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On January 1 2008 Norway will become a member of the European Patent Organization, which will then comprise in total 33 member states and five extension states. Norway can thus be designated in EP applications filed on or after January 1 2008.

Trade marks reproducing familar words are popular among people, even more so if they allude to sexuality. Any moves around such marks provoke interest: what will come next? The Chamber of Patent Disputes of the Russian PTO recently busied itself with Kamasutra.

Ondex Pte Ltd, a local anime distributor in Singapore, filed separate suits against the local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) SingNet, Starhub and Pacific Internet, requiring them to reveal information on the identities of customers alleged to have illegally downloaded popular Japanese anime titles that Odex imported. Odex alleged that a substantial number of illegal downloads had been made in Singapore over the past 10 months, causing their sales to plunge dramatically.

Recent news in the Turkish media about the registration of Turkish lokum by another party in European Union and thus the prevention of commercial activities relating to lokum in the Community drew the public's attention to the protection of geographical indications (GIs).

A recent press statement by the Music Authors' Copyright Protection Berhad (MACP) has taken the Malaysian entertainment industry to task. It announced that hundreds of entertainment outlets around Kuala Lumpur, the nation's capital, would be subject to severe scrutiny if they did not settle their outstanding royalty payments within the given timeframe.

The Italian IP system has had its failings in the past, but now things are becoming easier for right holders. Pier Luigi Roncaglia of Società Italiana Brevetti discusses the measures that are helping them out

On October 26 2007, the Italian Official Gazette published a decree of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (which is in charge of the Italian Patent and Trade Mark Office) indicating – among other issues – its willingness to reach an agreement with the European Patent Office on prior art searches of Italian patent applications.

Italy has introduced a raft of new laws to comply with the EU Directive on unfair practice. Paolo Bertoni and Marco Montesano of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer explain how this will help the good practitioners

A monthly column devoted to IP curiosities and controversies, named in honour of John of Utynam - who received the world’s first recorded patent in 1449

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