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IBM has become the first company to be issued more than 4,000 US patents in one year

• Film companies test ISP liability A coalition of Australian film makers has launched a case against internet service provider iiNet that will test liability for online copyright infringement in Australia. The coalition is claiming that iiNet did not take enough action to prevent its users from illegally sharing, copying and transmitting films and TV shows such as Ocean's 13, Prison Break and Bones over BitTorrent networks, despite being presented with evidence by the companies. Michael Williams of Gilbert + Tobin is acting for the copyright owners.

Giving out promotional items does not amount to making genuine use of a trade mark in the class covering those items, the ECJ ruled last month

Two disputes before the Delhi High Court have raised the issue of patent linkage between the India Patent Office and the Office of the Drug Controller General of India

Author Andrew Keen described existing business models of selling books and music online as "essentially dead" last month

When the Federal Circuit granted TS Tech USA Corporation's petition seeking transfer of its case out of the Eastern District of Texas at the end of December, patent plaintiffs around the globe collectively gasped. Eileen McDermott reports

Trade marks can be an effective way to protect products and packaging. Mark Shillito and Heather Newton consider what Community trade mark law has to offer

The UAE acceded to the WIPO Copyright Treaty (1996) on July 14 2004, and to the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (1996) on June 9 2005. Being conscious of its international obligations regarding the protection of copyright and related rights in the digital context in the light of these treaties, the UAE amended its Federal Copyright & Related Rights Law No 7 of 2002 (CL 7/2002), through the Amendment Law No 32 of 2006. This amending law has led to a comprehensive protection regime against the infringement of copyrights and related rights in the digital context. The main points of this regime are:

In Caltex Oil (Thailand) Co, Ltd v Andaman Oil Pte Ltd, the Supreme Court ruled that a trade mark licence agreement is a type of reciprocal agreement, and, in case it is not registered, only the terms and conditions for use of trade marks or service marks are invalid and unenforceable.

The current Patent Law does not provide a cause of action against an indirect infringer. Accordingly, whenever a patent owner intends to sue a person selling an unpatented component for use in a patented invention, he/she would have to resort to the Civil Code in which the act of "aiding and abetting" is specified as a tort. According to the relevant stipulations in the Civil Code, however, only when a principal infringer has been held liable, would the instigators or accomplices be deemed to be joint tortfeasors and jointly liable for injury. Besides, the so-called all element rule which is generally used in interpreting the claims' scope sometimes makes it quite difficult, if not impossible altogether, for a patent owner to claim damages from the manufacturer of a component which is essential in the practice of the patented invention.