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Recent damages awards demonstrate that Chinese courts will compensate IP owners for their losses, reports Emma Barraclough

A UN Guide on secured transactions has been changed following concerns about its impact on IP. Ben Goodger provides an inside view of the lobbying campaign

With a backlog of applications threatening to overwhelm examiners, large parts of the patent community furious about its recently implemented rules package and two lawsuits pending against it, the USPTO is facing unprecedented criticism. Eileen McDermott considers why practitioners are angry. Plus: Director Jon Dudas responds to the critics

In tandem with the rapid development of the internet and ever-increasing internet penetration rates worldwide, peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks have drawn significant attention from computer users around the world. However, while the general public enjoys the convenience brought by file-sharing techniques, copyright holders claim that P2P operators, which set up networks or provide computer software that allow subscribers to download and share files without obtaining authorization from the copyright holders, violate the Copyright Act.

In this recent case in Singapore, the applicants, Siemens AG, sought to invalidate the mark Maglev, owned by a Taiwanese company, Sunonwealth Electric Machine Industry Co. Ltd (the respondents). Siemens alleged, among other things, that the respondents' mark is devoid of any distinctive character, has become generic in the trade, and was applied for in bad faith.

Online file inspection and online searches of patent, trade mark and design applications/registrations are available via http://online.tpe.gov.tr/eng/.

Authors of creative works enjoy protection under copyright laws. Copyright laws worldwide exist to protect the authors from any infringement of their work. Books and other written materials on hard copies, web pages, email messages, digital images, text, musical work, software and any copyrighted materials published on the internet are equally protected. Copyright has however faced challenges from digital technology over recent years.

Non-conventional trade marks have been widely debated over the past few years. The registration of colours as trade marks constitutes a good example of the reluctance to accept trade marks that are different from the signs with which we are more familiarized. The Portuguese Industrial Property Code for instance determines that colours cannot be registered as trade marks except if combined with other colours or with graphics, slogans or other elements in a peculiar and distinctive way. The registration of a colour per se is therefore expressly excluded.

On October 10 2007, imitation Honda general purpose engines were destroyed before students and faculty of the De La Salle University in Bacolod City in compliance with the order of regional trial court judge Roberto Chiongson. The infringing engines, which bore the same shape and colour as the Honda engines, were seized by the National Bureau of Investigation by virtue of search warrants issued by Judge Chiongson on June 22 2005, against three establishments in Bacolod and Iloilo cities. While under preliminary investigation by the Department of Justice, the owner of the raided establishment issued an undertaking to cease and desist from dealing in Honda engines look-alikes, issue public apologies in national newspapers, agree to periodic inspection of his establishments, surrender the imitation Honda engines for destruction, and other commitments. Honda Motor Co Ltd and Honda Philippines Inc accepted these pledges. To ensure that none of the parts of the engines would be re-used, the destruction activity started with dismantling their removable parts, then using acetylene torches to cut the metal block, and lastly manually pounding of the broken parts. The destruction was scheduled in October to celebrate IPR month, and was highlighted with a series of talks on intellectual property held in the university.

In order to prove that a trade mark is famous it is necessary to show, among other things, that ordinary customers associate the mark with a high quality of the goods or services on which it is used.