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Record companies in Japan have succeeded in ensuring that a company that operated an illegal, web-based file sharing service and its boss have to pay damages for copyright infringement.

PCT applications Most popular categories for PCT applications Swiss watchmaker Swatch was the most prolific user of design protection in 2002, according to WIPO.

Sam Mamudi, New York

Following the first instance ruling in Lego's action against a local company in China, the Beijing Higher People's Court has recently confirmed in the appellate decision that industrial designs which qualify as works of applied art are entitled to copyright protection in China, alongside the design patent protection afforded by the Patent Law.

A new amendment to New Zealand's Patents Act excludes from patent infringement actions concerned with obtaining regulatory approval there or elsewhere. The change threatens the rights of patent owners and could achieve more than the government intended, warns Tim Jackson

With the increasing trend towards globalization, emerging market countries are being pressed into signing international accords to free the movement of trade. The friction between globalization and national interests is illustrated by Latin America's refusal to join the Madrid Protocol, says Sam Mamudi

In the fourth part of the World IP Survey, we reveal the leading patent firms in 26 jurisdictions, and find out about the latest trends in practice.

The IP Academy of Singapore

The subject of inventors' rights has recently generated much debate in Japan, with developments indicating the possibility of a shift of power favouring inventors. The story, in its most basic form, may sound familiar. The workhorse engineer, employed by a faceless corporation, makes an important invention. The corporation files an application in its own name and when the patent issues, garners huge profits. The inventor is rewarded with a mere pat on the back and a pittance. Not exactly Upton Sinclair, but the sense of exploitation is there. Yet, in the heyday of the Japanese economic boom, the days of feudalistic worker loyalty and guaranteed lifetime employment, this practice was accepted without question.

To fulfil its obligations under the Convention of Biological Diversity, conserve biological resources, enable their sustainable use, provide for equitable benefit sharing and check biopiracy, India has enacted the Biological Diversity Act 2002.