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Toy manufacturer Lego has said its trade mark is an “easy target” for cybersquatters and admitted that it’s helpless against infringement

Brian Pollack has joined Chadbourne & Park in New York. He was previously with Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge.

We reported previously in this column how Société des Produits Nestlé sued for a preliminary injunction prohibiting the retail discounter Denner from selling and advertising coffee capsules compatible with Nestlé's Nespresso coffee machines that were similar in appearance to the Nespresso coffee capsules. Nestlé's claims were based on a three-dimensional trade mark registration for the capsule shape, on a trade mark registration for the mark What Else? and on unfair competition law. The first instance judge granted the injunction in ex parte proceedings, but subsequently essentially revoked it in inter partes proceedings. The judge considered Denner's argumentation persuasive that the form registered in Nestlé's 3D trade mark cannot be granted trade mark protection because it is technically necessary, in particular for capsules intended to be compatible with Nespresso coffee machines. Nestlé on the other hand argued that the conical shape of its coffee capsule registration is not technically necessary for compatibility with Nespresso coffee machines or other machines, and that a number of alternative, different Nespresso-compatible capsule shapes exist, so that its trade mark registration was valid.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released a report censuring the impact of so-called authorised generic drugs on US consumers.

China-based Netac Technology Co has been actively enforcing its patent rights in China in recent years, pursuing lawsuits against competitors ranging from local manufacturers to international corporations such as Sony. According to Netac, such cases were either won outright or out-of-court settlements were reached, often resulting in Netac becoming the defendants' product supplier. Furthermore, companies such as Toshiba, Kingston, PNY and Phison, to name a few, agreed to sign licence agreements, entitling Netac Technology to royalties.

The Department of Intellectual Property of Thailand opened its doors to PCT applications on December 24 2009. Since then, any PCT application filed on or after 24 December 2009 has automatically included the designation of Thailand.

The full consequences of granting patents for so-called obvious inventions under the Australian innovation patents system are now being felt. Patent applicants have found that they can place significant hurdles in front of defendants in patent litigation trials. The result is that the scales are now firmly tipped to the advantage of patentees during litigation.

Previous articles described how The Wayback Machine (TWM, www.archive.org) may be used to establish a date of public availability for a particular internet page, which may be useful in legal proceedings. These articles also discussed a pitfall when dating information from a page which uses frames. This article discusses another pitfall, which relates to the use of objects in a page.

French IP firm Lavoix has opened an office in Rennes.

The UK IP Office has reached a deal with the Nigerian Copyright Commission that will see the two offices cooperate by sharing information and training