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The issue of improving the Russian legislation in the field of intellectual property has long been on the agenda. Ever since the new versions of IP laws were adopted in 2002-2003 (the Russian Copyright law was amended in 2004) there was much discussion about further improvements. In fact, the amendments of three years ago did not solve all the problems though they did make some good patches over the legislative gaps. The work continued and by 2006 there were prepared numerous proposals for the patent and trade mark laws.

The District Administrative Court in Warsaw (Case VI SA/Wa 1482/09) confirmed the view of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland that a single colour per se does not have distinctive character, but that this obstacle to registration as a trade mark may be eliminated by acquired distinctiveness.

A judgment in the unsuccessful trade mark opposition brought by Rotary International (RI) against Carl Bird, proprietor of the trade mark Rotary Engine, has issued.

A recent Italian legislative decree to relaunch the economy includes tax relief measures related to patents, trade marks and know-how. This decree increases the deductible amortization rate for the costs of the right to use original works, patents, processes, formulas and information related to experience acquired in the field of industry, commerce and science from 33% to 50%.

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines, IPOPhil, officially launched its new service called TM Online on April 25 2006. After encountering some initial problems, TM Online became available to the public in May 2006. This project is not new. As early as November 26 2004, IPOPhil issued Office Order No. 25 Series of 2004, amended by Office Order No. 42, providing for the rules on the trade mark electronic filing system. However, its implementation was deferred following demand from practitioners for clearer rules. The following are the requirements for using TM Online:

Business method patents, granted for particular business models unique to a particular organization, have been the subject of mounting interest and controversy among business leaders in the digital media, internet and e-commerce sector.

The protection of the appearance of a product is often neglected. Companies tend to focus on patents (protecting technical aspects) or on trade marks (protecting the name of a product) but seldom on the shape of the product.

The Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic has decided to issue the Official Journal in an electronic form on the website www.upv.cz.

Several rules of the German Patent Act with regard to oppositions have recently been amended. In order to reduce the backlog of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (GPTO) in opposition cases, transitional rules were implemented in 2002 that oppositions against German patents filed up to July 2006 have to be handled by the Federal Patent Court instead of by the GPTO. These rules have now been cancelled, so that all oppositions filed from July 1 2006 will again be handled in the first instance by the GPTO.

Following a major amendment to China's Trade Mark Law in October 2001, prior to it becoming a member of the WTO, China intends to amend its Trade Mark Law further. A draft was published on April 18 2006 for public consultation. Some of the proposed changes are as follows: