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Spain is Europe’s leading importer and cultivator of genetically modified corn. Yolanda Echeverría of Clarke Modet & Co in Madrid examines EU directives controlling this industry and explores the economic and health benefits of transgenic products

Johannes Lang, Jörk Zwicker and Reinhardt Schuster of Bardehle Pagenberg Dost Altenburg Geissler Isenbruck in Munich analyze recent patent developments in the German courts

The Brussels Court of Appeal recently delivered the first judgment in a Belgian torpedo case. Remco EP de Ranitz of Arnold & Siedsma in The Hague examines the implications of the decision for patent owners and the future of the Belgian torpedo strategy

Business methods. What is or isn’t patentable? As countries turn to the EPO for direction Tom Ekeberg of Onsagers in Oslo decribes the efforts underway to make the distinction clear

Over half of UK companies have no system in place to protect intellectual property, according to a survey conducted by UK firm Marks & Clerk. The survey canvassed 203 companies in four sectors ? pharmaceutical, technology, engineering and financial. The survey revealed that 77% of companies believe they should protect their IP, but only 49% have a system in place to identify when they need to seek patent protection, and only 30% carry out regular IP audits.

Hong Kong's high profile anti-piracy legislation is to be partly suspended less than a month after it came into effect. The Hong Kong administration is to enact the Copyright (Suspension of Amendments) Ordinance, which will put parts of its anti-piracy legislation on hold after protests from the public and industry. The administration's much-lauded Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance to combat copyright infringement came into effect on April 1. The highly-publicized legislation aimed to make criminally liable anyone who possessed pirated copies of copyrighted works in the course of, or in connection with, any trade or business.

Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline's proposed scheme to restrict exports of cheap medicines from Spain to other parts of Europe is illegal under EU competition rules, according to the European Commission. On May 8, Mario Monti, the EU competition commissioner, ended three years of deliberation by banning the dual-pricing scheme claiming it interfered with the Community's objective of integrating national markets and restricting price competition.

James G Conley and John J Szobocsan ask how IP owners can achieve sustainable competitive advantage through protected differentiation. Or, in other words, why am I in this long line to buy a Snow White video – a film first released in 1937?

Monster.com, Unilever and Lucent have all recently suffered from the alleged theft of trade secrets. With more online companies and a greater dependence on electronic methods of storage and transfer of information, corporate espionage is set to become a major threat, reports Tabitha Parker

The Ukraine's reputation as the world's most persistent IP violator was confirmed in this year's US Trade Representative Special 301 Report. The Ukraine, identified as a Priority Foreign Country on March 12, almost certainly faces trade sanctions at the end of June unless it takes radical moves to address its severe IP problems.