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Emma Barraclough, Hong Kong

Stéphanie Bodoni, London

The Swedish Supreme Court has recently (February 1 2006) delivered a judgment in an interesting trade mark case, which concerns how and when a registered trade mark can be cancelled for non-use, and in particular the date from which the period of non-use of a trade mark must be calculated.

When planning the introduction of a recognized foreign brand to the US marketplace, owners of a well-known trade mark outside of the US may find that an American company has attempted to take advantage of the renown of the foreign mark by making an earlier trade mark filing in the USPTO.

The Mexican Patent Office has finally implemented internal examining guidelines that substantially mirror those of the European Patent Office for the examination of computer software-implemented inventions. The emphasis now to be placed by Mexican examiners examining computer software-implemented inventions is on the technical characteristics that have a technical effect rather than on the subject matter of the invention.

Stéphanie Bodoni speaks to OHIM's new director of IP policy, Vincent O'Reilly, about OHIM trade mark practice, examination guidelines and the implementation of EU case law

Emma Barraclough, Hong Kong

Italy has ratified Directive 98/44/EC on the protection of biotechnological inventions, aimed at harmonizing the laws of the member states to promote investment in the field of biotechnology and avoid barriers to trade.

The Paul Manufacturing Co Case (2006 (32) PTC 285 (Del) came up before the Delhi High Court by way of a writ petition under Article 226 of the Indian constitution. The petitioner's prayer was to issue a writ of certiorari or a direction to quash the trade mark registration No 1280913 granted under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 by the Registrar of Trade Marks. The usual procedure is that the Trade Marks Registrar's decisions and orders are appealed to the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (the IPAB). In this case too, the petitioner filed a rectification application at the IPAB. However, interestingly, the IPAB has been dysfunctional for several months because of the delay in appointing a technical member. The petitioner therefore contended that the IPAB was not functioning and that the High Court had extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 to issue a certiorari to quash the order granting the trade mark registration.

News and photos from MIP's third annual Brand Management Forum, featuring leading in-house counsel and trade mark regulators, held in London at the end of March