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Castor Gonzalez-Escobar of Gonzalez & Newman in Caracas provides a guide to IP enforcement in the member countries of the Andean Community, and offers some tips for rights owners

Singapore's government could soon consolidate the way that it regulates medicines and other health-related products. At the moment, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), Singapore's equivalent of the US Food And Drug Administration (FDA), regulates medicines and other health-related products. The HSA's powers are contained in a wide variety of legislation, such as the Medicines Act, the Poisons Act, the Sale of Drugs Act and the Medicines (Advertisement and Sale) Act. Through these laws, the HSA controls the manufacture, import, distribution, promotion and sale of health-related products in Singapore.

According to criteria recently adopted by the Mexican Trade Mark Office (TMO), single invoices are appropriate and sufficient evidence to prove the use of a mark. However, it is important to point out that these criteria are contrary to doctrine and to article 62 of the Regulations of the Mexican Industrial Property Law, which establishes that a mark is in use when the goods or services covered by its registration are available in commerce in the amounts and manners that correspond to its nature.

We recently reported on a referral to the European Court of Justice, which may bring about the possibility for getting supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) for formulation patents (MIP, June 2005). This month we report on another referral to the ECJ, the outcome of which could also have a significant economic impact.

In June 2003, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling limiting the claims of ownership over a creative work. Joseph M Beck examines how that decision has shaped IP case law over the past two years

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has dealt a further blow to weak trade marks. In a ruling on September 15, the Court upheld the rejection of an application for a figurative mark comprising the word BioID. written in a bold Arial typeface for goods in classes 9, 38 and 42.

The manner in which corporations develop and manage their IP software has changed considerably over the past few years. Long gone are the days when the focus was simply filing data and managing due dates. Today there is a more proactive approach to IP management, which, in turn, has set new standards and challenges for IP professionals.

More and more US patent applicants are assertively exercising their provisional rights against their rivals, both in the US and abroad, by offering a licence to their invention before a patent has issued. Brett Alten, James Hough and Charles Holland explain the policies companies should put in place to respond to the threat

Emma Barraclough, Hong Kong

On the eve of the launch of .eu, Nick Wood examines the relationship between IP owners and ccTLD administrators in Europe and calls for greater harmonization. A table overleaf profiles the 32 ccTLD registries in Europe and provides information on registering domain names and resolving disputes in each one