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In the Singapore patent system, a key requirement before a patent can be granted is that each claim in the application at the time the grant fee is paid must be related to at least one claim that has been examined. In practice, this can be achieved by relying on either a local examination report, an International Preliminary Report on Patentability (IPRP), or prescribed information relating to a corresponding foreign application. This requirement for examined claims has been widely publicised and most applicants would by now be aware of its existence.

The rules governing the activities of patent attorneys in Poland are regulated by the Polish Law on Patent Attorneys of April 11 2001 (Journal of Laws Number 49, item 509, with subsequent amendments). On the basis of Article 4, section 1, the profession of a patent attorney is to provide assistance in industrial property matters for private individuals, legal persons and entities without legal status:

In a decision rendered on July 8 2008, the EFTA Court held that Norway can only allow for parallel imports of products that are put on the market within the EU/EEA area.

For trade organisations who are concerned about the branding of their origin and ensuring the standards of their product are maintained, the certification trade mark is a useful device which is available Malaysia. A certification trade mark has to be in respect of origin, material, mode of manufacture, quality, accuracy or another characteristic.

A recently published assistant commissioner's decision has confirmed that a registered design in New Zealand may include only a single view, or minimal views, of the article to which the design is to be applied.

The Dutch District Court of The Hague has construed its power as a national court under the EPC 2000 on the issue of partial revocation (article 138 EPC). In Boston Scientific v Expandable Grafts Partnership the court held that, if the patent owner submits patentable limited claims, the material grounds to refuse those claims are limited to new matter or extension of protection.

Under Japanese Patent Law, a patent licence can be registered in the Japan Patent Office (JPO) when both the licensor and licensee agree to the registration. Once registration of the licence is made, the registered licence is valid against a person to whom the licensor has subsequently assigned the patent and a bankruptcy trustee appointed for the licensor.

In Mexico, the Mexican Trademark Office (TMO) has been reluctant to grant registrations for composite trade marks, especially those involving the protection of the shape of bottles. Arguably, this is because the TMO improperly focuses its analysis solely on the shape of the bottle, without studying the collection of elements as a whole.

The Delhi High Court has made a ruling in a recent trade mark case that has implications for the media industry in India. Warner Brothers had filed a suit against the proprietors of Mirchi Movies over the title of the latter's film Hari Puttar – A Comedy of Terrors, for being too similar to its Harry Potter franchise thereby infringing the plaintiffs' registered trade mark and diluting the goodwill of the plaintiffs and demanded stay on the release of the movie. Based on the alleged phonetic and structural similarity between the titles Harry Potter and Hari Puttar it was alleged that the defendants rode on the popularity of the plaintiffs.

In October the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MSE), the Italian Banking Association (ABI), the Italian Confederation of Industry and the Conference of Rectors of the Italian Universities (CRUI) signed a cooperation protocol on the financial and economic evaluation of patents. Italy is therefore the first country in Europe to provide an instrument for evaluating patents shared by both public and private sectors.