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On May 6 2003 the European Court of Justice handed down a revolutionary judgment on the possibility of taking out trade mark registrations for colours per se.

To streamline the administration of the examination and grant of patents, industrial designs, trade marks and geographical indicators, the IP Department was converted into an independent corporation with autonomous powers on March 3 2003. It is known as the Malaysian Intellectual Property Corporation, or PHIM (the Malay language acronym of the corporation). Additional staff have been recruited, hours to receive applications have been increased and new administrative procedures have been introduced. Time taken to examine and grant a registrable IP right is being substantially reduced. More good news is that the filing fees remain unchanged. These changes augur well for owners and users of IP rights.

On July 24 2003 the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) issued the new Implementing Measures for Administrative Penalties on Copyright Infringement, effective September 1 2003, to replace the earlier measures issued in 1997. The Measures aim to make the provisions consistent with those of the new Copyright Law and Copyright Implementing Regulations which underwent substantial amendments in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Moreover, they supplement the Law and the Implementing Regulations so as to make them more operable when it comes to administrative enforcement of copyright. The major changes are as follows.

Draft legislation will revamp Australia's designs law. But it may not achieve its twin aims of making registration tougher and strengthening enforcement, argue Jamie Nettleton and Lydia Santoso

Since July 1 2003, the European Patent Office has started a new pilot project which may be of interest to a large number of applicants.

? EU: A coalition of 48 lobby groups from around the world has urged the European Parliament to reject the draft of an anti-piracy law that they say is too broad and threatens consumer rights and innovation across the EU.

Commissioner James Rogan has proposed fundamental changes to patent examination in the US. Stephen Becker examines the main elements of Rogan's Strategic Plan, and asks what impact it will have on applicants

Design protection has recently been overhauled in Spain. Jorge Llevat of Cuatrecasas in Barcelona examines the reforms, and explains how rights owners can best obtain protection

Judge Paul Michel has been a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for 15 years, and is scheduled to become Chief Judge next year. Ingrid Hering met him at the FICPI World Congress in Berlin in June and asked how patent law has developed and how advocacy in the court can be improved

Is trade mark use on the part of a defendant a prerequisite to trade mark infringement? We reported in the last issue of Managing Intellectual Property that the answer to this question seemed clear and that "trade mark use" (that is, use to indicate the commercial origin of the goods or services concerned) is not a prerequisite to trade mark infringement.