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Following its judgment in the Hermes case, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is again being requested to pass judgment on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). In the Hermes case (case C-63/96), the ECJ had to judge whether the term provisional measures, as used in Article 50, Paragraph 6 of the TRIPS Agreement, also applies to Dutch interim injunction proceedings. Article 50, Paragraph 6 stipulates that a provisional measure must be followed by proceedings leading to a decision on the merits of the case, and the Dutch court had asked the European Court for a ruling as to whether Dutch interim injunction proceedings (kort geding) could be regarded as a provisional measure. The European Court affirmed that such was the case.

Rights owners are becoming increasingly creative in the exploitation of their intellectual property rights.

There are signs that Virginia’s eastern district, known since 1990 as the rocket docket, has taken on more than it can chew.

In a recent decision, the Supreme Court has tightened patent filing rules to encourage early filings.

The new Trade Marks Act came into force in January this year, bringing with it key changes for brand owners.

Patent Ordinance

Several changes to the German Patent Law became effective on November 1 1998. Among the minor changes is a modification of the name of the patent office which now is Deutsches Patent und Markenamt, to emphasize the increasingly important role of trade mark matters. There are also significant modifications of more relevance to applicants, and these will be briefly commented on below, as far as they relate to filing procedures.

Estonian customs authorities have started an active campaign against pirated and counterfeited goods. Within the last few months, different counterfeited goods bearing such famous trade marks as NIKE, ADIDAS, SALAMANDER and WRANGLER have been seized by customs. Such counterfeited goods are usually of extremely poor quality.

After more than eight years of fruitful activity, Mr Ladislav Jakl, president of the Czech Industrial Property Office, decided to resign from his duties and leave the Office on December 31 1998.

Illegal exemptions to music royalty collection in the US are costing European performers $20 million dollars a year.