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Interview: Roland Grossenbacher, director of Switzerland's Federal Institute of Intellectual Property and chair of the EPO's Administrative Council talks about patents, EPO challenges and patent policy in Europe

Shwetasree Majumder and Lucy Harrold look at how pharmaceutical trade marks, data and medical devices are protected in India

The supply of counterfeits from factories in China creates a big headache for brand owners. Mark Chernick outlines some unorthodox cures

The rate of patenting in Asian countries has increased dramatically over the past decade. But what about the quality? Peter Ollier considers the evidence

The CAFC's decision In re Seagate reshaped the rules on wilful infringement and the use of opinions. Eileen McDermott asseses the impact so far

Long before John Locke's natural rights theory was used as a basis for granting a monopoly over intellectual property in continental Europe, and long before the founders of the United States drafted their constitution to allow Congress the power to "promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries", Islamic Sharia established principles to protect intellectual property.

A sound mark is a non-traditional mark (such as scent, taste, texture and moving-image marks) where sound is used to perform the trade mark function of uniquely identifying the commercial origin of products or services.

In June 2000 Dutch company Stichting Lodestar applied to register the trade mark Wild Geese in respect of beers and other alcoholic beverages. Austin Nichols, proprietor of the registered trade mark Wild Turkey in respect of the same goods, opposed registration. The assistant commissioner held that there was no reasonable likelihood of deception or confusion between the two marks.

Colombia made an alcoholic move to Russia. To secure its position a trade mark application for rum was filed Ron Viejo de Caldas (application 2004723531 with priority date of October 14 2004). The application was rejected. The examiner stated in the rejection that the designation did not have distinguishing capability because it consisted only of non-protectable elements characterizing the goods. Indeed, Ron (rum) points to the name of the product, Viejo is old and de Caldas means from the province of Caldas

As reported last month, the Italian Patent Office (PTO) had begun discussions with the European Patent Office (EPO) to define an agreement under which Italian patent applications would be searched by the EPO with respect to novelty and inventive step.