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Ard Ellens and Jan Kevelam of Nederlandsch Octrooibureau explain how new rules at the European Patent Office may trap the unwary patent applicant

The patenting of biotechnology raises both ethical and practical concerns. Dirk Bühler and Martin Huenges of Maiwald analyse recent cases to consider how the EPO is handling the issues

Litigating patents that are essential to technical standards requires a careful consideration of antitrust rules. Sabine Agé and Amandine Métier of Véron & Associés, Klaus Haft and Tobias Hahn of Reimann Osterrieth Köhler Haft, Mark van Gardingen of Brinkhof and Ari Laakkonen of Powell Gilbert explain the rules in their own jurisdictions

As an EU member state, Poland, is bound by Council Regulation (EC) 1383 of July 22 2003 which came into effect on July 1 2004, determining the actions of Customs authorities against goods deemed to be infringing IP rights, as well as the measures to be taken by Customs authorities in respect of such goods. In addition, the territory of Poland as a member state of the EU is subject to an additional regulation, namely Council Regulation (EC)189/2004 of October 21 2004, which came into effect with retroactive date on July 1 2004 and sets executive regulations to the Council Regulation (EC) 1383/2003.

On July 1 2009, the Rule on Mandatory Legal Aid Service, which was issued by the Philippine Supreme Court on February 10 this year, takes effect. This Rule mandates practising lawyers to render free legal aid services equivalent to a minimum of 60 hours a year, in all cases whether civil, criminal and administrative involving indigent and pauper litigants needing lawyers. The purpose of the Rule is to improve access to justice by the less privileged thereby enhancing the duty of lawyers to society as agents of social change, and to the courts.

Under Article 67(2) of the Japanese Patent Act, if there is a period during which a patented invention is unable to be worked because certain governmental approvals, which are prescribed by the Act to ensure safety or any other disposition designated by Cabinet Order, are necessary for the operation of the patented invention, the duration of the patent may be extended, upon the filing of an application.

The China State Copyright Administration published the new Implementing Measures on Administrative Actions against Copyright Infringements by Decree no 6 on April 21 2009. This came into force on June 15 2009 and replaced the old measures issued in September 1 2003.

In a recent decision concerning the Amazon.com 1-click ordering system, the Patent Appeal Board re-examined the criteria for patentable subject matter in relation to business method patents. While finding the subject matter not obvious in accordance with the test adopted by the Supreme Court of Canada, the Board held that it failed to fall within the statutory definition of invention as qualified by judicial interpretation.

On June 6 2009, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) came into force in Peru. As a result, there are now three ways for obtaining protection for an invention: 1) the national application or direct application, 2) the application under the Paris Convention and 3) the application under the PCT system.

The report of the Technical Expert Group on Patent Law Issues, led by RA Mashelkar, was resubmitted to the Union Ministry for Trade and Commerce in March 2009. It was first submitted in December 2006 and was withdrawn for review owing to some technical inaccuracies in the Report.