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In 2005 the Mexican Congress passed amendments to the Law of Industrial Property (LIP) concerning trade mark notoriety. With this reform, IMPI recognizes two different levels of trade mark protection.

In September 2007 the Court of First Instance of the European Union (CFI) annulled the decision of the Board of Appeal of OHIM with which the registrability of the word mark Grana Biraghi for various types of cheese had been confirmed. According to the Board, the existence of the Grana Padano protected denomination of origin, provided by the Community Regulation, could not obstruct the registration of the Grana Biraghi mark, as the term Grana was considered generic and descriptive of a particular quality of a product.

The need to heighten the battle against counterfeit goods really hit home when Malaysian police discovered that they were recently cheated into paying RM5 million ($1.6 million) for imitation spare parts for police patrol cars and police vehicles.

It is imperative for the plaintiff to prove that the process of manufacture adopted by the defendant or that such imitation amounts to infringement. This duty rests on the plaintiff, so as to establish the infringement suit prima facie. Undoubtedly, the question of infringement of a patent is a mixed question of law and fact. In this scenario the ruling of the Madras High Court in FDC Limited & Ors v Sanjeev Khandelwal & Ors 2007 (35) PTC 436 (Mad), that ex parte injunctions be granted only after an effective judicial scrutiny of both oral as well as documentary evidence, becomes of paramount importance.

A United States trade mark registration remains in full force and effect for a period of 10 years from the date of issuance. However, in order to maintain the registration, the trade mark owner must file a declaration of use between the fifth year and sixth year following the date of registration (or, with payment of a penalty, within six months thereafter). The declaration of use is a sworn statement by the trade mark owner indicating that the registered mark continues to be in use in the United States for each of the goods covered by the registration and includes a specimen showing use of the mark for the classifications. If the required declaration of use and the supporting specimens are not filed, the registration will be cancelled.

To date, UK businesses have had to consider two parallel systems for registered design rights: the UK registered design right under the Registered Designs Act 1949 (as amended) and the Community registered design right under EC Directive 6/2002/EC (the Community Designs Regulation). However, on September 24 2007, the European Community signed the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement concerning the international registration of industrial designs, creating a third layer of registered design right protection. The UK had not previously been a signatory to the Hague Agreement, and so this is the first time that the Hague Agreement will apply to the UK, the EU implementing legislation (Commission Regulation 876/2007, amending Regulation 6/2002/EC ) being directly applicable in EU member states.

A number of legislative changes in Irish data protection law have already taken effect and further developments are due to take effect in October 2007. These developments provide some welcome clarification for practitioners.

Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) as provided by Regulation 1768/92/EEC can extend the lifetime of a patent protecting medicines up to five years. SPCs were devised to compensate for the reduced duration of these patents caused by the lengthy procedures involved in obtaining marketing authorization before the launch of a new medicinal product.

Owing to international and national needs the Finnish Act on Utility Model Rights is under revision. The new act is expected to enter into force early in 2008.

The government of Croatia adopted a new regulation on August 8 2007 to amend Customs measures relating to goods suspected of infringing particular IP rights.