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On December 30 last year, the Ministry of Economic Development signed the public notices implementing the new National Innovation Fund, instituted last March by decree number 107. The aim of the Fund is to support innovative projects based on the economic use of IP rights, to reinforce the Italian patent and to assist its transferability.

Under the Copyrights Act 1957 copyright societies are authorised to grant licences for copyrighted works. No other person except the owner of the work or a copyright society can grant a licence. A copyright society has the task of collective management of the rights of the owners and furthers their interests to prevent infringement of their works, in India as well as abroad. As India is a member of international conventions, the copyright societies in India can have reciprocal arrangements with organisations in other countries for collection of royalties for use of Indian works in these countries. Again, the owners have to withdraw the licence bestowed on the copyright society without prejudice to the rights of the society. In India, copyright societies like IPRS, PPL, SCRIPT have been protecting and managing the rights of the owners for musical, sound recording and cinematographic works respectively.

As of January 29 2010 the EPO has launched the so-called PCT Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Programme with the USPTO and the JPO. The programme enable PCT applicants whose applications have been regionalised or nationalised before one or more of the three offices to have their patent application enter a fast track examination process, provided that another of the three offices has served as ISA and – where a demand was filed – as IPEA in the international phase. Moreover, the PCT application must contain claims that were deemed allowable in the international phase. To enter the fast track programme, the applicant must file a request and fulfil a series of requirements. The requirements for applications regionalised before the EPO are outlined here.

The constitution of OAPI was the 1977 Bangui Agreement. Each OAPI member adopts, as its national IP laws, the detailed provisions set out in the Agreement (OAPI laws). The founder members of OAPI were Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo. Mali acceded in 1984, Guinea in 1990, Guinea-Bissau in 1998 and Equatorial Guinea in 2000.

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

I have just been promoted to partnership at my firm and need to attract more clients. What advice do you have?

• China slashes trade mark pendency The China Trade Mark Office cut its trade mark pendency to 18 months in 2009 and plans to register marks in less than 12 months in 2010.

Cheah Yew Kuin considers the copyright liability of online digital video recording services in Singapore and the US

Antitrust regulator voices concerns over copyright deal

New Implementing Regulations include rules on filing patents outside China and rewarding employees for inventions