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Whether the unauthorised use of a trade mark as a keyword or adword by internet search engines such as Google to cause the appearance of an advertisement for others' goods or services, either directly or by way of a link to a home page, is use of a trade mark that could be forbidden by trade mark law is one of the hottest topics of this year.

On October 25 1995 a Polish entrepreneur Tomasz Bednarski conducting business under the company name Optyk Tomek in Warsaw applied for registration of a word trade mark Optometrysta ("optometrist") in class 42 for services such as "examination of eye refraction, selection of spectacles for individual needs, selection of contact lenses for individual needs, selection of telescopic spectacles for individual needs". On August 4 1998, the trade mark was registered by the Polish Patent Office under number R-104424.

Shape trade marks have been a part of the South African trade mark landscape since the adoption of the South African Trade Marks Act 1994. The fundamental tenet of the South African trade mark regime is that a trade mark must be capable of distinguishing the goods of one person from those of another. In so far a shape is capable of fulfilling this function it will be registrable as a trade mark. The Act does curtail the registrability of shapes that consist exclusively of the shape of goods where that shape is necessary to obtain a specific technical result, or results from the nature of the goods themselves.

Practitioners have welcomed a UK House of Lords decision to uphold Lundbeck's patent for escitalopram

My company is about to launch an advertising campaign, and we think it could become very popular. Should we welcome this and are there are any particular trade mark/branding concerns we should be aware of?

Patent reform is back on the agenda in Congress. But, says Eileen McDermott in New York, industry remains divided - especially over how to calculate damages

Barry J Herman and Eric W Schweibenz advise non-US companies on how they can meet the domestic industry requirement at the US ITC

Since 2000, the proper venues in which to challenge decisions from IMPI included the review recourse proceeding before IMPI itself and/or the nullity trial before the Federal Court for Tax and Administrative Affairs (FCTAA).

Online drugs sales and the economic downturn are feeding a cybersquatting boom, according to recent reports. James Nurton and Eileen McDermott report

IP assets are often overlooked in insolvency situations. But Eifion Morris and Lucy Harrold say insolvency practitioners, lenders and business partners should all pay more attention