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Yoshitaka Sonoda explains how patent owners in Japan can avoid accusations of unfair trade when licensing their inventions

An application for a business method patent is subject to the same requirements of novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability as any other patent application in Korea. Careful drafting will secure your rights, explain Eun-Jin JUNG & Andrew CHOUNG, of Kim & Chang

Korea allows patent protection to many of the biotechnology inventions which are also protected in the US, Europe and Japan. While few cases to test the patentability of biotechnology inventions have reached the courts in Korea, there are expected to be more in the years to come, writes Kook-jin OH, of YP Lee, Mock & Partners

Ralph Cunningham, Hong Kong

The recent decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Board of Education ex rel Board of Trustees of Florida State University v American Bioscience Inc, 67 USPQ 2d 1252 (Fed Cir 2003) focuses on the importance under US law of correctly naming the true inventor (or inventors) on US patents. While the decision enunciates no new legal principles, its thorough discussion of the criteria for inventorship under US law merits attention. In particular, this discussion should be helpful in the US and elsewhere to institutions of higher learning in clarifying that the criteria generally used in naming authors on scientific papers are inapplicable to patent inventorship determinations. In addition, non-US companies and other groups applying for US patents will find that this discussion presents in one place a clear exposition of US inventorship criteria.

James Nurton, London

Wu Yuhe and Dong Jiangxong, of China Patent Agent (HK) Ltd, explain what you should know about patent and trade mark assignment, licensing and technology transfer in China

One of the most elusive questions in copyright litigation faced by courts the world over has been how to map out the horizons of the idea/expression dichotomy. In 1978, the Supreme Court of India in the RG Anand case held that one of the surest and safest tests to determine whether or not there has been a copyright infringement is to see if the reader after having read both the works gets an unmistakable impression that the subsequent work appears to be a copy of the original.

Ralph Cunningham, Hong Kong

There were 23 Americans on our MIP 50 list of the most influential people in IP, published in last month's issue. But, judging from readers' responses, that was not enough.