Region: Asia-Pacific

Malaysia's new Geographical Indications Act provides additional remedies against unlawful users of geographical indications on the Web, including injunctive relief and damages. This is regardless of whether the geographical indication is registered in Malaysia.

13 March 2002

Trademark applications may now be filed electronically with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. Although not mandatory, the new system encourages e-filing by setting a premium on fees for applications filed by post.

25 February 2002

Due to an influx of domain name registrants in Malaysia, the Malaysian Network Information Centre has launched its Reseller Programme, designed to speed up the registration process. Currently, nine resellers have been appointed.

19 February 2002

To cope with some of the problems associated with the rapid development of information technology, the Korean government has enacted a broad piece of legislation to regulate domain names, protect privacy, discourage cybercrime and control spam.

14 February 2002

A Chinese court has ruled that the China Internet Network Information Centre, the administrator for the country-code top-level domain, may not reserve Chinese domain names for companies that are well known. Rather, it must treat all applicants equally.

01 February 2002

Eastman Kodak and Kodak Korea have won a ruling from the Seoul District Court that the defendant's promotion and sale of photography-related products and services on the website 'kodak.co.kr' infringed the trademark rights of the plaintiffs and constituted an act of unfair competition.

28 January 2002

auDA, Australia's '.au' administrator, has put over 3,000 generic domains up for auction. The domains, which include 'shopping.com.au' and 'sport.com.au', were previously unavailable for registration to businesses.

21 January 2002

A federal court has held that the use online of trade names incorporating the word 'Virgin' constitutes a misuse of Virgin Enterprises' trademarks because that word, when used in relation to a business, has come to signify in Australia that the business is conducted by a Virgin Enterprises company.

17 January 2002

A Beijing court has ruled in favour of 11 multinational companies, including KFC, Boss, UPS, Loreal, Dow and Subway, against two Chinese cybersquatters. The court ordered the de-registration of the domain names, a public apology and punitive damages.

07 December 2001

New Zealand's domain name registry Domainz has suspended Strongnet, an internet service provider, after it launched a spam campaign designed to poach customers from rival Asia Online. The suspension remains in place while Domainz considers whether Strongnet broke any registry rules.

06 December 2001