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Traditionally, where no design or patent rights exist, Australia has allowed rival traders to copy the look and feel of a product without concern as to the originator's rights. However, recently in Peter Bodum A/S & Ors v DKSH Australia Pty Ltd (2011), the Full Federal Court enforced some residual reputational rights to the well-known Bodum Chambord coffee plunger.

An affirmative vote by Ashurst and Blake Dawson on September 23 has paved the way for a merger between the two firms.

In a recent decision the Austrian Supreme Court changed its case law with respect to merchandising articles. In the case the defendant sold souvenir plates showing one of the famous Lipizzaner white horses of the Spanish horse riding school in Vienna. Below the picture of the horse the text Spanische Reitschule (Spanish Riding School) appeared. However, Spanische Reitschule was registered as a trade mark for the operating company of the riding school. Accordingly, the trade mark owner filed an infringement action.

A relatively easy and relevant way to enforce evidence of infringement in France and in Belgium is to implement infringement seizures.

Google was recently condemned in a case in Belgium that could have implications in Europe for news indexes provided by search engines.

The PRC Trade Marks Law prohibits registration of a trade mark that incorporates geographical indication when the commodities concerned do not originate from that geographical region, such that the trade mark would mislead the public. Geographical indications refer to an indication of the geographical origin of the commodities, whose given quality, reputation and other characteristics are determined by the natural factors or human factors of that region.

European case law on how to disclaim subject-matter which was not disclosed in the application was addressed in detail in decisions G1/03 and G2/03. The guidance set out in these cases has been applied in a number of subsequent EPO decisions.

According to the German Patent Act, an applicant or his successor in title may file within 12 months from the filing date of an earlier patent or utility model application a later patent application in Germany, claiming the priority of the first. Under German legal practice, it has been clear for a long time that where the first application is a foreign application, the priority right could be assigned to the applicant of the later German patent application independently of the first foreign application, so without assigning the first. It was unclear whether this is also the case with a national first filing. There was commentary literature that in such cases the applicant (or legal successor) of first and later filing needs to be identical to validly claim a priority. In a recently decided case, the German Federal Patent Court made it clear that the national priority right is also an independent and freely assignable right, which can be validly transferred to a legal successor without assigning the first national application.

Trade mark protection that had been regulated by Trademark Law number 15, 2001 is considered to no longer be in line with the global business world. Therefore, the Indonesian government sees the need for revisions to the law. The draft amendment to the trade mark law aims to conform with the provisions of international treaties that have been or may be ratified by Indonesia.

In two recent judgments, the Honourable Delhi High Court granted ex parte injunction orders against innumerable and unnamed defendants to prevent communication of certain cinematograph films to the public, the copyright over which was owned by the plaintiff. The production house in question was Reliance Entertainment and the orders of the Court are dated July 20 2011 (for the film Singham) and August 26 2011 (for the film Bodyguard).