World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) on Sunday said it received last year a record number of complaints on cybersquatting - or abusive registration of trademarks on the internet. Cybersquatters register domain names for iconic or brand names such as FIFA or Lego so that internet users who do not have the exact web address of these brands are directed to pages that have nothing to do with the international football federation or the Danish toy company. In 2008, 2 329 cases more were brought to Wipo's arbitration and mediation centre, up 8% from 2007. "Cybersquatting remains a serious issue for trademark holders," said Wipo Deputy Director General Francis Gurry. Over the past decade, 14 000 cases have been brought to Wipo. Source: http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_2485954,00.html

China recorded more than 56,000 trademark infringement cases in 2008. It is an increase of 12.6 percent from the last year. One-tenth of the 56,634 cases involved foreign brands, an increase of eight percent from the last year, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said in a statement released. Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iPQSp-az-VnawvCwy7hUAbBjtRLg

http://ipindia.nic.in/tmr_new/misc_notices/publicnotice_13March2009.pdf Section 45 (1) of Indian Copyright Act mandates requirement of No objection Certificate from Trademark Registry for Registration of Copyright in Artistic works which are capable of being used as a trademark. Only Trademark Registry Mumbai use to issue such certificates. Now it has been decentralized and all Five Branches of the Indian Trademark Registries i.e., Ahmadabad, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.