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As of January 1 2007 the so-called patent box is in force under the Dutch Corporate Income Tax Act. The patent box was introduced by the Dutch government to stimulate innovation and investments in research and development by Dutch corporations.

The first search reports carried out by the European Patent Office (EPO) on Italian national patent applications are finally reaching the applicants. Applicants may either entrust an agent to go to the Italian Patent and Trade Mark Office (PTO) to collect the documents (and, in so doing, relieve the PTO of some of its workload as it is being flooded by hundreds of searches coming in from the EPO), or wait for the PTO to send the searches by registered mail. It seems, therefore, that for the time being the PTO has set aside the option of transmitting the searches online.

In a recent decision X ZR 89/07 the German Federal Supreme Court (FSC) confirmed the validity of EP 454 436 B1, which is directed to Eli Lilly's neuroleptic drug olanzapine, marketed under the name Zyprexa. In a first instance, the German Federal Patent Court (FPC) declared the patent null and void for lack of novelty. The FPC based its decision on the reasoning of an older FSC decision "Fluoran", in which criteria for novelty of chemical structures had been laid down. According to Fluoran, the decisive question as to whether a compound is considered to be anticipated by a general formula covering it is if a skilled person is able to reduce the invention to practice, that is to synthesise the respective compound. In the Fluoran case this question was answered in the affirmative, although the claimed compound had not been individualised in the reference.

As a measure to help tourism businesses in Croatia to successfully address the financial crisis, the Croatian government adopted an action plan by which it proposed a 50% reduction in the royalty fee paid to copyright owners for public performance of their copyrighted musical works. Apparently those members of the government responsible for the plan believe that the reduction of copyright royalties will benefit hotel/restaurant businesses, which in past years have complained about the need to pay royalties for public performances of copyrighted works.

Following consultation in November/December 2008 (see Managing IP, December 2008), on April 22 2009 the Supreme People's Court of China issued the Interpretation of Certain Questions on Application of Law Relating to the Protection of Well-Known Marks in the Adjudication of Civil Disputes which came into force on May 1 2009. Though most of the original proposals in the consultation draft are adopted, there are certain changes.

FIFA has secured its first ruling against ambush marketers, earning a court judgment against Pretoria's Eastwoods Tavern. The popular sports bar is located close to the Loftus stadium, one of the venues that will host games during next year's Soccer World Cup tournament.

In May 2009, Vietnam's National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) vowed to clarify various ambiguities surrounding patentability of use claims in Vietnam. At present, the NOIP interprets the relevant provisions of Vietnam's Law on Intellectual Property as prohibiting use claims. Each patent examination division in the NOIP treats this matter in different ways.

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

The launch of Google's Street View service in the UK last month caused many commentators to condemn the service as a breach of privacy and basic human rights. The residents of one Buckinghamshire village were so outraged at the idea of their houses being photographed for the service that when the Google car arrived to snap the village, they formed a human barrier forcing the car to turn around (ironically drawing more attention to themselves than if they had just let the car through).

One of the cornerstones of the copyright system is the idea/expression dichotomy, which sets forth that only the original expression of ideas is to be protected, rather than the ideas themselves. This principle poses important challenges for the creative industries, since the distinction between an idea and the expression of that idea is sometimes unclear.