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The British Phonographic Industry, the trade body for record labels in the UK, is to begin action against 28 major file sharers - individuals who make their record collections available for others to download from peer-to-peer (P2P) sites. In a P2P site, there are four groups of potential defendants; each is considered below.

Former USPTO commissioner Todd Dickinson has been at the forefront of IP for the past decade. Now, as GE's new IP counsel, he is using his experience to raise the prominence of IP and make the company's voice heard. Sam Mamudi met him in his Connecticut office to find out more

Trade mark applications in China have risen by 80,000 in each of the past two years and the rapid growth looks set to continue. Emma Barraclough asked director-general An Qinghu how the Trade Mark Office is coping with the pressure

In a landmark decision, Germany's Supreme Court has put the onus on online auctioneers to stop counterfeit goods being advertised. Henning Hartwig examines whether the ruling will be welcomed by trade mark owners

As business leaders increasingly recognize the value of IP rights, it is more important to consider the tax issues involved in protecting them, argue Isabel Verlinden, Axel Smits and Patrick Boone

In a follow-up to their article in the October issue, David Barron and Alexandra Brodie examine how to enforce business method patents in Europe

Sam Mamudi, Washington DC

The realization that classic tracks will soon be in the public domain is prompting record companies and affected artists to demand that Europe increases the duration of sound recording copyright, as Andrew Forbes and Jane Mulcahy explain

US: The Justice Department unveiled a report by its IP Task Force. The report recommends the creation of five new Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) Units in Washington DC, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, Nashville and Orlando. The Department has 13 CHIP Units across the US at present. The report also includes calls for an increase in the number of FBI special agents dedicated to investigating IP crimes, and the use of more federal resources and tougher enforcement to tackle infringers. US: A California state court of appeals in Los Angeles upheld a $500 million infringement verdict against biotechnology leader Genentech. Genentech was found to have hidden licensed sales and not paid royalties on human insulin and human growth hormone developed by the City of Hope National Medical Center. US: Biotechnology company Amgen won a federal district court case against Transkaryotic Therapies (TKT) and Aventis Pharmaceuticals. Judge William Young of the district court of Massachusetts ruled that Transkaryotic and Aventis violated two of Amgen's product patents on erythropoietin and two patents with claims on the production of erythropoietin. TKT said it would appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. US: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of KP Permanent Make-Up Inc v Lasting Impressions on October 5. Lasting Impressions is claiming trade mark infringement against KP Permanent Make-Up for use of the words micro color on the packaging of KP Permanent's products. In hearing the case, the Court asked whether the classic fair use defence to trade mark infringement is an absolute defence, regardless of whether confusion may result.

Execution of private coexistence agreements is not a ground for automatically allowing the registration of identical or similar signs as trade marks. This was the position of the Council of State of Colombia when it decided to refuse the registration of the trade mark Starbucks (File 7063 dated August 20 2004).