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Section 10 of the Lanham Act contains an anti-trafficking rule which prohibits the assignment of an intent-to-use-based trade mark application except where such assignment is to a successor to the business of the applicant or portion thereof to which the mark pertains. This provision played a key role in a decision recently rendered by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Emerald Cities Collaborative, Inc v Sheri Jean Roese. This ruling serves as an important reminder about the laws prohibiting the assignment of intent-to-use based trade mark applications, the risks in pursuing enforcement efforts when a mark might not have been properly assigned and the importance of asserting common law rights in a notice of opposition.

Even James Bond can boast about having ridden on one. Hispano – Suiza was one of the world references of luxury and competition cars at the beginning of the 20th century and was affected by the Spanish Civil War – not being able to relaunch in the market despite its fame.

Debiopharm International SA, the appellant, owns a patent for an invention titled "pharmaceutically stable oxaliplatinum preparation". Debiopharm was granted registrations of patent term extension (PTE) for the patent based on approvals provided in the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law for "ELPLAT I.V. Infusion Solution" which is oxaliplatin (equal to oxaliplatinum) preparations. Towa Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd, the appellee, manufactured and sold generic drugs of ELPLAT. Debiopharm sought an injunction on manufacturing, etc of Towa's products alleging that the effect of the extended patent right covers the manufacturing and selling of those products.

How could blockchain help fashion and other IP-intensive industries? Ruth Burstall and Birgit Clark investigate its potential use in registration, tracking, enforcement and payment

As Turkey is a member of EPC, any provision of the EPC has the power of national law and can be directly applicable for European patents validated in Turkey. However as is well known, the EPC does not have many provisions binding the national courts. One of them is Article 138/3 which gives the European patent owner the right to limit the patent in the event of an invalidation action and orders the national court to take the limited version of the patent as the basis of invalidation proceedings.

Restoration of the omission to pay an annuity fee for the Dutch part of a European patent is only allowable under Article 23 of the Dutch Patent Act if the patent proprietor (and his representative) exercised all due care. This was recently decided in a case between Flawa and the Dutch Patent Office (DPO) before the court in The Hague.

The patentability of biotechnological inventions in Europe is governed by the EU Directive on the protection of biotechnological inventions (98/44/EG, the Biotech Directive). The Directive is implemented in the national patent laws, but has also been used to amend the European Patent Convention.

This month we look at benefits and drawbacks of using the Madrid system to extend international trade mark registrations (IRs) to, as compared with filing national applications in, China. This article is not exhaustive and only covers some of the more important issues raised by this topic.

In Thailand, the leading ground for trade mark rejections is the finding of descriptiveness. Much to the dismay of applicants, descriptiveness rejections at times differ from findings in other trade mark offices. For example, some examiners reject applications when they are descriptive of anything, as opposed to using the more internationally accepted criteria where marks should only be rejected on descriptiveness grounds if they merely describe a characteristic of the goods or services specified in the application.

In the past, although the IP Office recognised the fame enjoyed by popular movies, such recognition did not render these titles to be famous marks by default. Nowadays, considering that the production companies of well-received movies or TV shows are apt to release many tie-in products and that a box office hit often promises high public awareness, the IP Office has made it clear in Article 4.7 of the Examination Guidelines on Distinctiveness of Trade Marks that "[t]he titles of works, including books, films, and dramas, shall be deemed to have acquired their distinctiveness if, after extensive exposure, they have implanted a vivid impression in the minds of consumers". On this score, the copyright owners or parties with the copyright owner's consent are entitled to register such titles as trade marks.