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Ron Marchant was appointed chief executive of the UK Patent Office at the beginning of this year. James Nurton spoke to him about the role of national patent offices and patent protection in Europe

Lori Faye Fischler examines the protection available on the internet in the new EU member states, and (opposite) provides an update on internationalized domain names and the .eu domain

The US and Australia's recent free trade agreement will lead to some important changes to Australia’s copyright regime. Campbell Thompson assesses the likely impact of the agreement, and argues that it could be a sign of things to come

A new law in the Philippines is designed to tackle optical piracy. Vicente B Amador and Michael Anthony C Dizon analyze why the law is needed and what difference it will make

On May 1 the EU will open up to 10 new member states. Stéphanie Bodoni seeks answers to frequently asked questions about the impact enlargement will have on IP rights

Trade mark owners wishing to enforce their rights on the internet have suffered a setback, after the Court of Appeal in England and Wales overturned a key ruling dealing with similar names on the web.

In the third ruling on employee inventions in as many weeks, a Japanese court last month ordered a food company to pay an ex-employee a multi-million yen figure for assigning his patent rights over a type of artificial sweetener he developed.

Blaise J Arena, technology evaluation and IP consultant

Competing against established rivals such as Ducati, Honda and Kawasaki, the Foggy Petronas Racing World Superbikes team is using technology and branding to give it an edge as this year's competition gets underway

Decision 486 of the Andean Community, which contains the industrial property law applicable in the Andean Community countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) forbids the registration of trade marks that consist of a sign or indication that designates or describes the quality, quantity, destination, value or place of origin, time of production or indicates other characteristics about the products or services for which the mark will be used. Descriptive expressions lack distinctiveness so they do not have the capacity to distinguish the goods in commerce from similar goods that come from a competitor.