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Many high-tech companies are increasingly being hit by challenges from patent licensing companies - or patent trolls - that threaten to ruin their business. Bob Cote and Rodger Sadler provide six strategies to defend yourself

Emma Barraclough, Hong Kong

In December 2005, the South African Registrar of Trade Marks issued a practice note (Practice Note 1 of 2006), which came into effect on January 3 2006. The revised rules have a direct impact on proprietors of pending trade mark applications in South Africa.

Maintaining an IP portfolio can be a costly exercise, particularly where patents and trade marks are concerned. However, domain names can generate tangible financial rewards without having to cost the earth. Often the registration of a URL can prove to be one of the most valuable investments a company can make.

The town of Barcelona has won its challenge to the registration of Barcelona.eu as a domain name.

AUSTRALIA: The Attorney-General unveiled far-reaching copyright reform proposals on May 14. There will be two new exceptions for private use – allowing TV and radio programmes to be recorded and watched or listened to once only at a later time and allowing copies of copyrighted material to be made in a different format. But the government said it will also introduce a range of new measures including on-the-spot fines and the opportunity to recover profits from copyright pirates, as well as making it easier for copyright owners to prove ownership of their rights and giving more power to Customs.

Internet: The latest top-level domain name, .mobi, launched on May 22 with a sunrise period for rights owners in the mobile telecoms industry. This will be followed by a sunrise period for IP rights owners, starting on June 12 and lasting until August 21. The .mobi registry is Mobile Top Level Domain Ltd in Dublin, Ireland, which was set up by companies including Ericsson, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung and Vodafone. Dot-mobi is the first TLD that will be tailored to mobile devices: owners of .mobi domain names have to comply with rules that make their content easily accessible on phones, personal digital assistants and other gadgets.

No one admits to being a patent troll, but everyone knows they exist. Where are they hiding and what do they do? Join James Nurton on a quest into the deepest, darkest reaches of patent law to find out

A monthly column devoted to IP curiosities and controversies, named in honour of John of Utynam - who received the world's first recorded patent in 1449

Attention is increasingly focusing on the enforcement of Community trade marks. Verena von Bomhard, Burkhart Goebel and Ana Castedo of Lovells examine enforcement in the new Spanish CTM courts in Alicante and find that, despite their heavy workload, they have proven efficient and quick, producing reasonable decisions in a highly complex legal environment