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From the standpoint of patent laws, every patent application is allowed to cover one invention only or a group of inventions linked by a unifying underlying concept. For instance, a product and a process especially adapted for the manufacture of that product or a process and means for carrying out the process are widely accepted as constituting unity.

On September 12 2012 Philippine president Benigno S Aquino signed into law the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (Republic Act 10175) which took effect on October 3 2012. The crimes covered by this Act are: (a) offences against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems, which include cybersquatting, (b) computer-related offences such as computer-related forgery, fraud and identity theft, (c) content-related offences such as cybersex, child pornography, unsolicited commercial communications and libel, and (c) other offences such as aiding and abetting in the commission of the cybercrime, and attempt in the commission of the cybercrime.

The application of TRIPs and its effect on the protection of product claims in pharmaceutical patents filed before October 1992 has always been a hot topic of IP litigation in Greece.

On September 10 2012, a division bench of the Madras High Court, hearing an appeal filed by Consim Info Limited, denied an interim injunction in a trade mark infringement suit against Google and several marriage portals. The suit related to a series of trade marks, such as Tamil Matrimony. While Google was sued for contributory infringement by way of its AdWords programme, the other defendants were competitors who used Consim's registered trade marks as keywords. In response to an inquiry containing Consim's trade marks, Google displayed sponsored links to the competitors' marriage portals.

Mexican Industrial Property Law provides for protection of a model in any three-dimensional shape that may serve as a pattern for the manufacture of an industrial product. The model can be embodied by an entire product or only a part.

In October the US Federal Circuit ordered a rehearing en banc of CLS Bank v Alice in the latest attempt to provide much-needed clarification on what constitutes patent-eligible subject matter in the United States.

Sheila Alves The UK has appointed three IP attachés in the past year, but the EPO has opted not to replace its man in China. So what is the point of attachés and how are companies using them?

At the AIPPI Congress in Seoul last month, it was interesting to see how little public opposition there was to the proposals of Robin Rolfe and her team to reform the association. The 200-strong ExCo sat there in rows, each national group indicated by its UN-type flag on the table, as sentences flashed up on the screen calling its association "cumbersome", "overcomplicated" and "outdated".

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar An Indian panel of ministers has proposed that that its government put all 348 drugs on the country's National List of Essential Medicines under price control, including a number of patented drugs. The structure of the scheme provides incentives to target patented drugs on the list.

CIPA chief executive Lee Davies (right) with CIPA president Tim Roberts The UK Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) is to replace retiring chief executive Mick Ralph with Lee Davies from the Institute for Learning.