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In the second week of inter partes review and covered business method filings, only one IPR petition, by Sony, has so far been added to the USPTO's patent review processing system

There is a strange transition occurring in the IP world right now. Lawyers can increasingly be heard at conferences and cocktail receptions talking about how important it is to pick one's battles, and warning peers not to use IP law too aggressively. Engage, explain, let it go if possible: it sounds more like the mantra of a yogi than an IP lawyer, and yet we hear it more and more each day in trade mark and copyright circles. In an age when consumers have just as much ability to generate negative press as industry critics and seasoned journalists, IP lawyers are becoming ever more aware of how closely their actions and policies are tied to PR and brand image. And so the recording industry's continued belligerence is becoming somewhat surprising, even to the IP community.

Simon Crompton explains the impact of three countries joining or clearing the last hurdles to join the international trade mark system

The Australian Full Federal Court found last month that Optus's TV Now service, which streamed over-the-air television to customers' mobiles, infringed the AFL and NRL's copyrights. But although it was a good win for IP owners, too much of the law remains unclear.

Benoît Battistelli, EPO David Rosenberg, GSK One of the highlights of the Managing IP International Patent Forum in April was the debate over the unitary patent. The transparency of the negotiating process, the advantages and disadvantages of bifurcation and the quality of the courts that would decide disputes elicited strong opinions from a panel.

An initial determination recommending a general exclusion order against counterfeit Louis Vuitton products could send trade mark owners flocking to the International Trade Commission.

Europe's highest court has ruled that the functionality of a computer program and the programming language cannot be protected by copyright.

It's the number everyone wants to know: how many new gTLDs will there be? While the figure will not be known for many months, Icann has revealed that there were 2,091 applications in the system when it was taken down on April 12, with a further 214 applications recorded.

While the legislative work on the unified EU patent system has not progressed recently, and there has been no sensational news from the EPO, there have been a few recent decisions of the boards of appeal dealing with the interpretation of claims in EPO proceedings. More specifically, the question of whether and to what extent the description may be used to interpret the claims.

French Trademark Law provides for the coexistence of a registered trade mark and an identical surname used in the course of trade. To protect against fraud, the latter can use its surname, which is an attribute of its personal rights, as a company name or trade name, excluding trade mark applications. The conditions are good faith and lack of a likelihood of confusion. The coexistence is fair if all precautions are taken against confusion and taking advantage of existing trade marks.