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Singapore residents must file their patent application in Singapore first or obtain permission from the Registrar of Patents if they want to file a foreign patent application first. This provision, outlined in section 34 of the Singapore Patents Act 1994, does not apply to patent applications first filed outside Singapore by a person resident outside Singapore.

James Nurton, London

Emma Barraclough, Hong Kong

Graphic health warnings have hit the tobacco industry and are threatening to jump to other consumer goods sectors as well. Toe Su Aung warns that the regulators' increased use of shock therapy labelling could seriously impinge on the value of brands and IP rights

In view of the high priority the Malaysian government gives to intellectual property, the Malaysian Intellectual Property Corporation (MyIPO) has undertaken the task of speeding up patent registration in the country. As of last year, at least 33,000 patent applications had been filed with MyIPO and that figure is expected to rise sharply. In view of this huge growth and the impending backlog of applications, the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs has announced that MyIPO will hire between 42 and 100 external examiners to help it assess and examine patent applications. These external examiners will come from various technical organizations, including the Standards and Industrial Research Institute (SIRIM). In addition to being a source of external examiners, SIRIM is also training an additional 500 patent examiners who will eventually be recruited by MyIPO to assist in expediting the registration process.

As reported in the April issue of MIP, the implementation of the so-called biotech directive (EU directive 98/44/EC) into the German Patent Act (GPA) has become effective. This implementation, however, does not only affect material patent law with respect to biotechnological inventions, but also led to a change of §24 GPA regulating the requirements of compulsory licences.

MIP's latest survey of the largest IP practices in Asia, Europe and the US shows how a growing trend towards consolidation is re-shaping IP practices in many parts of the world

A recent US court ruling has given the green light to all kinds of pop-up advertising. But, says Jonathan Moskin, by turning to the fair use doctrine, the court could have blocked infringing cases while leaving most such ads free to pester internet users

Canada: The Supreme Court of Canada refused to allow the Canadian Private Copying Collective to appeal a December 2004 Federal Court of Appeal decision that a levy on memory permanently embedded in digital audio recorders, commonly referred to as the piracy tax, was invalid. The tax, which Canada's Copyright Board promoted as a protection against copyright infringement, had been in place for a year.

Two recent cases in the still blurred area of market dominance have left pharmaceutical companies holding their breath. Sophie Lawrance and Pat Treacy examine the cases and whether the way in which competition law is enforced is becoming an obstacle to the pharmaceutical industry's success