Expert Analysis

Europe's national IP offices. Old, tired and desperate for cash, struggling to find a future in a globalized world used to the efficiencies of one-stop shops? Or streamlined, nimble, consumer-focused operations, providing locally relevant advice at the IP coalface, rather than in far away Munich and Alicante? Emma Barraclough looks at the evidence

MIP speaks to Charles Glasser, media counsel for Bloomberg News and editor of the International Libel & Privacy Handbook, about IP, the internet and cultural sensitivity

The EU Enforcement Directive has raised issues over IP enforcement across Europe, leading to delays in implementation in some member states. Gareth Morgan, Valerie Budd and Dietrich Kamlah compare the challenges the Directive poses in the UK, France and Germany

Asia's mix of mature markets and rapidly industrializing economies gives parallel traders plenty of scope to exploit price differentials across the region. Emma Barraclough introduces a survey of six Asian jurisdictions which considers what local rules on parallel trade mean for rights owners and importers

In the past few years, the abundance of technical information on the internet has allowed patent attorneys to become versed in technical fields that previously would have been inaccessible. Gwilym Roberts argues that this enables advisers to be more mobile in handling new areas and is also good news for innovators

The UK's Patent Office is set to abandon examination on relative grounds. John Olsen and Marius Haman argue that this will have significant consequences for trade mark owners and applicants in the UK, Europe and beyond