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James Nurton, London

As a result of the exception provided by the European Patent Convention, before October 7 1992 Spain did not accept the patentability of chemical and pharmaceutical products. This is why European patents which claimed products had to include a special set of claims for Spain with only process claims.

In a reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof of Germany, the European Court of Justice has been asked to determine the concept of "combination of active ingredients" in Article 1(b) of Regulation No 1768/92 on supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) for medicinal products (Case C-431/04 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – Opinion of Advocate General Léger on November 24 2005).

On February 3 2006 Law number 344/2005 regarding certain measures aimed at ensuring the observance of IP rights upon Customs clearance entered into force in Romania.

The Malaysian courts recently handed down their decision in Hu Kin Ai & Anor v Liew Yew Thoong [2005] 6 AMR 363. The plaintiffs had been selling watches in Malaysia and internationally since 1994 and are the registered owners of the trade mark "Blansacar with Five Stars Device" in respect of watches. They sued the defendant for trade mark infringement and passing off. The first plaintiff had also applied to register the Chinese characters "Wu Xing Shang Jiang" (meaning Five Star General) in respect of watches.

Search and examination procedures in Singapore have been amended to bring them in line with changes in the Singapore Patents Act relating to patent applications with filing dates after July 1 2004. For PCT National Phase entry applications into Singapore, the effective filing date is the international filing date. Therefore, the majority of PCT National Phase entry applications now fall under the new law.

An effective and efficient patent application process is the first step in building a valuable portfolio. Eugene J Gierczak and Daryl W Schnurr of Miller Thomson explain Canada's patent framework

Knowing what can be protected under trade mark legislation is key to devising a strategy to protect your company's name and product. Kamleh Nicola, Andrea Kokonis and Lisa Allegro of Torys explain the rules for prospective applicants

In an age of increasing globalization, Canada's courts have crafted a copyright jurisprudence that brings the country closer to the US in particular says Robert Howell of the University of Victoria

Will the introduction of post-grant opposition provide greater opportunities to patent challengers in the US? A letter from John P Sutton