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• WTO report deals blow to US The WTO's panel report in the US-China IP case has confirmed that the USTR lost on the key issue of whether China's thresholds for criminal IP enforcement are too high. The 147-page report, published on January 26, was hailed by Acting US Trade Representative Peter Allegier as "an important victory" but he admitted disappointment over the section on China's criminal enforcement. The findings of the report are the same as those of a preliminary report that was leaked last October.

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The US Federal Trade Commission's campaign against reverse payments between innovator pharmaceutical companies and generics stepped up a gear last month

Trade mark practitioners have broadly welcomed last month's opinion by the European Court of Justice on comparative advertising and trade mark infringement

Peter van Essen of Nederlandsch Octrooibureau examines the impact of a recent Dutch case that provides lessons on patent invalidity actions

The USPTO and KIPO made permanent their patent prosecution highway trial with effect from January 29. The USPTO has also extended its pilot project with the Canadian IP Office until 2011. The map shows all the PPH pilots and programmes announced so far. Next month's issue of Managing IP will include an article looking at the practical implications of PPHs for practitioners. For more information, go to www.managingip.com/pph

Peter Ollier introduces the Managing IP trade mark survey results, and looks at how a proposed trade agreement could help tackle global counterfeiting and piracy

• US: Microsoft issued 10,000th patent Microsoft received its 10,000th US patent last month, a milestone the company said highlights its goal of obtaining enough patents to maximise the value of its R&D efforts, while still focussing on patent quality over quantity. Addressing the considerably higher number of patents owned by competitor IBM, Microsoft's chief patent counsel Bart Eppenauer said: "We really focus on trying to achieve the right balance. What matters is that our portfolio remains strategically in line with our business model." Last month, IBM became the first company to be issued more than 4,000 US patents in one year, surpassing the total number of patents earned by Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Apple, EMC, Accenture and Google combined.

German bus maker Neoplan has won a landmark case after two Chinese companies were found to have copied the design of its buses

An Israeli court has ordered Google Israel and a local ISP to disclose information relating to subscribers suspected of online piracy. Gadi Oron argues that the decision will be invaluable for IP owners