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An OAPI registered right extends automatically to all member states at the date of registration. The 1977 Bangui Agreement contained no provision for extending rights to states that acceded afterwards but Article 19(a) empowered the Administrative Council to make Regulations "necessary for the application" of the Agreement. That power was perpetuated in the 1999 version of Bangui.

Taiwan's Intellectual Property Office is to amend the compulsory licensing provisions of its Patent Law after a long-running dispute between a local CD maker and Philips finally ended

EU: The European Commission is to introduce a communication aimed at convincing small and medium-sized enterprises to make more use of IP rights and to take concrete steps to tackle counterfeiting. The objective of the communication, which was published on July 16, is to assist inventors and innovative companies – particularly SMEs – in making informed choices about protecting their IP rights and integrating them into their business plans. The Commission believes that more should be done to promote IP in Europe and it also stressed the creation of a Community patent and an integrated patent jurisdiction.

Three recent Canadian Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal decisions make reference to fundamentals of the patent system and all involve questions of validity of claims that are directed to either (i) a specific form of a known chemical molecule having distinct biological properties (so-called enantiomers, mirror images of the same molecule where each enantiomer can have significantly different biological activity); or (ii) a particular medical use of a known chemical compound [Janssen-Ortho v Novopharm (2007), Pfizer v Ranbaxy (2008); and Eli Lilly v Apotex (2008)].

I'm an in-house trade mark counsel for a famous brand and we are thinking about applying for a new gTLD. What issues do we need to consider and should we make an application?

Brands such as Wal-Mart and Mattel have suffered from problems caused by foreign manufacturers. Oliver Herzfeld and Richard Bergovoy provide some guidance on how to minimise the risks

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals filed a patent application titled "Pharmaceutical composition". The invention relates to a paediatric suspension of nevirapine hemihydrate. The application was filed with a total of six claims and upon its examination, the examiner raised objections on the grounds of non-patentability and definitiveness of the claims. The applicant, in compliance with the objections, then amended the claims.

As more and more US courts become patent-savvy, it is important to understand the procedural differences between the main venues. Authors in five districts and the ITC answer your questions

The House of Lords made its most important patent ruling in recent times when it clarified the test for obviousness in the UK. How have other courts dealt with this issue?

Ninety-five years is enough time to play the same four-minute piece of music more than 12.5 million times