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CHINA: Intcera High Tech Group is adding a new plant in mainland China to expand its manufacture of fibre-optics components. CHINA: The Ministry of Information Industry and National Copyright Administration prepared a draft amendment to the Regulations for the Protection of Computer Software. Changes include an extension of the period of protection for software from 25 years to 50 years. EUROPE: From January 1 2001, new Block Exemptions and Guidelines, which affect trade between the member states of the European Union, became effective. The aim of the Guidelines is to provide a simplified framework for assessing whether a horizontal agreement comes within the Article 81 (1) prohibition and, if it does, whether it is exempt from it. UK: Protocol Solutions, which specialized in NT and desktop systems, has been forced into receivership following legal action taken by the police over counterfeit software. US: Brobeck Phleger & Harrison raised its first-year associate pay by $10,000 to $135,000. A first-year associate can now expect to receive $170,000. US: In the first case of its kind, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have claimed a website selling counterfeit software on the internet as part of a criminal case. Maria Yolanda and Sola Lirola, who made $900,000 in profit, sold software billed as retail products from companies such as Adobe and Microsoft.

Fact they say is stranger than fiction. In the David v Goliath case that is Trovan v Pfizer this is certainly true. In the story David slays Goliath and is proclaimed king. In the Trovan case, Pfizer´ s Goliath is made of stronger stuff. On January 11, Trovan filed an appeal in the Ninth Circuit Court challenging an earlier ruling which overturned a record $143 million damages award to the company for infringement of its Trovan trade mark.

El Salvador: The PCT will enter into force in El Salvador on August 17. The country will be the 132nd member of the international patent filing system.

The Patents Amendment Bill, only for allowing Exclusive Marketing Rights (EMR) to foreign and Indian companies in the pharmaceutical and agro-chemical sectors, has been passed by Parliament. However, product patents will not be allowed before 2005.

Moves, Deals, Developments

Patent Ordinance

In recent years, the German Utility Model Act has undergone several important changes which, among other things, have made utility model protection available for essentially the same subject matter (except methods) as for patent protection, and extended the maximum period of protection to 10 years. However, a utility model will still be registered without examination as to the novelty and non-obviousness of its subject matter. Registration will be effected within six to eight weeks after completion of the filing procedure.

Several changes to the German Patent Law became effective on November 1 1998. Among the minor changes is a modification of the name of the patent office which now is Deutsches Patent und Markenamt, to emphasize the increasingly important role of trade mark matters. There are also significant modifications of more relevance to applicants, and these will be briefly commented on below, as far as they relate to filing procedures.

Following its judgment in the Hermes case, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is again being requested to pass judgment on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). In the Hermes case (case C-63/96), the ECJ had to judge whether the term provisional measures, as used in Article 50, Paragraph 6 of the TRIPS Agreement, also applies to Dutch interim injunction proceedings. Article 50, Paragraph 6 stipulates that a provisional measure must be followed by proceedings leading to a decision on the merits of the case, and the Dutch court had asked the European Court for a ruling as to whether Dutch interim injunction proceedings (kort geding) could be regarded as a provisional measure. The European Court affirmed that such was the case.

An intellectual property owner faces difficulties when trying to recover full damage compensation from an infringer in Korea due to three main reasons: