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Rights owners are becoming increasingly creative in the exploitation of their intellectual property rights.

James Nurton, London

As the internet has expanded in recent years, it has become more and more important due to the fact that it has revolutionized the communications and now it is a significant marketing tool for large and small businesses.

Slovakia is expected to join the EPC on July 1 2002. For this reason 2001 saw a lot of work in the field of IP rights, including the adoption and amendment of a Patents Act and a new Trade Marks Act which came into force on January 1 2002. Details of this will be discussed in a later issue of MIP. Industrial designs, which up until now have been governed by Act No 527/90, will be the subject of a new independent Act. The respective Bill is already under discussion and is expected to be passed in the first half of 2002. It is worth stressing that all amendments to Slovak legislation in the field of IP rights are in compliance with the EPC and that Slovakia has taken all the necessary steps to be well prepared for access to the EPC.

Slovakia is expected to join the EPC on July 1 2002. For this reason 2001 saw a lot of work in the field of IP rights, including the adoption and amendment of a Patents Act and a new Trade Marks Act which came into force on January 1 2002. Details of this will be discussed in a later issue of MIP. Industrial designs, which up until now have been governed by Act No 527/90, will be the subject of a new independent Act. The respective Bill is already under discussion and is expected to be passed in the first half of 2002. It is worth stressing that all amendments to Slovak legislation in the field of IP rights are in compliance with the EPC and that Slovakia has taken all the necessary steps to be well prepared for access to the EPC.

Artistic copyright has sometimes been seen as the Cinderella of copyright law. Simon Stokes argues that recent artistic copyright cases in Europe and North America are pushing copyright law to its limits. This has implications for the creative industries generally.

Artistic copyright has sometimes been seen as the Cinderella of copyright law. Simon Stokes argues that recent artistic copyright cases in Europe and North America are pushing copyright law to its limits. This has implications for the creative industries generally.

Ingrid Hering, London

Persistent actions on the part of the Singapore police through the Intellectual Property Rights Branch have been extremely successful in smashing syndicates who have been dealing in pirated articles such as VCDs, DVDs, CD-ROMs, etc.

Mary Helen Sears In two relatively recent decisions, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has clarified and reaffirmed the well-established US legal doctrine of "first sale" and its corollaries regarding permissible repair and impermissible (and therefore infringing) reconstruction of patented articles and patented processes associated with them. Jazz Photo Corp v International Trade Commission, 59 USPQ 2d 1907 (Fed Cir August 21 2001) and Surfco Hawaii v Fin Control Systems Pty Ltd, 60 USPQ 2d 1056 (Fed Cir September 5 2001) both rest upon a fundamental of US personal property (or "chattel") law, whereby the purchaser within the United States of an article covered by a United States patent, or one that embodies a process covered by such a patent, has the same individual private property right to use and dispose of it as he or she enjoys with respect to a purchased article not covered by a viable US patent. These rights have been recognized by American courts since at least as early as the Supreme Court decision in Wilson v Simpson, 50 US (9 How) 109 (1850) and have been reiterated many times during the ensuing century and a half.