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According to Section 30(3)(a) of the Singapore Patents Act, the Registrar of Patents has the power to refuse the grant of a patent in pursuance of more than one application, where one applicant files two or more applications for a patent for the same invention, which have the same priority date (the so called double patenting exclusion).

Microsoft has given the music industry a new weapon in its fight against piracy.

Practitioners in the US and Canada face the prospect of exciting changes in the future as courts tackle fundamental issues about the limits of trade mark and copyright protection. James Nurton reports

? Europe: WIPO is preparing to select a director general when Kamil Idris retires on November 30 2003. A special session of the general assembly will be held in May or June next year to endorse a nomination by the WIPO coordination committee. The EPO is also seeking a new president to start in January 2004, when Ingo Kober steps down.

Reinhardt Schuster and Clemens Rübel, from the Düsseldorf and Mannheim offices of Bardehle Pagenberg Dost Altenburg Geissler Isenbruck, examine the recent court decisions on the interpretation of patent claims containing numerical data

The situation of intellectual property protection in Russia has long been described by experts as disastrous. The share of illegal videocassettes in the Russian market is 50%, of audiocassettes 64%, and of DVDs almost 100%. In this connection, at the session held on October 3 2002 the Russian government determined the list of urgent anti-piracy measures. A specialized government committee led by the Prime Minister will be engaged in stage-by-stage development of the measures connected with intellectual property protection. It is supposed to improve the legislative base by working out amendments and changes into the existing laws and acceptance of new legal acts. Moreover, Russia intends to sign and ratify international agreements on copyright and related rights protection (namely, the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations, the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty).

The IP Strategic Outline sets an ambitious programme for transforming the practice of intellectual property in Japan. The success of the plan depends on cooperation at a national and international level, explain Douglas Clark, Lloyd Parker and Takamasa Makita

Korea's method of resolving domain name disputes is less than a year old. The new system has already proved itself to be an efficient and cheap mechanism for dispute resolution, writes Jay (Young-June) Yang

James Nurton, London

The UK Copyright Directorate launched a consultation on the implementation of the EU Copyright Directive (the Directive) into UK law on August 7 2002. The Directive entered into force on July 22 2001 and member states are required to transpose it into domestic law by December 2002. The aim of the Directive is to harmonize rights in certain key areas, in particular to deal with the challenges of the internet, e-commerce and digital technology.