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From Fiona Rotstein and Andrew Christie

Microsoft has failed to overturn a decision in which it was found to have infringed patents belonging to z4 Technologies

The head of ICANN said that plans for new generic top-level domain names "terrified" him

Eileen McDermott, Cartagena

Japan's highest court has handed down its first ruling on the issue of patent exhaustion

WIPO director-general Kamil Idris will step down in September 2008, a year early

The growth of IP rights makes effective management more important than ever. Lynann Butkiewicz introduces a comparison of IP software and services providers

The German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) recently issued a decision (X ZR 60/06) that makes it clear that the patent owner's right to choose the best method of calculating damages in an infringement suit ends when a first relevant court decision comes into force. This is true even if the patent owner has exercised his right to choose before the court decision comes into force. The BGH stated that, at a specific time, the infringer has to know the extent of the liability. The infringer has to be able to plan for the future and has to be able to calculate the amount of reserves to be set aside.

With over one billion people, India is one of the world's largest markets for films. This includes both home grown "Bollywood" and Hollywood films. However, both Hollywood and Bollywood complain that piracy, a phenomenon throughout Asia, is cutting into their earnings. Both lose millions of dollars a year due to lax enforcement of copyright laws in India. Dan Glickman, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said at a recent Confederation of Indian Industry meeting that the biggest competitor faced by both Hollywood and Bollywood was piracy.

There is no doubt that substantial efforts have been effected in Mexico to improve trade mark protection, such as those contained in the 2005 amendment to the Mexican Industrial Property Law, where the possibility to obtain declarations for well-known and famous trade marks has been established. However, it is worth mentioning the potential advantages of establishing a trade mark opposition procedure (TOP) in Mexico, in order to provide the owners of registered trade marks with a legal action to prevent registration of new trade marks which may conflict with previous acquired rights.