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The last 12 months have seen several important IP initiatives in Thailand. Moreover, the country is readying itself for long-awaited accession to the Paris Convention, the Patent Cooperation Treaty and even the Madrid Protocol. Vipa Chuenjaipanich and Edward J Kelly consider the changes already in place and those on the drawing board

Wolfgang Festl-Wietek and Alexander R Schlee, of Viering Jentschura & Partner in Munich and Los Angeles, examine how trade dress can be useful when patents, designs and trade marks fail

The new Intellectual Property Act in Sri Lanka has given IP owners more protection than before. Sudath Perera and Himani Perera explain how they can use the legislation to their advantage

In the light of recent IP initiatives in Japan, Ruth Taplin examines how changing attitudes among inventors and businesses are leading to new approaches to patent valuation

Patent offices around the world have long grappled with the question of what intellectual property rights to grant over computer software. Lin Deng examines China's approach and looks at how developments in China could offer computer engineers new opportunities to safeguard their software inventions

Emma Barraclough, Hong Kong

Foreign companies know that copyright infringement in China is rife. But as Shen Rengan, deputy commissioner of the National Copyright Administration of China, explains, the country's copyright law offers them a number of avenues for enforcing their rights. Interview by Catherine Sun

Cooperative agreements with the US government bring many benefits to their recipients, but can also lead to a loss of crucial IP rights. Jay P Urwitz and Davina L Small explain how to negotiate the best deal with federal agencies

On June 8, the ECJ Advocate General delivered four opinions on the first cases on database rights to come before the Court. Katharine Stephens analyzes the issues at stake

Australia: The country's leading IP think tank recommended the government overhaul its rules on enforcing trade mark law. The Advisory Council on Intellectual Property called on the government to reintroduce mandatory disclaimers for non-distinctive elements of trade marks and to review its system of trade mark opposition. China: Italy signed its first IP cooperation agreement with China, setting up a framework for educational and technical exchanges in an effort to tackle counterfeiting. Japan: The EU and Japan agreed to closer cooperation to tackle IP infringement in Asia. Officials from both sides pledged to exchange technical information, coordinate education programmes across the region, and raise the issue of IP law enforcement in bilateral talks with other countries. Japan: Japan's Parliament voted in favour of a new law, to come into force in April 2005, which will see the establishment of specialist IP courts. Politicians also agreed to reduce the powers of judges to intervene in employee invention litigation in cases where a company and its employee previously agreed the rules on compensation for patent assignments. Singapore: Parliament passed legislation to overhaul Singapore's IP regime as part of the commitments it made in its free trade agreement with the US. The amended laws, which cover patents, copyright, plant varieties, trade marks and optical disc manufacturing, come into force this year. Vietnam: The Ministry of Health urged pharmaceutical importers to buy generic versions of drugs to cut the country's health care costs after issuing a decision allowing parallel imports of generic drugs.