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James Nurton, London and Sam Mamudi, New York

The Intellectual Property Office (IPOPhil) and the EC-ASEAN Cooperation Programme (ECAP II) held a five-day Patent Application Drafting and Prosecution seminar from October 10 to 15, which was conducted by Karl Rackette, a European and German patent attorney. At the seminar, IPOPhil distributed a draft regulation aimed at introducing a qualifying examination for patent agents. At the moment, there is no formal patent attorney or patent agent profession in the Philippines. Patent applications are handled by lawyers with assistance from people with technical knowledge, many of whom are former IPOPhil patent examiners. The objective of the proposed regulation is to develop a patent agent profession in the country. The main points of the proposal are as follows:

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.

In April 2005 the EPO's Board of Appeal published its T 998/99 decision on the exhaustion of priority under the European Patent Convention (EPC). The case analyzed whether a European patent application may validly claim priority of an earlier application, although another European patent application had already claimed the priority of this earlier application.

Brand owners are developing ever-more innovative ways of distinguishing their products. But getting legal protection for new kinds of marks can present challenges. Emma Barraclough introduces a survey of seven Asian jurisdictions that asks the questions that IP owners need the answers to

Consumer groups argue that parallel trading leads to cheaper prices but trade mark owners say it jeopardizes their long-term relationships with both distributors and consumers. Peter Hallett of Griffith Hack explains what IP owners can do to stop the trade in Australia

Ignacio María Bereterbide and Erica Denise Lerner, of Bruchou, Fernández Madero, Lombardi & Mitrani in Buenos Aires, analyze and compare IP infringement proceedings in Argentina, Brazil and Chile

James Nurton interviews ASIPI president Hugo Berkemeyer about protection, enforcement and politics in IP in Latin America

Pharmaceutical patents are at the forefront of litigation in Canada. Andrew Bernstein and Grant Worden of Torys LLP in Toronto explain why, and consider proposed changes to rules on generic drugs

The US Supreme Court this years handed down rulings in two of the most anticipated IP cases of recent years. Sam Mamudi analyzes what the judgments mean for rights owners