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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

Kate Andean and Margaret Shearer of Banki Haddock Fiora look at the implications of a series of court decisions on shape trade marks

Brands often consist of multiple word elements in which one component is a uniquely coined term (as it relates to the goods or services sold under the mark) and the other component is a common descriptive term. When a trade mark dispute arises between two parties, one issue that US trade mark tribunals must deal with in determining whether or not there is a likelihood of confusion between two marks is the effect that any descriptive components of the marks may have.

The Canadian Patent Office is currently undertaking an extensive review of the Patent Rules. Among changes proposed is an amendment related to section 6, which currently states that for the purpose of prosecuting or maintaining an application, the Commissioner shall only have regard to communications received from the authorised correspondent which, when appointed, is the patent agent. This has been found to be problematic in circumstances where the Office has received clear instructions from an agent, but could not give consideration to the instructions since the agent was not appointed as the authorised correspondent.

The Federal Circuit last month reversed a lower court ruling that said the USPTO did not have authority to promulgate rules on claims and continuations

Letter to the editor, from Steven Bennett and David Kappos, IBM

Is IP given its due importance in your company? If not, say Andrew Watson and Jordan Hatcher, maybe it's time to stop being a blue personality, and become red or yellow

Fasten your seatbelts. John M Carson, Alan Kessler and Hugh Dunlop explain how the PPH works in practice, and ask which applicants will most benefit from it

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.

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