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The success of several blue-chip companies in licensing their IP portfolios has made executives alert to the benefits of IP commercialization. But, say Don Davis and David Crawford, there are steps you need to take before you can be thinking of matching these corporate leaders

IP management software systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Web-enabled technology means that systems can be easily deployed across a business and more specifically, because the software is more flexible, the IP department is able to utilize it for more complex business strategy and financial accounting purposes. These developments are invaluable when many IP departments are experiencing increased pressure to accurately track costs, manage and reduce their costs and generate accurate budgets and forecasts.

Once considered an easy target for western companies seeking to assert their patents, Asian companies from Japan to Taiwan are taking the initiative and negotiating some interesting licensing deals of their own. Emma Barraclough examines the trends

This month, MIP publishes the second and final part of the annual IP survey, ranking the leading firms in trade mark/copyright work worldwide. The tables on the following pages have been compiled following five months of research among IP practitioners. Here's how they were compiled

Music rights owners will be pleased to read that the Irish courts have once again struck a blow to those involved in the illegal uploading of music. In January, Mr Justice Kelly of the Commercial Court, Ireland's new Court that has specialist expertise in IP matters, ordered that the national telecommunications provider and two other internet service providers give details of 49 of their internet subscribers to four record companies for the purposes of bringing copyright infringement proceedings.

Although Europe has a centralized system for filing and granting patents, "European patents" don't exist. Once a European patent application is granted, it falls apart in a bundle of national patents. This makes it difficult for patent holders to enforce their patent rights against an (assumed) infringer active in different countries, as court proceedings should be started in all relevant countries.

The Federal Court in Wm Wrigley Jr Company v Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd ([2005] FCA 1035) produced a sobering reminder of the need to review and amend Australian patent applications based on corresponding foreign applications.

Judging what intellectual property a firm should protect, when and to what extent, are all critical questions for any technology-based venture - as the current Blackberry case demonstrates all too well. Stephen Bates reports

As part of its bid to enter the WTO, Vietnam has consolidated its confusing maze of IP rules and regulations into a streamlined law that comes into force in the middle of the year. Chris Vale examines what the changes mean for IP owners

A monthly column devoted to IP curiosities and controversies, named in honour of John of Utynam - who received the world's first recorded patent in 1449