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The Patent Appeal Board in Canada recently issued its decision following a hearing at which we challenged the decision of an examiner regarding inter alia the patentability of subject matter. The claims were directed to a system for trading diamonds from remote computer terminals in communication with a host computer, including the use of data structures for presenting diamond characteristics in an orderly and structured manner. The examiner's rejection reflected a trend in Canada of examiners rejecting claims to less than fully tangible inventions, or to what can be loosely called business methods.

Article 15 of the TRIPs Agreement provides that combinations of colours – among other kinds of signs – can be registered as trade marks. Article 1 of the Argentine Trade Mark Act 22,362 specifically requires that combinations of colours can be registered as trade marks provided they are applied in a fixed place on products or containers. Article 2 says that the natural or inherent colour of the products or a single colour applied on them cannot be considered to be a trade mark.

Acacia Technologies: an aggressive patent troll that feeds off the litigation fears of large corporations, or the champion of small technology companies who might not know how to go about enforcing their patents? Shahnaz Mahmud weighs up the evidence

The GPL has become the most common open source licence since its release in 1989. But only recently has a body of case law begun to develop on whether it is enforceable. James Gatto argues that cases in the US and Germany suggest that it is

Foreign IP owners used to think that China was reluctant to grant well-known mark status to their trade marks. They need to think again, says Huang Hui, as he explains how brand owners can use the rules to maximize their rights

Ensuring that expert witness evidence is used to maximum effect is crucial in IP litigation. Nick Gardner and Duncan Ribbons introduce a guide to the most effective way to marshal and deploy your expert evidence prepared by lawyers in seven jurisdictions

Trade secrets (including so-called tricks of the trade) are commonly protected by confidentiality agreements, non-disclosure agreements and exclusivity clauses or contracts. Exclusivity clauses are often attacked as being null and void on grounds of public policy because they restrain trade or occupation unreasonably. In Avon Cosmetics Incorporated v Leticia Luna, GR No 153674, dated December 20 2006, the Supreme Court ruled on an exclusivity clause. The facts of the case are as follows: In 1978 Avon acquired Beautifont Inc, a Philippine company, where Luna was an employee. In 1985, Luna and Avon signed the so-called Supervisor's Agreement. This had the following terms: (i) that the Agreement does not make the Supervisor an employee or agent of the Company (ii) that the Supervisor is an independent retailer/dealer and has sole discretion to determine where and how Avon's products will be sold, except that the Supervisor cannot sell such products to stores, supermarkets or to any person who sells things at a fixed place of business, (iii) that the Supervisor shall sell or offer to sell, display or promote only and exclusively products sold by the Company; (iv) that either party may terminate the agreement at will, or without cause, at any time upon notice to the other.

On December 8 2006 the Administrative Council of the EPO took a further step in the implementation of EPC 2000, which will come into force this year. The Council reviewed and approved the Amendments to the Implementing Regulations to the EPC 2000.

The European Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions 98/44/EC was transformed into national law on June 10 2005. The Austrian Parliament has established a special monitoring committee to manage this transformation. This committee (the Biopatent Monitoring Committee) had the task of monitoring the impact of this transformation into Austrian law on:

On January 8 2007, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued a measure which aims to strengthen the value of Chinese brands. By giving local brands a special status, and by promoting and protecting these brands, it hopes to boost the sale and export of local branded goods. As these gain popularity, it also hopes that the competitiveness of Chinese goods as a whole in the world market will increase.