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According to Article 130 of Mexican Industrial Property Law, a trade mark must be in continuous and uninterrupted use for at least three consecutive years from the date when the registration is granted. If use of a mark does not commence within this period of time, the mark will become vulnerable to a cancellation action due to non-use which can be brought by any third party with a legal interest. This legal action is brought before the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI).

US burger chain McDonald's has been involved in a number of lawsuits and other legal cases involving trade mark issues in its 66-year history. In Malaysia, they have now successfully protected their interests and obtained the exclusive use of the Mc prefix following a five-year legal tussle with McCurry Restaurant (KL). The Malaysian High Court has ruled that McDonalds has an exclusive right to "Mc" and it is the trade mark of the US fast food company.

Article 31 of the Patent Act, which previously limited the scope of patentable plant inventions to "a variety of plant that reproduces itself asexually," has been abolished by recent amendments to the Patent Act, which became effective on October 1 2006.

The Indian music industry has grown rapidly over the years and has become a major business in India along with the country's famous film industry colloquially known as Bollywood. As a result, copyright cases that affect the industry are closely watched. A recent case is Super Cassettes Industries Ltd v Chanda Cassettes Pvt Ltd 2006 (33) PTC (Del), where the Delhi High Court attempted to frame a test of balance of convenience in a copyright infringement case. The appeal was against the decision of the Additional District Judge denying the plaintiffs an interim injunction.

By an amendment to the Patents Act earlier this year, Finland became one of the 14 countries where the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) has entered into force.

In a recent judgment (C-431/04), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has gone against the Opinion of the Advocate General and ruled that the German courts were correct in rejecting an application for a supplementary protection certificate (SPC) for the chemotherapeutic Gliadel.

On September 22 2006, the Italian Council of Ministers approved a new law decree that contains interesting new elements regarding intellectual property in Italy.

After years of high profile but unpopular lawsuits targeting illegal downloaders, music companies are showing signs of wanting to get off the litigation track and rethinking how they make money from their precious intellectual property. Some are even offering up their closely protected assets for free under new digital business models. Shahnaz Mahmud examines how a downloading website is persuading major record labels to sign up

Emma Barraclough, London

Shahnaz Mahmud, New York