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Peter Ollier, Hong Kong

Emma Barraclough, London

About one year ago Russian Customs drastically intensified its efforts in intercepting the illegal transit of goods across the border. Spurred by the World Customs Organization, the Russian Customs will make the year 2007 the year of combating counterfeiting. There are many reasons for that. The Russian Customs acknowledge that intellectual property rights infringement is the most frequent occurrence among economic offences. According to the Customs, the most frequently stopped goods at the border are confectionery, sports clothes and shoes, perfumes and household chemistry. This means that trade mark infringement is the biggest problem. Competing with trade marks are copyrighted products, such as DVDs and Cds. Piracy of videocassettes is becoming less frequent due to the dwindling demand for video tape gadgetry.

In the case of SAP (M) Sdn Bhd & Anor v I World HRM Net Sdn Bhd [2006] 2 MLJ 678 an application for an interlocutory injunction was made by SAP, the German software company, and its local exclusive distributor after they had sued the defendants for copyright infringement. The defendants had an individual end user licence agreement for the SAP R/3 software. The plaintiffs had alleged that the defendants had breached the licence agreement by providing service bureau applications to third parties without the plaintiffs' consent and by reproducing and downloading the software on computers/servers of third parties.

Beginning July 1 2007, three important changes to the Korean Patent Act will become effective.

Before the Linkage Regulation in Mexico, the health authorities granted marketing authorizations for pharmaceuticals when the applicant complied with the regulatory requirements, without reviewing possible violations of patent rights. In short, marketing authorizations granted in the past for patented pharmaceutical products to non-authorized third parties were government authorizations to infringe patents.

As more and more businesses outsource operations to India, ensuring that the data is secure is increasingly important. Sushil Kumar of Clairvolex Knowledge Processes outlines the rules in place to help keep information confidential

On December 30 2006, the Supreme People's Court issued the Explanation on Several Issues on the Application of Law in Adjudicating Civil Unfair Competition Cases. It contains important interpretations of various terms used in China's Anti-Unfair Competition Law. The Explanations came into effect on February 1 2007.

Emma Barraclough, London

Canada is not unique in its concern over increasing prevalence and diversity of counterfeit goods. The OECD recently reported counterfeiting in virtually all economies with a cost estimated at 5% to 7% of world trade, up from 2% to 4% 15 years ago. Canada is, however, a jurisdiction in which enforcement is difficult. This is probably attributable primarily to the fact that, unlike the United States, Canadian Border Service personnel are not mandated to search for and seize counterfeit goods.