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The Free Trade Agreement between Chile and the US has closed a dangerous loophole in Chile's patent protection framework. Juan Pablo Egaña explains how patent holders can make the most of the change

Formerly, the Ukrainian Trade Mark Law did not regulate an institute of submitting oppositions against pending trade mark applications under the national procedure. Rather, the Law contained quite a conservative provision stipulating that information in respect of pending national trade mark applications should be regarded as confidential, and the relationship should be bilateral, in other words between the applicant and the examiner, with no third persons formally allowed.

Italy's technology transfer regime has recently been updated in line with EU and international requirements. Foreign companies looking to license their technology in Italy have to watch out for several new provisions. Michel Jolicoeur of Racheli & C provides an overview

Success in the global market can be a difficult goal to reach for small- and medium-sized companies in Europe, with many of them struggling to find the needed financial resources and EU funding to build on. So instead of going it alone, why not try out pooling resources with like-minded businesses? Ruth Taplin explains

As foreign investment pours into China, many overseas investors anxiously scrutinize how the country enforces intellectual property rights. Tony Chen and Pilar Woo of Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker highlight some of the most important trends of 2004

The Playboy bunny is one of the most widely recognized trade marks in the world. But that also makes it a target for counterfeiters. Ana Cashman, Playboy's assistant counsel, tells Shahnaz Mahmud how the company tackles the problem

Australia has a vibrant life sciences and biotechnology sector supported by a well- regarded IP regime that is evolving rapidly to meet the needs of these new technologies, say James Cherry and Paul Jones of Freehills Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys

Widespread copyright infringement on the internet has a serious impact on a range of businesses. Since activities on the internet cannot be conducted without using internet service providers (ISPs), these ISPs are at risk of being sued by copyright holders. Because this situation is unfavourable to the growth and development of the internet industry, and in an attempt to deter online copyright infringement, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) drafted an amendment to the Copyright Act on February 14 2008 to specify the limitations on ISP liability. The amendment was passed by the legislative body on April 21 2009.

The first search reports carried out by the European Patent Office (EPO) on Italian national patent applications are finally reaching the applicants. Applicants may either entrust an agent to go to the Italian Patent and Trade Mark Office (PTO) to collect the documents (and, in so doing, relieve the PTO of some of its workload as it is being flooded by hundreds of searches coming in from the EPO), or wait for the PTO to send the searches by registered mail. It seems, therefore, that for the time being the PTO has set aside the option of transmitting the searches online.

As a measure to help tourism businesses in Croatia to successfully address the financial crisis, the Croatian government adopted an action plan by which it proposed a 50% reduction in the royalty fee paid to copyright owners for public performance of their copyrighted musical works. Apparently those members of the government responsible for the plan believe that the reduction of copyright royalties will benefit hotel/restaurant businesses, which in past years have complained about the need to pay royalties for public performances of copyrighted works.