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The launch of Google's Street View service in the UK last month caused many commentators to condemn the service as a breach of privacy and basic human rights. The residents of one Buckinghamshire village were so outraged at the idea of their houses being photographed for the service that when the Google car arrived to snap the village, they formed a human barrier forcing the car to turn around (ironically drawing more attention to themselves than if they had just let the car through).

The case of Roma Drug vs Glaxo Smith Kline et al (GR no 149907, April 15 2009) is interesting because it retroactively applied the controversial Republic Act no 9502 or the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008. On August 14 2000, using a search warrant issued by the Regional Trial Court of Pampanga upon the complaint of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Roma Drug store owned by Romeo Rodriguez was raided by a team composed of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) operatives and inspectors of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).

As of January 1 2007 the so-called patent box is in force under the Dutch Corporate Income Tax Act. The patent box was introduced by the Dutch government to stimulate innovation and investments in research and development by Dutch corporations.

One of the cornerstones of the copyright system is the idea/expression dichotomy, which sets forth that only the original expression of ideas is to be protected, rather than the ideas themselves. This principle poses important challenges for the creative industries, since the distinction between an idea and the expression of that idea is sometimes unclear.

In a recent judgment (Number 229/2009), in the context of provisional measures proceedings, the Athens Single Bench Court of First Instance granted an injunction against a hotelier who was using the composite sign "Athens Easy Hotel" in white lettering with an orange background in the course of his business. The EasyGroup company owned by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the serial entrepreneur, which owns the easy brand including various CTM registrations, such as Easy Hotel and Easy Hostel, sought injunctive relief against the defendant.

The Court of Appeal has unanimously upheld an appeal by McCurry Restaurant (KL), allowing McCurry to use the prefix Mc in the name of its restaurant. In this case, McDonald's Corporation's claim against McCurry at the High Court was premised on the fact that McCurry is liable for passing-off for using the prefix Mc in its name.

The first search reports carried out by the European Patent Office (EPO) on Italian national patent applications are finally reaching the applicants. Applicants may either entrust an agent to go to the Italian Patent and Trade Mark Office (PTO) to collect the documents (and, in so doing, relieve the PTO of some of its workload as it is being flooded by hundreds of searches coming in from the EPO), or wait for the PTO to send the searches by registered mail. It seems, therefore, that for the time being the PTO has set aside the option of transmitting the searches online.

As a measure to help tourism businesses in Croatia to successfully address the financial crisis, the Croatian government adopted an action plan by which it proposed a 50% reduction in the royalty fee paid to copyright owners for public performance of their copyrighted musical works. Apparently those members of the government responsible for the plan believe that the reduction of copyright royalties will benefit hotel/restaurant businesses, which in past years have complained about the need to pay royalties for public performances of copyrighted works.

In a recent decision X ZR 89/07 the German Federal Supreme Court (FSC) confirmed the validity of EP 454 436 B1, which is directed to Eli Lilly's neuroleptic drug olanzapine, marketed under the name Zyprexa. In a first instance, the German Federal Patent Court (FPC) declared the patent null and void for lack of novelty. The FPC based its decision on the reasoning of an older FSC decision "Fluoran", in which criteria for novelty of chemical structures had been laid down. According to Fluoran, the decisive question as to whether a compound is considered to be anticipated by a general formula covering it is if a skilled person is able to reduce the invention to practice, that is to synthesise the respective compound. In the Fluoran case this question was answered in the affirmative, although the claimed compound had not been individualised in the reference.

Pursuant to section 45 of the Canadian Trade-marks Act, any person may request that the Registrar give notice to a registered owner that the owner must show use of its mark in association with the goods and services identified in the registration. Such cancellation notices may be sent at any time following three years of registration. The procedure, administered by the Trade-mark Opposition Board, generally through specialised hearing officers, is aimed at the efficient and expeditious removal of deadwood from the register. Deadwood is particularly a problem owing to the lengthy term of initial protection, namely fifteen years, as opposed to the more common ten years.