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The State Administration for Industry and Commerce recently announced that the examination period for trade mark applications has been further shortened to 10 months, comparable to the time taken by the US and Japanese offices. The examination period for opposition and dispute cancellation applications has also been shortened, to 18 months.

There is a peculiarity in the Greek Trade Marks Act regarding the protection of a registered trade mark. Under the provisions of Article 32 of the Act, the civil courts do not have the power to examine, even as an incidental matter, whether the conditions exist for a trade mark to be cancelled, even when it comes to their attention that there are grounds for non-approval or cancellation.

On February 1 2012, the Intellectual Property Office (IPPHL) uploaded the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for Patents, Utility Models and Industrial Designs, the object of which is to streamline administrative procedures in granting patents and enhance the enforcement of IP rights in the Philippines. One lesser known procedure in opposing patents before grant is the acceptance of observations or adverse information from any person. While this procedure was present in the old IRR, the new IRR gives it more emphasis.

In an exhaustive landmark ruling on February 17 2012, the Delhi High Court in Samsung Electronics v Kapil Wadhwa & Ors, held that the rule of national exhaustion applies under the Trademarks Act 1999 and granted an interim injunction against parallel imports.

Yesterday was the deadline for anyone wishing to register a new gTLD to register as an applicant.

On February 23 the Foundation for National Scientific Computing (FCCN), the body responsible for the management, registration and maintenance of .pt domains, announced the liberalisation of .pt domain names from May 1 2012.

US Senator Patrick Leahy and Congressman Lamar Smith this week received outstanding achievement awards for their part in passing the America Invents Act

The Trademarks Contestations Committee of the Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (SOIT) has rejected the challenge filed by the applicant for the national trade mark Bourbon Cocktails & Coffee in class 43, "services for providing food and drink", maintaining the decision of the oppositions division and rejecting the registration, based on the initial opposition filed by Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (Discus), a non-profit organisation from the United States that represents the interests of producers and traders of spirit drinks, including Bourbon whiskey.

Perhaps it is a hangover of years past, but many people still think that a product in a foreign package looks more attractive and is of a better quality than that contained in a domestic one. This is why some applicants file for trade marks in Latin characters. The Russian Patent Office frowns at such attempts, justly believing that consumers will be confused by the Latin registrations and think that the good has been manufactured outside Russia.

The South African Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that retailer Woolworths must stop using the phrase Good Old Fashioned as it imitates a beverage manufacturer's Good Old Fashioned Soft Drinks advertising slogan.