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IP practitioners expressed optimism about President Barack Obama's reference to patents during his State of the Union address last Tuesday

The Argentina Patent Office, INPI, enacted resolution P-339/10 on January 13, which allows patent applicants to speed up prosecution of certain patent applications by swapping the examination order. This the third time that the possibility of swapping the order, known as Fast-Track, has been available. Former opportunities were available in early 2004 and 2007. Both of them were successful for applicants that requested a swap of their applications, by obtaining earlier examination or resolution of their patent applications.

Too often owners of trade marks have not been able to properly prove use of their trade mark in the Benelux. They lose opposition procedures, and cancellation actions based on non-use against their trade marks are successful. This occurs because they rely on the fact that they have a registered trade mark, without realising that use is required to keep such rights alive.

Supergroup, the UK fashion company that owns the Superdry brand, won a judgment in the UK High Court on Friday defending design rights in its popular hooded shirts.

What appears to be the US government's submission to the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) ahead of the Brussels meeting with the Icann Board makes a strong case on IP protections.

Susan Hollander and Britt Anderson have joined K&L Gates as partners in the IP litigation practice in Palo Alto.

The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) proposes to amend the Patent Licensing Contract Recordal Administrative Measures (2001). It submitted draft changes on November 19 2010 and invited comments from the public.

For applications filed after January 1 2011, the EPO will require applicants in certain circumstances to provide it with the results of earlier searches carried out by other offices. The changes are set out in new Rules 141 and 70b of the EPC.

More and more technical information is available on the internet and it is increasingly used to challenge patentability. The probative value to be given to published literature, especially patent literature, is rather well established. Many case law and examination rules are also available regarding which standard of proof is to be used relative to public disclosure. Nevertheless, some guidelines were expected regarding information on the internet.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPOPhil) has declared January 31 to February 28 2011 to be a settlement period, during which the following cases shall undergo mediation by its newly created mediation office: (a) administrative complaints for violations of intellectual property rights, sich as infringement and unfair competition, (b) inter partes cases, such as cancellation, (c) disputes relating to terms of a licence agreement involving the author's rights to public performance or other communication of his works, (d) cases appealed to the director general, (e) and all other cases referred to mediation during the settlement period. The mediation office is accrediting practitioners as mediators to undergo further training this January, 2011.