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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:

The revised Patent Act, which has significantly amended Korea's compulsory licensing system, will come into force on December 1 2005. The Presidential Decree, which regulates the details of the revised Act has been made public and will also take effect on the same date.

As IP owners enter into more and more cross-border licensing deals, they must be increasingly vigilant to the legal traps that await the unwary. Rodney De Boos and Jeff Bergmann of Davies Collison Cave explain how to negotiate Australia's legal landscape

Kathryn Harrison of Watermark explains how IP owners can maximize their chances of getting their trade marks registered in Australia and outlines the most effective strategies for handling objections

Australia has a range of remedies available for IP owners who want to stop the trafficking of products that infringe their trade marks and copyright at the border. Melissa Preston and Thai Loi of Shelston IP provide a guide to the rules

Sam Mamudi, New York

Emma Barraclough, Hong Kong

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.

According to the last paragraph of article 78 of the Industrial Property Law (LPI), when resolving a patent invalidity claim, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) can, besides denying invalidity, declare the whole patent invalid or partial invalidity.

Australia has a vibrant life sciences and biotechnology sector supported by a well- regarded IP regime that is evolving rapidly to meet the needs of these new technologies, say James Cherry and Paul Jones of Freehills Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys