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Few problems on the Russian IP landscape stir public opinion more than parallel imports, which have been the talk of the day for almost two years, playing the same tune for months. First, it was the administrative prosecution that stumbled in every other case until the Supreme Arbitration Court said that administrative prosecution of parallel imports was not possible. For the sake of order it should be acknowledged that the Code on Administrative Offences has clumsy wording in the section dedicated to trade mark infringement. This allowed parallel importers to evade responsibility – not always but sometimes. To offset the chagrin of the trade mark owners, the Supreme Arbitration Court also said that the civil law had enough tools to protect trade mark rights against infringement.

On October 26, 2009 the Intellectual Property Office (IPPhil) presented proposed special rules on IP litigation to the Chief Justice Reynato Puno of the Philippine Supreme Court. The rules were crafted in coordination with the various stakeholders and led by IPPhil. Some of the important points of these rules, which are aimed to speed up court processes and reduce litigation costs, are:

Since the expiry of its patents in July 1978, the Danish toy manufacturer Lego has made numerous attempts to stop competitors from entering the market for the well-known interlocking toy bricks. In November 2008 the European Court of First Instance decided that the 3D shape of the brick cannot be protected by a trade mark. Lego is appealing this decision.

Following a trend in several major patent offices around the world with respect to the protection of business method-related patents, the Mexican Patent Office is shifting more decisively towards summarily rejecting applications seeking to protect such inventions.

Trade marks containing the term "Eco" are not accepted by the Greek Trade Mark Office, unless permission to use the term has been awarded to the applicant under EC Regulation 880/1992 on the Community eco-label award scheme or under to an award system applicable in an EU member state.

The EPC 2000 (in force since December 13 2007) introduced the possibility to review decisions made by the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office. A party that is adversely affected by a decision of a Board can file a petition for review if fundamental procedural violations happened during the appeal proceedings.

Q&A on what EU member states agreed in December

Ling Ho, Audrey Shum and Kathryn Sanger explain how China's new Patent Law has affected the way commercial contracts should be drafted

PO: What are the main problems that IP owners encounter when trying to work with Customs? KM: Before the admission of Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia, Malaysia was the only country in ASEAN that shares borders with all ASEAN countries. So geographically we are special, but this also poses a challenge

Marie-Julie Wan Ullok and Khoo Guan Huat of Skrine describe the progress that has been made in improving IP protection in the life sciences in Malaysia