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Parallel imports have been a burning issue for Russian importers for the past year. At different times in the past, several laws were adopted (Trade Mark Law, Code of Administrative Offences, Customs Code) that completed the legislative structure dealing with parallel imports. And Russian Customs, pressed by the government for better enforcement at the border, became exceptionally active in identifying parallel goods. So, the beginning of last year saw an avalanche of inquiries from Customs asking trade mark owners for their opinion with regard to parallel import consignments.

As a result of the enactment of the Free Trade Agreement between Peru and the US on January 15, 2009, Legislative Decree No 1075, which approves complementary dispositions to Decision 486 of the Andean Community, also came into force.

The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand is implementing some changes to patent practice in New Zealand that are worthy of mention.

The Mexican IP authorities have implemented new procedures for renewing trade mark applications that have been pending for ten years.

A recent case at the Delhi High Court has dealt with the overlap between copyright and design protection and its application to the fashion industry in India. The questions addressed by the case were, firstly, whether drawings or sketches are artistic works and, secondly, whether the object or commercial intention be tested while applying Section 15 of the Copyright Act 1957, which bars copyright protection in drawings which are repeated more than fifty times.

Egypt

Elisa Cooper advises brand owners to maximise the potential of a domain name portfolio in an economic downturn

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Following the Federal Circuit's decision in In re Bilski (Fed Cir 2008), when a method claim is not tied to a particular machine or apparatus and does not transform a particular article into a different state or thing, the patent claim will be held invalid for failing to meet the so-called machine-or-transformation test for determining patent eligible subject matter under § 101 of the US Patent Act. When the Court reaffirmed this test, it prompted commentators to wonder whether many existing business method patents might be invalid. The impact of Bilski on the future of business-method patents is a subject of much concern among the intellectual property community. However, pharmaceutical method patents claiming an abstract mental process about a natural phenomenon may also be at risk.

The Netherlands Patent Office has pioneered the concept of non-examined patents. James Nurton spoke to its president, Guus Broesterhuizen, about SMEs, reform in Europe and the proposals for a Community patent