Search results for

The Malaysian government announced its 2006 budget on September 30. Many of the proposals in it were aimed at ensuring Malaysia is in a good position to attract foreign direct investment, especially in the technology sector.

In May 2003, when India's Patent Act was amended, a new Section 107A was introduced. This provided for a research exemption as an exception to the general rules of patent infringement. Commonly known as a Bolar provision, this research exemption enables a manufacturer of generic drugs to use a patented invention to obtain marketing approval without the patent owner's permission before the patent expires. The generic drug maker can then market their own version of the patented drug as soon as the patent expires.

IP owners should pick and choose from the range of enforcement options open to them in Australia to ensure their strategy is as effective as possible. Jim Dwyer and Miriam Stiel of Allens Arthur Robinson outline the choices

Stéphanie Bodoni, London

EPO Patent Information Conference 2005 / PATINNOVA,

"The focus of this case is a very small animal, namely a mouse - to use a poet's description, a 'Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie' (R Burns, "To a Mouse", 1785). In all other respects however, this case is not small." This is how the EPO's Technical Board of Appeal starts its reasons for the decision in the long-fought case on the validity of the European patent covering the Harvard oncomouse (T 315/03). The Board made the decision on July 6 2004, less than a year before the expiry of the patent in June 2005.

Several journalism incidents over the summer have left a big question mark as to where the line is drawn in relation to freedom of the press in the UAE. Early in June, a female reporter for a prominent daily English newspaper was on her way to Greece when she was stopped at the airport and informed that there was a warrant for her arrest. The warrant was prompted by an article she had written in February about a man who was reportedly slashing women in the nearby Emirate of Sharjah. The police said a victim had raised a complaint against the reporter but it soon became clear that the arrest was made by the Sharjah police who later contended that her article may have helped the attacker escape by alerting him to their investigation.

Owners of European IP rights are vulnerable to central attacks on validity at the EPO and OHIM, which can threaten enforcement in national courts. Mark Finn, Konstantin Ewald and Marie-Hélène Lemaitre examine what you can do to counter such an attack in the UK, France and Germany

The tide of franchising regulation continues to sweep across Europe as Belgium brings its new franchise disclosure law into effect. Mark Abell argues that this latest initiative makes it more likely that other EU states will follow the same path

Rights owners used to face difficulties in obtaining evidence from non-public sources to prove infringement in Germany. But, as Reinhardt Schuster, Tilman Müller-Stoy and Birgit Strube explain, recent case law, in particular in Düsseldorf, is changing that practice