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A dispute between GlaxoSmithKline and Dutch company Class gives rise to important questions regarding the parallel import of original branded goods from outside the EEA within the European Union. In this case, a bulk of Aquafresh toothpaste was transported from South Africa to Rotterdam. The transportation took place by vessel at the request of Class. However the trade mark owner of the goods, GlaxoSmithKline, had not given permission for its import into the EEA and requested the Customs Department to seize the goods under Article 13bis of the Uniform Benelux Trade Mark Act.

Last April the federal legislature discussed and approved the bill to regulate the e-signature in Mexico, by amending or adding certain articles to the Mexican Commercial Code (the Bill).

Ralph Cunningham, Hong Kong

? Australia: The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Act 2003 has been passed by the Senate and received the Royal Assent. It deals with issues such as extensions of time in the Patents, Trade Marks and Designs Acts.

Marcus Evans, associate, Communications, Media & Technology Group, Norton Rose

As the Korean Trade Mark Law only protects trade mark right holders within the scope of identity or similarity of the designated goods, domain name disputes in Korea are generally judged by the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act (UCP). There are three relevant cases, which could help us to understand more about the Act. The three cases involve the domain names of chanel.co.kr; viagra.co.kr; and jooyontech.com.

In April 2003, the PRC Trade Mark Office issued the new Collective Mark and Certification Mark Registration and Administration Measures, effective June 1 2003, to replace the 1994 version. The major provisions include the following:

? US: GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has sealed more than twice the number of licensing deals than any of its rivals in the pharmaceutical industry, according to a new report by consulting firm Wood McKenzie, which found that GSK secured 83 licenses from 1988 to 2002. The second most successful companies, Aventis and Johnson & Johnson, had 44 deals each.

Ingrid Hering, Berlin

Patent owners or other intellectual property right holders often find themselves in a difficult situation when they have to prove a case of infringement without having direct access to the object which is suspected to be infringing. This may, for example, be the case if only a few machines or apparatus have been manufactured, and if there is no possibility for the patent proprietor to analyze or inspect the machine without consent of the manufacturer or current owner. This is particularly troublesome for patent owners in Germany since there are no procedural rules by which a potential infringer could be forced to disclose relevant information with regard to the alleged infringement.