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On May 22 2015, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) rendered a decision granting orders for a surcharge to four cathode-ray tube (CRT) manufacturers in southeast Asia based on the Japanese Antimonopoly Act. The total surcharges amounted to about ¥3.2 billion ($26 million). The companies subject to the order are MT Picture Display Indonesia, MT Picture Display Malaysia, MT Picture Display Thailand, belonging to Panasonic group, and Samsung SDI Malaysia, belonging to Samsung group. The CRT manufacturers in southeast Asia and their parent companies were found to have formed a price cartel in selling CRTs to TV manufacturers in southeast Asia.

3D printing technology has been in the market for several decades and was originally invented in the 1980s. The recent development however which affects IP and other legal issues is that 3D printers are now accessible to consumers and retail for as low as $1,000, while industrial 3D printers can print highly intricate and complex objects which are fully assembled, complete with moving parts or hinges.

In order to facilitate access for small business entities and startups to the patent protection of their inventions, the French Patent Office recently presented a draft of an amendment to the French Patent Law introducing a provisional patent application (PPA) and a 10-year utility patent.

In a decision (BGH X ZB 4/14, "Verdickerpolymer II"), the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has resolved the question of third party interventions to ex parte proceedings. The BGH found that there is no legal basis for third party interventions to ex parte proceedings of the patent proprietor requesting reinstatement even when the third party is sued for infringement of the patent in suit.

Article 26.3 of the Chinese Patent Law specifies a sufficient disclosure requirement: "the description shall set forth the invention or utility model in a manner sufficiently clear and complete so as to enable a person skilled in the relevant field of technology to carry it out." However, there was a great deal of controversy in Chinese patent practices concerning whether or not the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) had correctly interpreted this provision for medical inventions, especially the so-called "compound invention", which is an invention simply directed to a compound itself, not to the potential pharmaceutical usage of the compound.

The 2013 amendments to the PRC Trade Mark Law implemented with effect from May 2014 brought increased hope for more consistent and positive results in actions against bad faith registry pirates. Unfortunately, the decisions issued over the past year by the Trade Mark Office (TMO) have so far generally failed to live up to the promises set out in the amended law.

Some events happened in the past months that furthered the developments in Europe to get the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) system started.

Cambodia has attracted a growing number of regional and international franchise businesses. Most of these franchises are in the restaurant and service sectors, and include well-known names such as Costa Coffee, Dairy Queen, Gloria Jean's Coffees, KFC, The Pizza Company, Ya Kun Coffee & Toast and Sarpinos Pizza, to name a few.

In its decision of January 27 2015 Côte d'Or vs Belgid'Or, the eighth chamber of the Brussels Court of appeal had to rule on different Kraft Foods trade marks and the possible infringement thereof by Natrajacali.

The High Court in D'Arcy v Myriad Genetics [2015] HCA 35 has unanimously found that isolated naturally-occurring nucleic acids coding for mutant or polymorphic genes does did not amount to patentable subject matter in Australia.