of these clever critters

Battles between publishers and Amazon over the right price to sell e-Books have highlighted the difficulty of pricing content online, says Peter Ollier

• Federal Circuit bolsters design patents The Federal Circuit in February overturned a ruling by the International Trade Commission (ITC) that said that shoe designs mimicking the popular Crocs footwear did not infringe the company's design patent. In his opinion, Judge Randall Rader of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit applied the Egyptian Goddess standard for determining design patent infringement. He criticised the ITC for its "excessive reliance on a detailed verbal description in design infringement cases", saying that the written claim description in this case "distorts the infringement analysis by the ordinary observer viewing the design as a whole". Lawyers say that the decision could encourage more IP owners to protect their innovations with design patents.

How IP offices are tackling pendency

The Commercial Court has raised the hopes of well-known brand owners facing the grim task of tackling trade mark pirates in Indonesia.

Italy has introduced new rules to stop manufacturers deceiving customers about where their products were made. Simone Verducci-Galletti and Donatella Prandin of Bugnion explain how they could catch out the unwary

Following the implementation of the new Patent Law on October 1 2009, the new Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China were adopted by the State Council on December 30 2009 and came into force on February 1 2010. The changes made in the Regulations are quite extensive and a number of points are worth nothing.

The vast majority of patent cases are factually driven, but the Austrian Supreme Court has recently handed down two judgments that assess several questions of law. Accordingly, these decisions are likely to serve as the leading cases for many patent judgments in the future.

In 2007 a draft patent law was issued that would bring Syria into line with international standards. The law was signed by the Minister of Economy and Trade and was put before the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration. A copy of the draft (in Arabic) can be obtained from the Syrian Patent Office (www.spo.gov.sy).