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A Bill amending the present Czech Patents Act No 527/90 was discussed in detail in the Patent Yearbook 2000. To our satisfaction the Bill was passed and entered into force on May 10 2000, as Act 116/2000, amending some Acts on Industrial Property Rights. For the purposes of this international briefing, I will cite the most important changes:

Bradley Lytle and Philippe Signore examine how finance-related companies are obtaining and enforcing business method patents in the US, and explain why portfolios of such patents are becoming essential for many companies

Yoshitaka Sonoda of Sonoda & Kobayashi in Tokyo explains Japan's efforts to encourage IP use and compete more effectively internationally

Stéphanie Bodoni, London

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, individuals have a right of access to their personal data processed by an organization. A recent case, Michael John Durant v Financial Services Authority [2003] EWCA Civ 1746, considered the scope of this right.

Tony Morris, head of media, Marriott Harrison

The Organic Act 15/2003, of November 25, amending the Criminal Code Act 10/1995, of November 23, was published in the Official State Gazette on November 26 2003. It introduced new types of criminal offences to adjust to the present-day social and criminal reality.

In Sweden, the Läkemedelsverket (Swedish Medical Products Agency) withdrew the authorization of parallel imports of the medicinal product Losec enterokapslar (Losec enteric capsules to treat conditions caused by stomach acid) into Sweden by Paranova only because the authorization for the directly imported medicinal product by the official Swedish distributor was withdrawn. One cannot place medicinal products on the market in a member state unless a marketing authorization has been issued by the competent authority of that member state (Article 3 of Directive 65/65/EEC of the Council of January 26 1965 as amended by Council Directive 93/39/EEC of June 14 1993). Parallel importer Paranova opposed to the decision to withdraw her authorization. Did Paranova succeed?

Since the European Parliament's amendments of September 24 2003 to the Commission's proposal for a Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions - the Software Patent Directive - the debate on the extent to which software-related innovations should be patentable in Europe has turned into a somewhat hysterical battle between lobbyists.

On January 1 2004, Singapore joined most other PCT countries in having a PCT Chapter I national phase deadline of 30 months. Until now, a national phase entry application in Singapore under PCT Chapter I had to be filed within 20 months from the priority date (or international filing date if priority is not claimed).