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The National Board of Patents and Registration has recently established a list into which trade marks with a reputation may be entered on application. According to the National Board of Patents and Registration the purpose of the list is to better serve business life, agents and all other circles that need to obtain information about marks with a reputation. The list may also be helpful when conducting preliminary examinations and tests of confusing similarity concerning trade marks. Consequently, the list undoubtedly has a preventive effect on trade mark litigation.

The Australian courts have again recently helped enforce patent rights by taking a liberal and flexible view of claim interpretation. This supplements the position taken in a recently reported Australian High Court case in which a decision relating to obviousness also favoured the patent holder (Lockwood Security Products Pty Ltd v Doric Products Pty Ltd (No 2) [2007] HCA 21).

A licensee has licensed a utility model (UM) and know–how (KH) for an oxygen–enriched beverage. In addition, gas-mixing equipment was supplied by the licensor mainly for counting the drinks for calculating the licence fee. Shortly after the equipment was successfully installed at the licensee's facility, problems occurred and the licensee decided to exchange the licensor's equipment for new equipment from a different supplier. After some negotiations, the licensee terminated the licence contract. The licensor sued for payment of minimum royalties for two years which were already due. The licensee denied the basis for this payment because he argued that the UM was invalid and that the KH was of no value and was not used.

Amid fundamental legal reforms, the Mexican government is considering joining two important international trade mark treaties. Jesus Molina and Sergio De Alva of Molina Salgado & De Alva, SC examine the advantages and disadvantages of doing so

The new Customs and Trade Mark Registry will enable the Customs Administration and the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property to collaborate effectively. Yet a more general improvement of legislation may be slow to follow, explains Saul Santoyo of Uhthoff, Gomez Vega & Uhthoff SC

When patented substances have second uses, complications may result. Agustín Velázquez G L, Guillermo Alberto González Ortega, Alberto Huerta Bleck and Álvaro Huerta González of Mijares, Angoitia, Cortés y Fuentes discuss how Mexican courts have responded

The reduction of fees for European trade mark registrations may seem attractive at first glance, but in the long term will be bad for businesses. A sharp reduction in rates will lead to a Europe-wide flood of trade mark registrations, which will make it almost impossible to find a name that is still 'free' in the future. It will also lead to many costly legal conflicts.

Patent applications in Mexico are on the increase, but disparities between national and foreign applications remain. Fernando Rosales-Vázquez, of Becerril, Coca & Becerril, SC, discusses the statistics, which graphically illustrate the imbalance

There is no evidence that a significant number of customers are being deceived by so-called lookalike packaging on retailers' own brands (John Noble, British Brands Group, Managing IP September 2007).

The US House of Representatives has passed a wide-ranging patent reform bill, but does it have any chance of becoming law?