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On May 25 2006, the South African Minister of Trade and Industry published a notice in the Government Gazette, designating the 2010 FIFA World Cup as a protected event in terms of Section 15A of the South African Merchandise Marks Act. This protection will remain in force from the date of publication of the notice until six calendar months have elapsed after the commencement of the World Cup event.

Katie Kuiydong Lee and Peter K Paik review the standards of patentability for selection inventions in Korea in the light of recent court decisions

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

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has affirmed the high threshold that applies to three-dimensional trade marks in Europe, after rejecting two attempts by the maker of Werther's Original sweets to obtain a Community trade mark for the shape of the sweets and their wrapper.

Fifteen brand owners removed more than £60,000 worth of goods and closed down nearly 5,000 auction sites on eBay in just one day last month.

The Canon ink cartridge case examines how the exhaustion theory should be applied to recycled products. Yoshinari Kishimoto of Sughrue Mion outlines the case and compares Japan's approach to that of the US

Justine Henin-Hardenne wears adidas Tennis players at Wimbledon and the US Open can wear clothes featuring the distinctive adidas three-stripes design, thanks to an injunction granted by an English High Court judge last month.

On April 26 the European Commission responsible for Justice, Safety and Liberty presented a proposal for a directive aimed at strengthening the fight against counterfeits.

On April 28 2006 the EU Council adopted a Regulation on the compulsory licensing of patents and supplementary protection certificates (SPCs). The Regulation establishes a procedure for the grant of licences covering all acts necessary for the purpose of manufacturing pharmaceutical products and exporting them to (broadly) developing and least developed countries affected by public health problems.

In the wake of the Law on Advertising, which came into force on July 1 2006, the State Duma adopted some changes to the Criminal Procedure Code. The Criminal Code already contains provisions for the punishment of IP infringers and in past years those sanctions have been made harder. Now the new procedure makes it easier for law enforcement bodies to deal with infringement cases in the field of copyright. At present, only public prosecutors are empowered to initiate criminal cases against infringers according to Section 146 of the Criminal Code. The new provision of the Criminal Procedure Code empowers the police to prosecute wrongdoers in copyright matters. A criminal case according to Section 146 may be initiated if the damage to the copyright owner is more than R50,000 ($2,000). A crime of this calibre shall be punished by imprisonment of up to five years.