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Imagine a situation such as the following:

Snapshots of INTA's 125th Annual Meeting in Amsterdam

Of mice and men

In recent years courts in the US have extended trespass to chattels and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to online databases. Jonathan Band warns that this could threaten constitutionally imposed limits on the ownership of information

The "Gunners" have finally succeeded in their registered trade mark infringement claim against Matthew Reed, a trader selling unofficial Arsenal merchandise from his stall outside the club's Highbury stadium.

Larry O'Rourke, Thomas L Jarvis, and Paul C Goulet of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP warn that all manufacturers, importers, resellers and purchasers of imported goods should monitor ITC investigations to ensure their rights are not in danger

Too many uncertainties still exist about the patentability of certain biotech inventions in Vietnam to convince inventors that they can make money from their investment, argue Duong Tu Giang and Nguyen Nguyet Dzung of Pham & Associates

When two patent owners come to blows, it is often impossible to respect national boundaries.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued its State Street Bank decision in July 1998. Following this decision, a large number of computer-related andbusiness model patent applications were filed and granted inthe US. In contrast to that, it is an implicit requirement of the EPC that any invention must have a technical character. Thus, a scheme for, for example, organizing a commercial operation, being of a pure commercial nature, even if run on a computer, would lack technical character and would therefore be excluded from patentability. In the case of a PCT application based on a US patent application which relates to a computer-related or business model invention, this difference between the EPC and US patent law is a problem when entering into the European phase. Regarding search, the EPO examiner has the discretion to do a complete search, a partial search or even no search at all, depending on the extent to which the claims refer to technical subject-matter. In the last two cases, the EPO transmits a declaration under Rule 45 EPC (EPO Form 1507) stating that it was not possible to carry out a meaningful search into the state of the art. The following alternative steps are possible in such a situation:

The subject of inventors' rights has recently generated much debate in Japan, with developments indicating the possibility of a shift of power favouring inventors. The story, in its most basic form, may sound familiar. The workhorse engineer, employed by a faceless corporation, makes an important invention. The corporation files an application in its own name and when the patent issues, garners huge profits. The inventor is rewarded with a mere pat on the back and a pittance. Not exactly Upton Sinclair, but the sense of exploitation is there. Yet, in the heyday of the Japanese economic boom, the days of feudalistic worker loyalty and guaranteed lifetime employment, this practice was accepted without question.