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Over the last couple of years, plant breeders have become increasingly aware of patent rights on plants. Because of differences between the patent system on the one hand and the breeder's rights system on the other, a conflict has arisen between the breeders community, that, as a rule, is not often concerned with patent filing and the usually larger companies that file for patent protection regularly.

Under the Japanese Patent Act, registration is required for an exclusive licensee to be able to assert its exclusivity directly against any third party , as opposed to requesting the licensor to do so. Specifically, a licensee who enters into an exclusive licence agreement with a patentee without registering such exclusive licence with the Japan Patent Office has no right to directly demand an infringer of the licensed patent to cease its infringement even within the field in which the licensee shall have the exclusivity under the licence agreement. Rather, a licensee needs to register certain information in the patent registry maintained in the Patent Office in order to obtain such right and become a true exclusive licensee. Under the current registration system, the exclusive licensee’s name and the scope of the licence shall be registered and such information shall be made available to the public; however, this registration system has been unpopular because licensees are generally reluctant to disclose information which may be considered business secrets.

My CEO saw that Diageo has added whisky to its pension fund. He is keen to explore ways of plugging our own pension funding hole with non-traditional assets such as IP. What advice do you have?

Essenese Obhan, Aparna Kareer and Sumathi Chandrashekaran of Obhan and Associates review India’s requirements on the working of patents, in particular for imported inventions, and consider the impact on compulsory licences

Sanjay Kumar and Arpita Sawhney of Remfry & Sagar consider the conflicting issues of patent protection and freedom of transit

Nandita Saikia of Saikrishna and Associates considers the proposed copyright law reform

Proposed amendments to China's patent and trade mark laws have caused much debate over the past month. Peter Ollier analyzes what is at stake

Using country names or emblems can lend authority to a marketing strategy. Jean-Michel Jost examines what is permitted in Switzerland, the UK and EU

The European Patent Office is to clarify its rules for filing divisional applications

Some US courts have embraced the aesthetic functionality doctrine to the detriment of trade mark owners. But recent court decisions limiting the applicability of the doctrine should provide some comfort to trade mark owners. Tywanda Lord considers the latest legal developments