Search results for

Downloading free music in the form of MP3 files has been a point of discussion for a long time now. Only last year Napster, a file exchange program mainly used for music files, was closed down by a US judge. However, a Netherlands competitor to Napster, KaZaA, recently survived a controversial case against Buma/Stemra, the Netherlands agency for collecting copyrights.

New industrial property regulations in Poland give the Supreme Administrative Court control over the legality of decisions issued by the Polish Patent Office. The new rules that came into force on August 22 last year overturn more than 60 years of administrative procedure where control was limited to extraordinary appeals against final sentences which could be filed only by administrative boards in clearly defined special situations. These appeals were examined by judges of the Chamber of Administration Labour and Social Insurance at the Supreme Court and until last August the Supreme Administrative Court (which was set up in 1980), did not examine any matters related to industrial property. Under Polish constitutional law the Supreme Administrative Court along with the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Tribunal and the Tribunal of State is the highest court in Poland.

Ralph Cunningham, Asia Editor, MIP

Margareta Oproiu of Cabinet Oproiu in Bucharest explains the main provisions of the amendments to the Romanian Patents Act which come into force in August this year

Petja Papula of Papula Oy in Helsinki assesses the success of the Eurasian patent system and the amendments that have been implemented since it was introduced in 1995

Despite the lack of specific statutory protection for sofware patents in Mexico, Fernando Becerril and Heriberto Lopez of Becerril, Coca & Becerril, SC, argue that protection can be secured with inventive claim drafting

A cigarette company has proved use to fight off an attempt to register a mark similar to one of its products. This is in spite of failing with its own application. Owners of foreign trade marks in Singapore should gain confidence from the result, writes Farah Namazie

James Nurton, Brussels

One of the key issues in the complex of problems surrounding exhaustion is the question of whether goods bearing the mark of a trade mark owner have been put on the market with that owner's consent. If so, the trade mark owner cannot prohibit parallel-importers from importing the goods into the EEA, according to article 7, section 1 of the Harmonization Directive (89/104/EEC).

Programme formats can be a goldmine but to what extent can they attract IP rights? Lyndsay Gough looks at some of the issues facing those seeking to exploit and protect them