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In China, people call them "unauthorised business enterprise name registrations". In Hong Kong, they are referred to as shadow companies. After concerted efforts by individual trade mark owners as well as trade associations, IP lawyers in both jurisdictions have taken swift and successful action against unscrupulous businesses using the well-known trade marks of others when registering their businesses, often for the purpose of conducting trade in illegitimate goods and services. In February 2010, the Hong Kong Government was set to begin debating a bill to amend the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance in order to empower the Companies Registry to strike off these shadow companies. If passed, this legislation should prove advantageous for legitimate business owners seeking to protect their trade names and trade marks from unscrupulous use.

Sound recordings that are composed of a series of sounds fixed in any medium of expression by any mechanical device or equipment are protected under the Copyright Act in Taiwan.

In 2007 a draft patent law was issued that would bring Syria into line with international standards. The law was signed by the Minister of Economy and Trade and was put before the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration. A copy of the draft (in Arabic) can be obtained from the Syrian Patent Office (www.spo.gov.sy).

When MediaCorp TV Singapore discovered that a local company called RecordTV designed, operated and owned a website (www.recordtv.com), which allowed members of the public to request free-to-air broadcasts and films owned by MediaCorp to be recorded for viewing, it immediately sent cease-and-desist letters to RecordTV.

When asked about Cardiff, only Russian people who have studied English may recall that it is the name of a city somewhere in the United Kingdom or England (for many Russians England means all of the UK). For still many others Cardiff is vaguely reminiscent of a football or rugby team.

A registered trade mark must be put to genuine use by the owner (the right holder). Even at the stage of applying for trade mark registration, the intention to use is required. Otherwise, filing an application may be regarded as acting in bad faith. The use of the mark is also necessary to benefit from the protection right.

The year 2009 was not a good year for French cosmetic company L'Oréal having received three dismissals of its actions against Ever Bilena Cosmetics, a Philippine company. On December 22 2009, the director general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPPhil) denied the appeal of L'Oréal and affirmed the March 9 2009 decision of the director of the Bureau of Legal Affairs, dismissing L'Oréal's unfair competition complaint against Ever Bilena Cosmetics and DSS Trading.

Mexico has been facing a significant problem regarding the sale and distribution of counterfeit products for many years. The Mexican government, with the collaboration of IP rights owners, has taken various enforcement actions against counterfeiters. The most noteworthy of these have been the actions taken at the border to challenge the importation of counterfeits into the Mexican Territory.

On January 8 2010 a remarkable ex-parte injunction order in a patent case was issued in summary proceedings at the Court of The Hague.

A recent Israel Patent Office Circular (M N 77) details new requirements designed to increase productivity, minimise duplication of resources and shorten exam ination.