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On June 22 2009, the Supreme People's Court of China made an announcement aimed at consolidating the jurisdiction of certain types of first instance IP appeal cases to the IP Tribunal of the Beijing no 1 Intermediate People's Court. This new decision came into effect on July 1 2009.

The Federal Court recently issued a decision in which the plaintiff in an infringement action had filed a disclaimer shortly before litigation. A disclaimer is a means by which a patentee states that he or she no longer wishes to claim a right over part or all of a claim because the claim as allowed is too broad by reason of mistake, accident, or inadvertence on the part of the patentee.

A trade mark consists of any distinctive mark, symbol, or device affixed by a manufacturer to the goods he produces, or used in connection with the services rendered with the purpose of identifying such goods or services in the market.

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

At a meeting in November, EU member states will debate OHIM proposals on the establishment of a cooperation fund to be used to improve trade mark systems in Europe. James Nurton answers your questions about what the fund is and how it will work

Two years ago the USPTO, academics and some of the biggest companies in the US embraced the peer-to-patent project as a way of tackling mounting patent backlogs. In June the pilot scheme was suspended. So what happens next? Eileen McDermott investigates

Sidharth Chopra and J Sai Deepak of Saikrishna & Associates reflect on a busy year in India's courts, which will have ramifications for patent, trade mark and copyright owners

A recent action brought under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), in which Cohen Pontani Lieberman & Pavane LLP (CPLP) prevailed, demonstrates best practices for approaching ACPA actions. The case, Newport News Holdings Corp v Virtual City Vision, Inc, et al (ED Va 2009), involved NNHC, a women's clothing company that owns trade mark registrations for NEWPORT NEWS. The defendants registered the domain name NEWPORTNEWS.COM and initially used it as a virtual city website, but later transformed the website into one offering women's clothing.

For the past few months, the Thai government has been taking aggressive actions against counterfeiting and piracy. Partly as an attempt to reclassify Thailand from the USTR's Priority Watch List to the Watch List and partly in response to concerns expressed by trade mark owners and the film and music industries, government authorities have been formulating new policies and strategies on IP and implementing them in a cohesive fashion. This has included a wave of seizures during the first three months of this year, a new programme encouraging informants to lead authorities to major counterfeiters and public education campaigns.

Mexico is one of the few countries in the world that does not offer the possibility of opposing a trade mark application, since such proceedings are not contemplated in Mexican Industrial Property Law.