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The year 2014 saw several groundbreaking cases in IP enforcement in Vietnam. As negotiations ramp up in talks for the EU-Vietnam FTA and TPP, Vietnam has sent several strong signals to investors that it is taking steps to ensure better protection of IP rights. Notable cases in the last year included:

The pan-American IP association ASIPI marked its 50th anniversary at its Congress in Mexico City from November 30 to December 3. Utynam was there to experience the occasion

Under current Ukrainian IP legislation the mechanism of compensation applies only in cases of copyright infringement. Is this remedy also appropriate for other IP rights?

Michael Nixon, Cheah Yew Kuin and Chew Kherk Ying explain the IP valuation process and how governments in Southeast Asia are looking to provide IP owners opportunities to use their intellectual property to finance growth

The implementation of the EU Designs Directive in Italy has prompted a debate about the artistic value of objects. Massimo Sterpi argues for a new interpretation

Article 123(2) EPC specifies that a "European patent application or European patent may not be amended in such a way that it contains subject-matter which extends beyond the content of the application as filed". The aim is to prevent applicants from improving their position, and to protect the legal security of third parties.

Under Greek trade mark law (Law 4072/2012, as amended by Law 4155/2013), which incorporates the provisions of Community law (Regulation 207/2009) into the domestic legal order, in the case of trade mark infringement on a commercial scale (as defined in paragraph 14 of the preamble of Directive 2004/48), where the trade mark owner demonstrates circumstances likely to endanger the recovery of damages sought in ordinary court proceedings and has provided reasonably available evidence of a present or threatened infringement of a trade mark, the court may order the precautionary seizure of the alleged infringer's assets and the blocking of his bank accounts. To this end, the infringing party is requested to communicate bank, financial or commercial documents or to provide appropriate access to the relevant information.

The European Commission has adopted a new Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (TTBER) and new Technology Transfer Guidelines for the assessment of technology transfer agreements under EU antitrust rules with effect from May 1 2014. Although the TTBER provides for rather substantial restrictions on the stipulations in technology transfer agreements compared to the former TTBER 2004, many of the modifications that were laid down in the first drafts (such as adaption of the market-share thresholds) did not subsequently enter into force. The main changes introduced by the new TTBER are discussed below.

Russian law guards the rights of performers. This general statement is echoed in the activities of a number of organisations for collective rights management. One such organisation is the All-Russian Society for Intellectual Property. Ironically, its Russian acronym is VOIS which is the same as the Russian acronym VOIS for World Intellectual Property Organization.

If on the one hand the owner of a registered trade mark has the exclusive right to use it in relation to the goods and services covered in the registration, on the other hand it is a legal requirement to actually use the trade mark in trade. Thus non-used trade marks can be subject to revocation. Over time, brands are frequently tweaked or modernised to make them more commercially attractive or up-to-date. Taking into account this commercial reality, both the European and French laws provide that use of a registered trade mark in a modified form which does not alter its distinctive character may be considered as use of this trade mark as it was registered earlier.