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

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.

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

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.

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 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.

Trade mark registrations used to be granted based on a request by the applicant to obtain protection for certain products or services that were initially classified according to a national classification. Eventually Mexico adhered to the Nice Agreement whereby the international classification system was adopted.

In Japan, the law provides several means to challenge the validity of patents, such as a trial for patent invalidation, an invalidity defence in an infringement litigation and an offer of information. The Patent Act 2014 amendment introduced a new option: the post-grant opposition system.

Final injunctions for successful parties in patent cases in Europe have generally been seen as automatic. But, as Stephen Bennett, Stanislas Roux-Vaillard and Christian Mammen explain, attitudes are evolving

The Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling of the England & Wales High Court that Topshop committed passing off by using Rihanna’s image on t-shirts