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Since OHIM opened, it has received more than half a million applications for Community trade marks. Thousands have been rejected, and thousands more opposed prompting frustrated would-be trade mark owners to go to the European courts. How can they maximize their chances of winning? Emma Barraclough finds out

With regard to pending marketing authorization applications, the register of the National Agency for Medicines (NAM) has so far disclosed only the filing date, the number of the applicants and applications and the active ingredient to a third party. In accordance with a recent decision from the Supreme Administrative Court, a third party is now also entitled to obtain, upon request, information on the identity of the applicant and the type of the application before the marketing authorization is granted.

Even in the first Austrian Patent Law of 1897, there was a special provision that the Court had to terminate the effect of an interlocutory injunction if the defendant offered an adequate security. The Court had only to judge whether the amount offered was adequate. Over the years, people concerned complained that it was impossible to enforce a preliminary injunction since defendants nearly always paid the security as it was generally set at an affordable price. This unsatisfactory situation remained until a major patent law reform in 1988 when this stringent provision was changed into a possibility. The Court could now on its own finding terminate a preliminary injunction for an adequate security by considering the specific circumstances. Since then, in rare cases the effect of preliminary injunctions was terminated for a specific act, but not generally (for example to allow the construction of certain buildings to be finished).

An increasing number of examiners say the patent system faces collapse. Robert Budens, president of the Patent Office Professional Association, explains

Attorneys from Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo and Google tried to "diffuse some of the emotional issues" to do with internet advertising last month

Banu Barbur and Serra Coral of Deris Patents & Trademarks Agency A.S. and Deris Law Firm say that much more clarity is needed in Turkey's assessment of well-known trade marks

Litigation and dispute resolution can be a costly and time-consuming business. Clients looking for reassurance from their legal advisers would often like those advisors to "put their money where their mouth is" and shoulder at least some of the financial risks of the legal action by working under a so-called no win – no fee payment arrangement. However, such arrangements are not as simple as their name suggests and those considering such arrangements would be wise to remember that "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is". For example, a losing party will generally be required by the court to meet the costs of the other side. Such costs would not be affected by a no win – no fee arrangement. Accordingly, no win would nevertheless still result in a significant financial outlay for the losing party, even if they did not have to pay their advisor' fees.

Some US courts have embraced the aesthetic functionality doctrine to the detriment of trade mark owners. But recent court decisions limiting the applicability of the doctrine should provide some comfort to trade mark owners. Tywanda Lord considers the latest legal developments

China has long been criticized for failing to enforce IP rights. Now, after years of thinly veiled threats, the US has taken the matter to the WTO. Peter Ollier considers what may happen next, and how the row will affect IP owners

Deals between patent owners and open source distributors using the GNU General Public Licence version 3 would be blocked if the latest draft of the GPL is adopted