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The economic downturn has prompted an increase in assertive advertising in sectors such as groceries and financial services. Advertising regulatory bodies in Europe provide a practical approach for companies wishing to curb the advertising excesses of their competitors

Emma Barraclough, London

The latest programme by the Korean Intellectual Property Office will not be enough to develop a more active technology transfer market, licensing specialists have said

Pharmaceutical companies could find the life of their patents cut short in Australia after the government announced it is rethinking provisions that enable patent rights to be extended for up to five years. Mark Dreyfus, Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation, (left) said last month that the government has set up a panel to review extension arrangements for pharmaceutical patents. "In certain circumstances, pharmaceutical patents can be extended by up to five years beyond the normal patent term. These provisions were introduced back in 1998, and are due for review," he said.

Territorial borders between EU member states should be disregarded in assessing whether a CTM has been put to genuine use in the Community, the Court of Justice of the EU said in December in its long-awaited ruling in the Onel case. Instead, national courts must consider the characteristics of the market concerned, the nature of the goods or services protected and the territorial extent and the scale of the use as well as its frequency and regularity.

Few topics in IP have proved as divisive and difficult in the past 20 years as patent protection for software. A sensible decision from the US Supreme Court in the Alice v CLS Bank case could help to bring peace

Opponents of plain packaging say that the scheme ultimately benefits counterfeiters by making it easier to produce fakes, but a report commissioned by the tobacco companies don’t support this argument

Singapore's Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Act (hereafter the "Human Cloning Act") came into force on October 1 2004 and has been in force for five years. The Act does not prohibit the creation of human embryos up to the 14th day of development or harvesting stem cells from such embryos for research purposes. The Human Cloning Act therefore provides for a relatively liberal environment in Singapore for stem cell research.

The suspension of a former Bird & Bird partner for inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague shows the legal profession still has far to go

Paul Ranjard and Zhu Zhigang of Wan Hui Da analyse how China’s new IP courts have improved enforcement and highlight some important decisions