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Multinational enterprises often allocate the ownership of IP among their group companies with more regard to legal than to tax issues. Karen Hughes and Domenico Borzumato consider ways in which companies can manage their IP internationally so as to achieve greater tax efficiency

Europe's national IP offices. Old, tired and desperate for cash, struggling to find a future in a globalized world used to the efficiencies of one-stop shops? Or streamlined, nimble, consumer-focused operations, providing locally relevant advice at the IP coalface, rather than in far away Munich and Alicante? Emma Barraclough looks at the evidence

Musician turned patent enforcer Judah Klausner is lining up law suits against some of America's biggest communications companies. He spoke to Shahnaz Mahmud about his plans, and why he denies being a patent troll

Emma Barraclough, London

Shahnaz Mahmud, New York

With Vietnam's impending entry into the WTO, there have been many recent developments in intellectual property law, including:

One year after fining AstraZeneca €60 million, the European Commission has finally published its decision in a limited version proposed by AstraZeneca.

Korea's Customs Service and KIPO, along with numerous Korean e-commerce sites and the European Chamber of Commerce, have been working with a number of famous brand owners to cut down on the proliferation of manufacturing, marketing and exporting of counterfeit goods. So far, their efforts have been successful. Estimates indicate over $90 million-worth of counterfeit goods were seized between February and April, a tremendous increase from the $30 million-worth seized in the whole of 2005.

The Irish government recently announced the introduction of a new Privacy Bill which will protect all Irish citizens from the invasion of their right to privacy. The new Bill creates the tort of violation of privacy, which is committed where any person wilfully and without lawful authority violates the privacy of an individual. The tort is actionable without proof of financial loss and applies to newspapers and magazines, broadcasting organizations and (to the extent that it is technologically possible to prove) the internet. In this month's article we take a look at the controversial draft Bill.

The European Patent Convention (EPC), which provides for a centralized procedure for granting of patents in Europe and the establishment of the European Patent Office (EPO), was signed on October 5 1973. The EPC was extensively revised at a Diplomatic Conference held in Munich in November 2000 and the revised text termed EPC 2000. It was agreed that the EPC 2000 would come into force two years after ratification by 15 contracting states. A number of new states have joined the EPC since November 2000 and they have all agreed to ratify EPC 2000. Thus, when on December 13 2005 Greece ratified EPC 2000, Greece became the 15th state to deposit its instrument of ratification. The EPC 2000 will therefore come into force on December 13 2007, at the latest. Any contracting state of the EPC that has not ratified EPC 2000 by this date will cease to be a contracting state of the EPC.