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The French government recently announced that together with the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) it will create a new sovereign patent fund (SPF) called Fonds Souverain de la Propriété Intellectuelle (FSPI).

The Indonesian government has recognised several places as "areas having an intellectual property culture" in order to promote public participation to respect IP rights.

The use of a trade mark is of central importance in trade mark law. The first use of a trade mark may confer first ownership. Establishing the use of a trade mark is also important to mitigate the risk of expungement proceedings due to non-use and forms one of the key conditions to be satisfied in a trade mark infringement action.

Last year, in a major policy announcement, the government of India announced the creation of a think-tank headed by retired Justice Prabha Sridevan. The think-tank has a mandate to draft the first ever national IP policy for the government. The first draft of the new IP policy proposed by the think-tank was published on December 19 2014 and the think-tank has invited comments from stakeholders before the end of January.

Preventing former employees from divulging trade secrets to competitors has been a common concern for Taiwan's technology companies in recent years. In addition to using a contractual mechanism to impose non-competition and confidentiality obligations on employees within a certain period after termination of employment, technology companies generally need the support of regulation sanction and an efficient judicial system to protect their trade secrets.

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

The Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy (UDRP) provides a very useful tool in trade mark enforcement, as it allows a brand owner to seek to compel the transfer of a domain name which was registered by a third party and is identical or confusingly similar to a trade mark in which the owner has rights. To compel the transfer of a domain name, a brand owner must satisfy a three-prong test. The World Intellectual Property Organization recently issued a decision in a UDRP proceeding in which the Administrative Panel provided a unique interpretation of the third prong of the test.

In commercial lawsuits in general, and IP lawsuits in particular, the ability of rights holders to access one or more forms of injunctive relief is of utmost importance. The availability and effectiveness of preliminary injunctions can show to some extent the maturity and effectiveness of the enforcement system. For such reasons, a correct understanding of the applicability of preliminary injunctions in Vietnam is of practical use.

In Co-Operative Bank Limited v Anderson [2014] NZHC 2686, the Co-operative Bank Limited (TCB) unsuccessfully sought an interim injunction to prevent a credit union (NZACU) from using certain names that included the words 'co-op'.

In past contributions, we have reported on the controversy over patent rights and plant breeding rights in The Netherlands. There has been increasing discussion about patents on plant breeding traits in recent years. Proponents of such patents claim that they foster innovation, knowledge-sharing and continued investments in research and development. Opponents argue that such patents are unnecessary because of the IP protection offered by plant breeders' rights, and that patents impede the work of breeders because they can no longer gain access to biological materials, or can do so only after a delay or at a high cost.