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Franchisors who try to stop franchisees from selling outside their allocated territories in the EU may fall foul of competition legislation. Mark Abell analyzes how EU law is developing to cope with the internet

The UK domain name registry, Nominet, is amending its dispute resolution process. Sarah Harrington examines the proposals and reveals why they may cause concern to brand owners

After much debate and a long gestation period, the EU Council of Ministers finally adopted on April 9 the Directive on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society. At the time of writing, the Directive had not been published in the Official Journal, but this is likely to take place within a few weeks of April 9. Following publication, member states must implement the Directive in national law within 18 months. The intention was that the Copyright Directive should be implemented within a timescale similar to that for the implementation of the E-Commerce Directive, which must be implemented by member states by no later than January 17 2002. The Copyright Directive will have to be implemented by member states by about a year later than that. The Copyright Directive seeks to achieve a number of objectives. These include a degree of harmonization of copyright and related rights laws throughout the Community. The Directive also seeks to introduce protections for technical measures and rights-management information.

Hiroshi Sheraton, McDermott, Will & Emery, London

It is an established principle applied by the European and German patent authorities that, under certain circumstances, functional features may be used for the characterization of subject matter in patent claims (see eg EPO in T 68/85; German Federal Supreme Court in "Trioxan"). Functional features have always been essential for obtaining meaningful protection for biotechnological inventions. Recently, an increasing trend towards a more general use of this type of feature for obtaining broad patent protection can be observed, specifically where patent protection for pharmaceutical compounds and medical uses is sought. Applicants should, however, be aware of the requirements to be met for the successful use of functional features in patent claims.

The biotech industry is growing rapidly but facing many new challenges, from revised PTO guidelines to the possibilities of licensing and patent pooling. Tabitha Parker asks senior in-house counsel how they are coping with change

The Baby-dry case is the first appeal to be heard by the Court of Justice in Luxembourg in proceedings concerning a Community Trade Mark. The Court of First Instance had decided not to register the term Baby-dry, used for babies nappies (or diapers). The court believed that the term is ineligible for registration as a Community Trade Mark. The examiner considered that the trade mark was descriptive of the goods for which registration was sought. She was of the opinion that Baby-dry was composed only of a simple combination of the non-distinctive words baby and dry. The mark therefore consisted exclusively of an indication which may serve in trade to designate the intended purpose of goods (Article 7 (1)(c) of the Trade Mark Regulation) such as those for which registration is sought, ie keeping a baby dry.

To a packed courtroom on Thursday April 19, 39 drug companies agreed to drop their lawsuit against the South African government.

The Supreme Court in New Delhi has laid down guidelines to avoid the registration of deceptively similar trade marks. Saying there should be the maximum possible number of indicators to distinguish two medicinal products, the Court has drawn up a broad seven-point set of rules on the registration of trade marks for medicines.

Patent infringement litigation involves a large number of uncertainties. Alexander I Poltorak and Paul J Lerner reveal how to calculate the risk involved