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Three years after entry into force of the strongly criticised rules for filing divisional applications, which set a two-year time limit from the examining division's first communication or from an objection for lack of unity, the EPO has now decided to abolish the system and revert to the old regime. More specifically, the Administrative Council of the EPO has amended rule 36 EPC to allow the filing of divisional applications as long as the earlier (parent) application is pending. In this regard, it has also been decided to establish an additional fee in relation to the filing of second or subsequent generations of divisionals by amendment of rule 38 EPC. The amount payable in this respect is still to be determined.

A recent decision (T-437/11 of September 16) by the General Court allowed Golden Balls to use his registration "Golden Balls", despite a long legal battle with Intra-Press, the owners of the "Ballon d'Or" trade mark.

The Calcutta High Court settled a long-standing dispute between Hindustan Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser on comparative advertisements for their products on September 23. The pertinent issue was whether the advertisements made by both parties fell foul of sections 29 and 30 of the Trademarks Act, 1999.

In accordance with Indonesian Patent Law 14 of 2001, Article 54, the Directorate General must approve or refuse an application for a patent, at the latest 36 months from the date of receipt of the request for substantive examination and at the latest 24 months from the filing date for a simple patent.

For an invention to be patentable, the invention must be novel and inventive. However, some countries provide grace periods so that disclosure of the invention within a specified period of time prior to the date of filing, subject to certain terms and conditions, is not regarded as destroying the novelty of the invention. In Malaysia, the grace period provisions can be found in section 14(3) of its Patents Act 1983.

Dilution of a well-known trade mark includes weakening, diluting and derogating the distinctiveness of the mark. In practice, it appears that using the same or very a similar well-known mark of another party in respect of non-identical or dissimilar goods, which weaken and dilute its distinctiveness, affects the discernment of the well-known trade mark and its affinity to consumers.

Lorenzo Attolico has joined Italian firm NCTM Studio Legale Associato as a partner.

Teresa Espinosa Vega and Rosa Maria Franco of Basham Ringe y Correa examine the technology of cloud computing and what it means for the security of the data being stored

Simon Crompton examines the WIPO data for IP applications and grants in Mexico, and finds trade marks and designs the fastest growing areas.

Octavio Espejo of Becerril Coca & Becerril examines the main convergences between Mexican and US practices after changes brought about by the America Invents Act