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The Community trade mark will soon mark its 12th anniversary. Since it was launched, the EU has seen many changes - and some of them pose challenges for the CTM system. James Nurton reports

Emma Barraclough, Hong Kong

In a row over the ownership of a programme format, Delhi High Court has granted protection to information revealed in a series of meetings about the programme idea. The decision is a triumph for the protection of confidential information, argues Binny Kalra

Successfully introducing foreign trade marks into Chinese culture can be a minefield. Guizeng (Wayne) Liu, of law firm CCPIT Patent and Trademark Law Office in Beijing, explains how to avoid the pitfalls

Christian Harmsen, of Wessing & Berenberg-Gossler examines what impact the Yplon case will have on trade mark protection in Germany

Companies losing millions of dollars to makers of fakes want consumers to understand that counterfeiting harms legitimate businesses, exploits workers and is often run by criminal gangs with murky links to terrorism. So why do people still buy knock-offs? Peter Ollier took the short journey from Hong Kong to Shenzhen to see how the counterfeit buyers justify their purchases

CANADA: Percy Schmeiser, a 70-year old farmer, lost a patent infringement suit against Monsanto Canada. Monsanto claimed Schmeiser infringed the GM Canola patent by growing and selling crops from seeds blown into his garden. UK: A British court ruled in favour of Amgen in its patent infringement suit against Roche Holding and Transkaryotic Therapies (TKT). Roche and TKT were held to infringe the Epogen patents in the UK. US: Fruit of the Loom is accusing competitor Gildan Activewear of stealing trade secrets. Fruit of the Loom alleges that former manager Elizabeth Walton passed critical documents to her ex-employer David Cherry. US: Jupiter Media Metrix reached a settlement in its patent infringement suit forcing PC Data out of the business of tracking internet usage. Jupiter also filed suits against two other competitors, NetValue and NetRatings, for patent infringement. Jupiter was represented by Daniel R Harris of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. US: Monsanto and Aventis Crop Science settled two lawsuits against each other and agreed to avoid patent roadblocks to the development of genetically improved cotton varieties. Part of the settlement includes cross-licensing under existing cotton transformation patents. US: Pfizer filed a trade mark suit against Lara Williams for using the name Niagara for a fizzy drink. Pfizer contends Niagara is being promoted as Viagra for women. US: Pharmacia filed a trade mark suit against Alcon Laboratories for selling a competing drug with a similar name. Pharmacia allege their drug Xalatan has been harmed by Alcon naming its glaucoma drug Travatan. US: PrimeTime 24 Joint Venture lost its Supreme Court appeal against the National Football League to transmit NFL games to customers in Canada. PrimeTime argued that federal copyright law did not apply outside the US, but the Court held the company's actions violated NFL's copyright. US: Savin Corporation won its preliminary injunction against Main Street Copier & Fax Repair, who operated websites under domain names, incorporating trade names owned by Savin. Savin was represented by David A Einhorn, Andrea Pincus and James M Andriola of Anderson Kill & Olick. US: SunTrust Bank won its suit against Alice Randall for copyright infringement, over her book The Wind Done Gone. SunTrust bank accused Randall of infringing the copyright of the classic novel Gone with the Wind. US: Twelve major Hollywood studios won their case against RecordTV.com, which must pay the studios $50,000 (£35,714) in legal costs. Robert Schwartz of O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles represented the studios.

David Highet is chief IP counsel for Becton Dickinson and a trustee of the American Intellectual Property Law Education Foundation. He spoke to MIP about patent trolls, changing approaches to patents and the need for diversity in the IP profession

IP owners risk jeopardizing their rights if they fail to protect their copyright and trade mark rights in online worlds such as Second Life

Albert Terry of Griffith Hack discusses how the Bavaria case addressed the geographical significance issue in Australia