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There are two results of prosecuting trade mark applications in any part of the world: either you obtain a registration, or you do not. However, in Mexico there has not been a trade mark denial resulting from not overcoming citations or registrability objections for about 10 years.

Office issues clarification

The Singapore-based company and trade mark applicant, Future Enterprises, has for the second time in less than a year faced opposition to its three marks comprising the words "MacTea", "MacNoodles" and "MacChocolate" together with a "device of an eagle" in class 30.

Changes to Japan's patent law in the early months of 2004 will see lower fees in some cases and the abolition of the opposition system. The amendments to the invalidation appeal procedures are open to abuse and could end up harming patentees' rights, warn John Tessensohn and Shusaku Yamamoto

Pre-trial injunctions offer an alternative to administrative actions and the Civil Procedure Law in IP litigation in China. To benefit properly from them, however, you should follow procedures carefully, warns Matthew Murphy

A rather progressive provision regulating the protection and exercise of trade mark rights has been established with respect to well-known marks. The Ukrainian Trade Mark Law has been supplemented by Article 25 named "Protection of Rights in Well-Known Marks". Article 25 of the law refers to Article 6bis of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. It establishes that it is possible to take a decision of the Chamber of Appeal of the State Department of Intellectual Property of Ukraine or a court decision as the basis for acknowledging a mark to be well-known. Thus, the Trade Mark Law finally details a list of bodies whose competence covers acknowledging a mark to be well-known. In addition, Item 2 of Article 25 establishes factors that might be taken into consideration when acknowledging a mark to be well-known.

Asia-Pacific governments have formally committed themselves to the effective regulation of optical disc production in a bid to minimize piracy.

Ralph Cunningham, Hong Kong

For the very first time, a Spanish court has entered a decision ordering the provisional shutdown of the website for using the so-called people-to-people (P2P) file-exchange network.

Egypt's first comprehensive IP legislation signalled a desire to cultivate an environment to promote research and innovation and build trust in the country's ability to protect IP rights. However, as Karim El Helaly explains, the protection regime is being undermined by lack of IP awareness