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In keeping with the general proliferation of the Madrid Union, there are now 12 African member countries but only in Algeria, Mozambique and Morocco are all international registrations, designating those countries, certainly effective and enforceable. In Egypt which has a mixed legal system, it is unclear whether the necessary legislation has been implemented but in practice the Registry and the courts appear to recognize international registrations.

This month, MIP publishes the second and final part of the annual IP survey, ranking the leading firms in trade mark/copyright work worldwide. The tables on the following pages have been compiled following five months of research among IP practitioners. Here's how they were compiled

Rules on copyright levies on PCs and other IT devices are not harmonized in Europe. Alexander Duisberg and Fabian Niemann examine the implications of some recent disputes in Germany and compare the scope and level of copyright levies in different countries

A monthly column devoted to IP curiosities and controversies, named in honour of John of Utynam - who received the world's first recorded patent in 1449

IP management software systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Web-enabled technology means that systems can be easily deployed across a business and more specifically, because the software is more flexible, the IP department is able to utilize it for more complex business strategy and financial accounting purposes. These developments are invaluable when many IP departments are experiencing increased pressure to accurately track costs, manage and reduce their costs and generate accurate budgets and forecasts.

Once considered an easy target for western companies seeking to assert their patents, Asian companies from Japan to Taiwan are taking the initiative and negotiating some interesting licensing deals of their own. Emma Barraclough examines the trends

EU: On February 7, the European Commission took legal action against royalty collector CISAC, accusing it of infringing competition law, saying the refusal to grant licences across multiple countries breached Article 81 of the EU competition treaty. CISAC said this was "a narrow and formalistic approach to the complex issue of the collective management of copyrights in Europe".

In the country's latest bid to open up the patent system by offering cheaper, quicker dispute resolution, the UK Patent Office has launched a low-cost opinion service. But, after the first four cases, not everyone is convinced it will solve the problems. James Nurton reports

The entire revocation of a European patent is very rare, and can take up to seven years. Jürgen Kaiser looks at the advantages of another option - filing observations while the patent is still in the examination phase

On January 25 2006, the Mexican Law of Industrial Property (LIP) was amended concerning the legal framework of franchises in Mexico to incorporate a new infringing cause based on the unauthorized use by a third party of the image of a product, best known as trade dress (Article 213 XXVI LIP).