Australia: The country's leading IP think tank recommended the government overhaul its rules on enforcing trade mark law. The Advisory Council on Intellectual Property called on the government to reintroduce mandatory disclaimers for non-distinctive elements of trade marks and to review its system of trade mark opposition. China: Italy signed its first IP cooperation agreement with China, setting up a framework for educational and technical exchanges in an effort to tackle counterfeiting. Japan: The EU and Japan agreed to closer cooperation to tackle IP infringement in Asia. Officials from both sides pledged to exchange technical information, coordinate education programmes across the region, and raise the issue of IP law enforcement in bilateral talks with other countries. Japan: Japan's Parliament voted in favour of a new law, to come into force in April 2005, which will see the establishment of specialist IP courts. Politicians also agreed to reduce the powers of judges to intervene in employee invention litigation in cases where a company and its employee previously agreed the rules on compensation for patent assignments. Singapore: Parliament passed legislation to overhaul Singapore's IP regime as part of the commitments it made in its free trade agreement with the US. The amended laws, which cover patents, copyright, plant varieties, trade marks and optical disc manufacturing, come into force this year. Vietnam: The Ministry of Health urged pharmaceutical importers to buy generic versions of drugs to cut the country's health care costs after issuing a decision allowing parallel imports of generic drugs.
