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The Korean Patent Act Article 42 (3) provides that the detailed description of an invention shall state the purpose, construction, and "effect" of the invention in such a manner that it may easily be carried out by a person skilled in the art. Thus, the description of the "effect" of the invention in the specification is mandatory under the Korean Patent Law.

The English Court of Appeal (CoA) has handed down what could, in time, be seen as a watershed decision on the registrability as trade marks of words and phrases that have descriptive connotations, messages and/or meanings.

Members of the European Parliament have voted in favour of a human cloning ban across the EU - but with reservations.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is set to reopen its patent challenge and antitrust complaint against pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline after a US court threw out an earlier attempt.

The burden of proof no longer falls squarely on the shoulders of importers and retailers in parallel import disputes, Europe's highest court has declared.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued its State Street Bank decision in July 1998. Following this decision, a large number of computer-related andbusiness model patent applications were filed and granted inthe US. In contrast to that, it is an implicit requirement of the EPC that any invention must have a technical character. Thus, a scheme for, for example, organizing a commercial operation, being of a pure commercial nature, even if run on a computer, would lack technical character and would therefore be excluded from patentability. In the case of a PCT application based on a US patent application which relates to a computer-related or business model invention, this difference between the EPC and US patent law is a problem when entering into the European phase. Regarding search, the EPO examiner has the discretion to do a complete search, a partial search or even no search at all, depending on the extent to which the claims refer to technical subject-matter. In the last two cases, the EPO transmits a declaration under Rule 45 EPC (EPO Form 1507) stating that it was not possible to carry out a meaningful search into the state of the art. The following alternative steps are possible in such a situation:

The State Council announced on December 28 2002 the amendments to the Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law which became effective on February 1 2003. The new amendments effectively extend the time limit within which PCT applications under Chapter I can enter the national phase in China to 30 months (from the priority date) from 20 months previously. In accordance with the amendments, the subject extension shall only apply to a PCT application designating China where its 20-month time limit has not expired as of February 1 2003.

Ralph Cunningham, Hong Kong

Every company has external counsel, but in-house lawyers all have different ways of working with their private practice counterparts. Sam Mamudi talks to four trade mark chiefs to learn how they do it

Cathy Garner spearheads the newly-established Centre for the Management of IP in Health R&D (MIHR), an international non-governmental organization based in London but with plans for offices in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. As MIHR's inaugural CEO, Garner will oversee its mission to improve public health in developing countries through effective IP management. She tells Ingrid Hering about MIHR’s objectives