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US: Hollywood star Robin Williams struck a blow for celebrity rights after suing impersonator Michael Clayton on May 13 for passing himself off as the actor. Clayton had tried to convince a newspaper and a charity organization that he was Williams. Following the lawsuit, Clayton agreed to a stipulated injunction preventing him from imitating the actor.

Intellectual property owners have teamed up in Thailand to formally launch an association to help combat IP infringement.

Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have agreed on a text that will form the basis of the long-awaited revised Trademark Law Treaty (TLT).

Emma Barraclough, Hong Kong

James Nurton, San Diego

Sam Mamudi, New York

Patent cases are becoming more and more complex every day. Biotechnology, nanotechnology and semiconductor manufacturing are just a few of the technical fields that Judges may face when presiding over patent cases. Discovery in patent cases also often involves complex and difficult issues of relevancy and further involves disputes that are time consuming to resolve. District court judges typically do not have engineering or technical backgrounds and the caseload burdens that we place on our judges make it very difficult for them to address the discovery disputes that arise in patent cases. Thus, the question becomes what can a judge do if he/she wants or needs assistance in a patent case. Congress and the United States Supreme Court have given judges numerous options.

A recent High Court judgment, Fraser-Woodward v BBC, provides guidance to those that use copyright material for the purposes of criticism or review.

In E-Toyo Global Stationery v Toyo Ink [2005], the first respondent was the registered proprietor of the trade mark Toyo in Class 16 and had been the registered proprietor since 1979. In 2002, the first respondent entered into a registered user agreement with the second respondent to use the Toyo mark. In 2004, a third party (not a party to this action) became a registered user and gained a licence to use the Toyo mark by way of a novation cum registered user agreement with the first respondent. The applicant alleged that as a result of the 2002 registered user agreement, an act of so-called "trafficking" had been committed.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) has issued a revised set of examination guidelines for computer-related inventions. The revised guidelines came into effect on April 15 2005.