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EU: The international trade committee of the European Parliament met with international trade bodies on January 18, as part of its consideration of an October European Commission draft regulation on compulsory licences for medicines intended for export to developing countries. The meeting focused on how the introduction of new IP rights in developing countries, in line with the TRIPs Agreement, would affect public health. UK: Rules to modernize the patent system were introduced in January. The Patents Act 2004, many parts of which came into effect on January 1, includes new provisions on costs and expenses in infringement proceedings, restrictions on filing abroad and remedies in entitlement proceedings. It also aims to bring more clarity to the vague area of compensation for employee-inventors. UK: The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry released its Digital Music Report 2005, concluding that digital music sites are taking off among consumers thanks to more legal online sites and portable listening devices such as Apple's iPod. The number of legal downloading sites increased to 230 in 2004, with consumers buying 200 million songs in 2004 compared with 20 million songs in 2003.

Under the Mexican Industrial Property Law (IPL), in force since August 2 1994, a trade mark application resulting either in a relative or an absolute ground for refusal can be objected to in a first instance proceeding before the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI). This proceeding provides the applicant with a reasonable term to file arguments to overcome the objection. If the arguments submitted by the applicant do not overcome the objection, according to IMPI's criteria, the application should be formally refused.

Neil Hobbs, IP lawyer at Virgin Enterprises Limited, explains how the company protects more than 2,500 domain names and reveals why it has decided to consolidate its registrations

On December 21 China's Supreme People's Court and the Procuratorate jointly issued an Interpretation on Various Issues Relating to the Handling of Criminal Actions on IPR Infringements (the Interpretation). This came into effect a day later on December 22.

A number of recent cases have addressed the breadth of protection for patents in the UK, Germany and Japan. Ewan Nettleton, Alex Wilson, Julian Eberhardt and Hirokazu Honda examine the consequences for inventive improvements and ask how far international practice is harmonized

While interest in court action grows steadily, administrative remedies still offer trade mark owners in China many advantages. ZHUGE Beihua and WANG Yao of Beijing Janlea Trademark Agency explain what brand owners need to know to make the most of them

As foreign investment pours into China, many overseas investors anxiously scrutinize how the country enforces intellectual property rights. Tony Chen and Pilar Woo of Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker highlight some of the most important trends of 2004

Davis Wang has the task of protecting General Mills's intellectual property across greater China. After six months in the job, he explains to MIP what he has learnt about brand protection

China has made a number of changes to the way it judges patent applications in recent years. Wu Guanle of Liu, Shen & Associates guides would-be patent owners through the rules

Just over one year ago the International Trademark Association launched its first office in China. INTA's Piin-Fen Kok explains what the Association has achieved so far