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Marion Rees, IP manager, Virax, Australia

Clarifying who owns and controls each IP right is vital to the success of a joint development agreement. James R Sobieraj explains how to prevent problems, and ensure that both parties know where they stand

The charts this month show important data on international patent trends. Charts 1 to 4 provide information on filing patterns in the US and Europe, while the remaining figures reveal which areas of technology are most commonly protected by some of the world's biggest patent filers. The data was extracted from the worldwide patent databases available from Questel•Orbit. The statistical analyses were made possible thanks to Questel•Orbit's search engine.

As the Korean Trade Mark Law only protects trade mark right holders within the scope of identity or similarity of the designated goods, domain name disputes in Korea are generally judged by the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act (UCP). There are three relevant cases, which could help us to understand more about the Act. The three cases involve the domain names of chanel.co.kr; viagra.co.kr; and jooyontech.com.

In India, there is no specific legislation for protection of confidential information or trade secrets. However, courts in India have consistently applied principles of common law and breach of contract in enforcing claims for protection of such information. These principles were reiterated by the High Court of Bombay in an order delivered on March 27 2003, dismissing an appeal by Zee Telefilms, a well-known TV production company in India, and upholding the order of an interim injunction granted by a single judge at first instance. By this order, the single judge had restrained Zee from proceeding with broadcasting its television serial Kanhaiyya on principles of copyright infringement and breach of confidential information.

There were 23 Americans on our MIP 50 list of the most influential people in IP, published in last month's issue. But, judging from readers' responses, that was not enough.

Failing to obtain a foreign filing licence in the US can lead to the invalidation of a patent, and even imprisonment of the patentee. Dervis Magistre explains that overseas companies doing research in the US must take care to follow the rules

? Italy: The country has joined Greece and Denmark in implementing the EU copyright directive into its national law - with most other EU member states facing the prospect of being taken to the European Court of Justice.

Sam Mamudi, New York

Trade mark applicants in the Andean Community are disadvantaged by procedural rules that hinder the chances of a fair decision, argues Emilio Ferrero of Cavelier Abogados