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Managing IP’s annual North America Awards dinner was held in Washington, DC in March, and attended by guests from all over the US and Canada

German Patent Law prohibits not only direct use of a patented invention, but also indirect use by delivery or offering for sale means relating to a substantial element of the invention, provided that the person making the delivery or offer knows, or it is obvious, that these means are both suitable and intended for use in practising the patented invention. This also applies to deliveries or offers imported to a customer in Germany.

Should we keep our work in-house, or outsource it to external providers?

The Australian courts have recently clarified what acts will constitute novelty destroying prior art. In Australia, patents are normally invalid where the idea was publicly used or known before the priority date of the application. This normally means a novelty-destroying act occurs when at least one member of the public is free to make use of the information obtained from the act.

A monthly column devoted to IP curiosities and controversies, named in honour of John of Utynam

The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) is reviving its effort to amend the patent law. A new version of the proposed amendment was released for public comments with a deadline of the end of April 2014.

In a decision of March 17 2015, the Court of Appeal in the Hague confirmed the judgment of July 31 2013 of the first instance court in invalidating the Netherlands part of European patent EP 1224954 with respect to a fire extinguishing post (bluspost in Dutch). This judgment under appeal was based on a claim filed by the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management (RWS) in the Netherlands. In the judgment, the Netherlands part of the patent was invalidated among other reasons for lack of novelty in view of a memo of the RWS as sent to one of the competitors of the patent owner Doebros.

Over the past 20 years since its enactment, the Thai Copyright Act BE 2537 (AD 1994) has remained unchanged, despite numerous attempts by legislators to modernise the law. As a result, Thailand's copyright law is out of date, and legal measures to combat piracy are inadequate.

A recent manpower survey by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) revealed that in line with its goal of becoming a Global IP Hub in Asia, Singapore's IP activities have boosted high valued-added jobs for the nation's workforce. The survey was commissioned in July 2014 and sent to 10,000 companies across 17 industry clusters that had relevance to IP, such as general manufacturing, engineering and food and beverage services. The objective of the survey was to analyse the contributions of key industries to Singapore's economy, and identify ways to develop these sectors.

China's trade mark authorities use a subclass system, often rigidly applied, in a bid to increase consistency and efficiency at the world's busiest trade mark office. Rachel Tan and Amanda Yang examine the challenges the system poses to applicants and ways to adapt