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The Korean National Assembly passed a new bill on May 3 to amend certain provisions of the Korean Patent Act governing restoration of patent rights. This new bill allows patentees to restore their patents in cases where they lapsed because patent annuity fees were not paid. The new law will become effective on September 1 this year.

India recently passed a series of significant amendments to its patent law to meet its WTO obligations. But has it done enough? Manisha Singh of Lex Orbis looks at the facts

India's latest amendment to its Patent Act revolutionized the country's IP regime by introducing a product patent for pharmaceuticals. Ahibhusan De and Uma Baskaran of Krishna and Saurastri explain what the new rules mean in practice

Marcela Waksman Ejnisman and Andreia de Andrade Gomes Moreira de Souza of Tozzini, Freire, Teixeira e Silva Advogados

A recent decision by the European Court of First Instance (CFI) has denied the Irish boy band Westlife registration of the Westlife name as a Community trade mark.

India's Patent Office has published a draft Manual of Patent Practice & Procedure. The manual runs to 166 pages and contains 14 chapters and three annexes. In the introduction, the Controller of Patents says that the principal objective of the manual is to establish uniformity and homogeneity in the processing of patent applications in India. This is an indirect admission that there has been little uniformity and consistency in India's patent prosecution system so far, particularly in the examination system. In particular, there has been a considerable degree of subjectivity in the way that the structure and functions of claims have been dealt with, the most critical aspect of the patent prosecution system.

Europe is following the US example and introducing a Bolar provision to exempt generic research aimed at obtaining regulatory approval. Marjan Noor and Camilla Smith examine the proposal and how it is likely to be implemented by member states

India's courts have handed down a steady stream of IP-friendly decisions over the past year, from domain name and phishing cases to counterfeiting and copyright. Vaishali Mittal and Munish Mehra of Anand and Anand explain how the lawsuits have transformed India's IP litigation landscape

Unlike many technology companies, Cisco's recently developed patent strategy stresses working with standards bodies rather than aggressive enforcement. The company's head of patents, Robert Barr, told James Nurton why

Brazil: The Brazilian government on June 24 told US drugs company Abbott Laboratories that if it does not lower the cost of its AIDS-fighting drug, Kaletra, the country would produce its own generic version. The government said that Abbott had 10 days to cut its price. As MIP went to press, no action had yet been taken.