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The Supreme Court in New Delhi has laid down guidelines to avoid the registration of deceptively similar trade marks. Saying there should be the maximum possible number of indicators to distinguish two medicinal products, the Court has drawn up a broad seven-point set of rules on the registration of trade marks for medicines.

It was the year of the dot-com bubble, and IP owners like everyone else were obsessed with the net. James Nurton and Tabitha Parker analyze some of 2000’s most interesting cases

The decision of the ECJ rejecting a ban on tobacco advertising and sponsoring was met with applause in the EU. But the European Commission now wants a pan-European prohibition of tobacco advertising in the print media, reports Henning Hartwig

Recent changes to patent law and PTO prosecution in the US make prosecution a much more complex matter. Gregory J Maier and Philippe Signore take a close look at the reforms

Schering-Plough and two generic manufacturers have been charged by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with conspiring to keep a generic version of the drug K-Dur 20 off the market. The FTC charged Schering with paying Upsher-Smith Labs and ESI Lederle to keep the drug off the market in an effort to maintain a monopoly on its manufacture, which is costing consumers $100 million per year.

Electronic filing is the future. The European Patent Office’s new website offers that and much, much more. James Nurton takes a sneak preview at epoline.org

Two of Asia's biggest names in IP have joined together to form a new specialized practice in Singapore. IP law firm Ella Cheong & G Mirandah and patent and trade mark attorneys Spruson & Ferguson Pte Ltd, the Singapore branch of Australia's Spruson & Ferguson, will be launched formally on June 6. But the new firm, Ella Cheong Mirandah & Sprusons, is already open for business. The link between the two Singapore firms was announced during the AIPPI congress in Melbourne in the last week of March. It is expected that all staff from Sprusons's Singapore office and from Ella Cheong & G Mirandah will join the new set-up. Cheong is retiring as a partner of Wilkinson & Grist, the Hong Kong law firm, and will chair Ella Cheong Mirandah & Sprusons.

A recent High Court decision on copyright infringement has demonstrated the importance of distinguishing the author of a work from the rightful copyright owner of the work. As copyright is not registrable in many countries including Singapore, the locus standi to sue for copyright infringement does not stem from a simple registration certificate. It is always paramount to trace the copyright from the author of the work to the plaintiff in order to ensure that the latter has the requisite capacity to sue.

CANADA: Percy Schmeiser, a 70-year old farmer, lost a patent infringement suit against Monsanto Canada. Monsanto claimed Schmeiser infringed the GM Canola patent by growing and selling crops from seeds blown into his garden. UK: A British court ruled in favour of Amgen in its patent infringement suit against Roche Holding and Transkaryotic Therapies (TKT). Roche and TKT were held to infringe the Epogen patents in the UK. US: Fruit of the Loom is accusing competitor Gildan Activewear of stealing trade secrets. Fruit of the Loom alleges that former manager Elizabeth Walton passed critical documents to her ex-employer David Cherry. US: Jupiter Media Metrix reached a settlement in its patent infringement suit forcing PC Data out of the business of tracking internet usage. Jupiter also filed suits against two other competitors, NetValue and NetRatings, for patent infringement. Jupiter was represented by Daniel R Harris of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. US: Monsanto and Aventis Crop Science settled two lawsuits against each other and agreed to avoid patent roadblocks to the development of genetically improved cotton varieties. Part of the settlement includes cross-licensing under existing cotton transformation patents. US: Pfizer filed a trade mark suit against Lara Williams for using the name Niagara for a fizzy drink. Pfizer contends Niagara is being promoted as Viagra for women. US: Pharmacia filed a trade mark suit against Alcon Laboratories for selling a competing drug with a similar name. Pharmacia allege their drug Xalatan has been harmed by Alcon naming its glaucoma drug Travatan. US: PrimeTime 24 Joint Venture lost its Supreme Court appeal against the National Football League to transmit NFL games to customers in Canada. PrimeTime argued that federal copyright law did not apply outside the US, but the Court held the company's actions violated NFL's copyright. US: Savin Corporation won its preliminary injunction against Main Street Copier & Fax Repair, who operated websites under domain names, incorporating trade names owned by Savin. Savin was represented by David A Einhorn, Andrea Pincus and James M Andriola of Anderson Kill & Olick. US: SunTrust Bank won its suit against Alice Randall for copyright infringement, over her book The Wind Done Gone. SunTrust bank accused Randall of infringing the copyright of the classic novel Gone with the Wind. US: Twelve major Hollywood studios won their case against RecordTV.com, which must pay the studios $50,000 (£35,714) in legal costs. Robert Schwartz of O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles represented the studios.

Fittingly, I am writing this column on April 26 ? the first World Intellectual Property Day. Today, which will become an annual celebration, is the date when the Convention establishing WIPO entered into force in 1970.