Region: Asia-Pacific

In <i>Kenman Kandy v Registrar of Trademarks</i>, the Full Federal Courthas allowed the registration of a shape trademark, thereby shifting the country's approach to such marks. The majority's decision may also have an impact on the registration of sound, scent and colour trademarks.

12 November 2002

The Chinese government will allow businesses outside China to register domain names in the '.cn' country-code top-level domain from December. This will give foreign companies an opportunity to tap into China's fast-growing population of internet users.

11 November 2002

UK company Celador Productions Ltd, producer of the popular television quiz show 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?', has persuaded the Delhi High Court to stay the manufacture and sale of a board game in India called 'Who Wants to be a Crorepati?' until a final decision is made regarding trademark infringement.

11 November 2002

New Zealand's newest second-level domain - '.maori.nz' - has gone live and, inevitably, has become a target for potential cybersquatters. Craig Beecroft, a former Tainui executive, has registered 'tainui.maori.nz', as well as 60 other domain names.

25 October 2002

A WIPO panel has held that under the Start-up Trademark Opposition Policy, a legitimate claim to a trademark is not always enough for a domain name to be awarded to a complainant, especially if the other party also has a reasonable claim and there is no evidence of bad faith.

15 October 2002

auDA has introduced a new dispute resolution policy that applies to country-code top-level domain names registered under and governed by its domain name regime. It has also formally endorsed a domain name sellers' Code of Practice.

14 October 2002

The Ministry of Information and Communication has established the Domain Name Dispute Resolution Committee in order to deal with the increasing number of registrations for '.kr' domains names and the accompanying rise in cybersquatting. It also plans to enact a new law to provide systematic management of domain name addresses.

07 October 2002

The Ministry of Information Technology has promulgated a set of new regulations - the Management Method of China Internet Domain Names - which will ease registration restrictions for '.cn' domain names and make the whole process faster. The new regulations will come into effect at the end of this month.

27 September 2002

Australian domain name administrator auDA is evaluating proposals for the introduction of various new second-level domains (2LDs), including geographic 2LDs, in the '.au' country-code top-level domain. The new Names Advisory Panel has released two discussion papers in relation to these proposals, requesting comments by the end of this week.

23 September 2002

One of Malaysia's leading law firms, Skrine & Co, has been awarded M$230,000 in damages. The High Court ordered the award against My Information Centre Sdn Bhd for violating Malaysia's Trademark Act by registering, but not using, 'skrine.com'.

19 September 2002