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New SIPO Regulations and Guidelines came into force this year. Stephen Yang of Peksung Intellectual Property Ltd examines how they affect issues such as security examination, PCT applications and design patents

When conducting R&D in China, IP owners need to be aware of changes in local law. Jay Sha of Liu Shen & Associates outlines what strategies to follow

Wang Gang of China Patent Agent (HK) explains why companies need to be aware of changes to the rules for rewarding inventors

Chinese companies are filing record number of IP applications and enforcing their rights through an increasingly sophisticated legal system. Gary Zhang, Xiang An, Jinhua Lu and Guangliang Zhang of China Sinda explain why 2009 was a watershed year for IP in the country

Jack Chang explains what the Quality Brands Protection Committee (QBPC) has done to fight fakes and improve IP enforcement in China and outlines the challenges ahead

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

The case deals with questions from the Dutch Court of First Instance on the interpretation of the Biotech Directive in relation to the general patent law. Especially important was whether a claim directed to a gene sequence would have a scope of protection that was determined by the normal patent law (an absolute scope of protection like any chemical compound) or whether the protection of a gene sequence would be limited to the protection as defined in the European Directive on the Protection of Biotechnological inventions (Directive 98/44/EG), a purpose-bound protection.

The Malaysian Patents Act 1983 requires that an invention, to be patentable, should be new, involving an inventive step and industrially applicable. Section 13 (1) (b) of the Act lists non-patentable inventions and it excludes the patentability of plant or animal varieties or essentially biological products for the production of plants or animals, other than man-made living microorganisms, micro-biological processes and the products of such microorganism processes.

In recent years the Japanese IP High Court and the Board of Patent Appeals (BPA) at the Japan Patent Office have rejected many patent applications and also nullified many granted patents by simply using an obvious-to-try reasoning to prove obviousness. This has received heavy criticism from the industry and the bar groups in Japan.

Confidential information relating can take the form of any business formula, process, R&D capabilities, client-related or operational information that ought to be protected as a trade secret. Any breach in handling such confidential information violates the IP rights of the concerned party and has been pursued through the courts on many occasions. The Delhi High Court has deliberated on the misuse of confidential information relating to industrial drawings and the grant of permanent injunction to restrain those drawings in case of Action Construction Equipment v Gulati Industrial Fabric P Ltd IA no 10073/2006 IN CS(OS) no 1740/2006.