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Flairis Technology (Flairis), a local contract manufacturer, has obtained a court injunction to stop four of its ex-staff from using the company's trade secrets after quitting to join a competitor.

The Hong Kong Domain Name Registration (HKDNR) has finally relaxed domain name rules to allow companies to register multiple names under .hk, in a bid to boost the internet industry and facilitate e-commerce. Until now, it has been difficult for Hong Kong companies to differentiate their various products or services online but this problem ends on June 1, when they will be able to register more than one .hk domain name.

The month in words

The copyright landscape for publishers has been redrawn by a landmark US Supreme Court decision in June that found the inclusion without permission of previously published articles in an electronic database constituted copyright infringement.

The Festo decision is arguably one of the most controversial to fall on the US patent landscape in recent times. It is deeply divisive, generating as much ardent opposition as it does adamant support. Patent lawyers, unsure of the way forward, now look in hope to the Supreme Court for guidance on this most vexed of issues.

Spain is Europe’s leading importer and cultivator of genetically modified corn. Yolanda Echeverría of Clarke Modet & Co in Madrid examines EU directives controlling this industry and explores the economic and health benefits of transgenic products

Rübba Palmos, of Nevinpat St Petersburg, reveals how one Russian company is holding trade mark owners to ransom thanks to a loophole in the country’s law

Johannes Lang, Jörk Zwicker and Reinhardt Schuster of Bardehle Pagenberg Dost Altenburg Geissler Isenbruck in Munich analyze recent patent developments in the German courts

Johannes Ahme A new cost law is under preparation which, besides introducing the conversion to the euro, integrates the regulations regarding all costs and fees of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office and the Federal Patent Court into a single cost act. Thus, essentially all the rules regarding payment of fees are removed from the patent act, trade mark act, utility model act, design model act etc and integrated into a single common cost act. The basic rule of this new cost act is that fees for an application, a request, an opposition, or an appeal become due at the moment they are filed. The Patent Office or Federal Patent Court will start to work on the particular application, request etc only once the fees have been paid. If the fees are not paid within three months after becoming due, the application, request etc is deemed to be withdrawn. The particular fees and their amounts are listed in an attachment to the cost act.

Ingrid Hering, Vienna