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Companies often try to use a particular colour or colour combination on their goods or packaging materials to give their products a consistent look and to distinguish their brand from their competitors' product offerings. The use of a certain colour or colour combination can, over time, create an overall distinctive look that is recognizable and identifiable solely with the source of the products, so that a product (or packaging) with a certain colour (or combination of colours) signifies a particular brand in the mind of the consumer.

You file and are granted a US patent. In a subsequent infringement suit, patent validity is challenged based on failure to name the correct inventors.

The most frequently asked questions on trade mark prosecution in the Philippines concern the filing of the declaration of actual use (DAU). Prior to the promulgation of the IP Code on January 1 1998, proof of actual use of the mark in the Philippines was only required after the mark has been registered. However, under the IP Code, the applicant is required to file the DAU within three years from the filing date, and then, within one year from the fifth anniversary of the date of registration of the mark. Below are some of the more common concerns raised by applicants.

On April 7 2008 New Zealand and China signed a free trade agreement (the Agreement). The Agreement is said to provide mutually beneficial concessions in the areas of trade of goods, services and investment. New Zealand is the first country to enter into any sort of free trade agreement with China.

When a merger, divestiture or purchase of assets involves intellectual property, a corporate IP attorney should be part of the team. The business purpose of the transaction and expectations for the IP assets must be discussed with the client. Through that guidance, the corporate IP lawyer will be able to perform the due diligence and advise whether the transaction will meet the client's expectations.

3M's Post-it and Scotch marks have become so widely known that they are used by many people to refer to any or all sticky notes and cellophane tape. In order to weed out this misconception, 3M's Malaysian business unit has set out to reclaim the well-known brands to boost their 3M association. The 3M Malaysian business unit and marketing division has launched a creative campaign to initiate awareness and promote its brands among the Malaysian public on the genuine 3M Post-It notes and Scotch tape exclusively to encourage accurate association of the brands among consumers and ultimately dispel the misconception over any other yellow sticky note or sticky tape available in Malaysia.

A new law, number 20,254, establishing the National Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI), was published recently in the Official Gazette in Chile. This law – sent to the Congress in 2000 on the initiative of the President – creates a new autonomous agency in charge of the records and administration of industrial property in Chile, with a legal personality and its own assets, linked to the President of the Republic through the Ministry of Economy. The chief executive of this entity will be a national director, named directly by the President.

According to statistics released recently, the number of new trade mark applications filed in China in 2007 was close to 710,000, making it yet again number one in the world, a position it has held for the past five years.

The Austrian Supreme Court clarified recently that the claimant is not liable for damages if a previously granted interim injunction appears to be unjustified in view of a later decision by the ECJ.

From Samson Helfgott