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According to the Mexican Industrial Property Law, legally organised associations or companies of producers, manufacturers, merchants or renderers of services may apply for the registration of a collective trade mark to distinguish the products or services of their members with respect to those of others from third parties. The law also states that collective trade marks shall be governed in the absence of special provisions, by those set forth in this Law for individual trade marks.

A recent IP perception survey commissioned by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) reveals that 4 out of 5 Singaporeans agree that it is important to protect intellectual property rights and the works of IP creators. They are aware that IP right infringement could give rise to legal penalties, and more than half of the respondents cited moral reasons as a key deterrent for not engaging in infringing activities. The household survey was conducted with the objective of measuring Singaporeans' awareness, attitudes and behavioural dispositions towards IP and issues relating to IP rights. These results were announced at a 2015 World IP Day Appreciation Event held in Singapore on April 23 2015.

The Madrid System for the international registration of marks, governed by the Madrid Protocol, is gaining popularity across Southeast Asia. Several countries in the region are preparing to implement Madrid as part of their commitments toward regional integration via the ASEAN Economic Community, which will be created at the end of 2015.

On January 30 2015, the Ministry of Finance introduced Circular 13/2015/ TT-BTC guiding the implementation of regulations in the new Law on Customs on Customs enforcement against IP infringement. Circular 13 took effect on March 15 2015, and, in line with the new law, brought about changes to the border control measures that had been in place in Vietnam for the past decade. Two months into the new regime, it appears that these changes, though seemingly not substantial, have increased the transparency as well as the effectiveness of Customs enforcement.

Using the patenting of an innovation as a commercial argument is as old as patenting itself which dates from the early 19th century.

The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand has issued the first New Zealand decision on wrong way round confusion (TomTom International BV v TomTom Communications Limited [2015] NZIPOTM 2). If it stands, this decision is a cautionary tale for smaller businesses that may not be able to prevent another business with a large reputation entering the market with an identical mark, even where there is evidence of consumer confusion.

The Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights (DGIPR) has developed an e-filing system for copyright registration since mid-2014. According to the Indonesian Copyright Law No 28 of 2014, copyrights can be registered although the right itself exists only once the creation has been created. The registration of a copyright is only a supporting tool for the copyright owner to get their copyright recorded at the database of the DGIPR.

On March 25 2015, in Taiwan Kolin Corporation Ltd v Kolin Electronics Co, Inc (GR No 209843), the Philippine Supreme Court held that "whether or not the products covered by trade mark sought to be registered by Taiwan Kolin on the one hand and those covered by the prior issued certificate of registration in favour of Kolin Electronics, on the other, fall under the same categories in the Nice Classification (NCL) is not the sole and decisive factor in determining a possible violation of Kolin Electronics' intellectual property right....emphasis should be on the similarity of the products and not on the arbitrary classification or general description of their properties or characteristics"." The contending marks are shown below.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal recently rendered a final decision in favour of Swarovski Aktiengesellschaft in a lawsuit against Bogdan Radulescu, the sole shareholder of the Romanian company B&B Marketing Online. The company traded jewellery, watches and pens under the Swarovski trade marks through the site www.crystalglamour.ro.

The Patent Office examined the appeal on the official action of the examiner who refused registration of a trade mark in application number 2012728603 with priority of August 17 2012 with regard to goods in class 9 and services in class 35.