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? China: Sohu.com has responded to a copyright infringement suit from Sina.com, its mainland rival, by counter-suing for copyright infringement and unfair competition. The cases concern the use of cellphone screen designs.

In April and May 2000, the Mexican Federal Administrative Proceedings Law was amended on a supplementary basis. The changes meant that standards for the administrative proceedings of the law became applicable to all actions filed before the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (the IMPI). These included trade mark registration, granting of patents, nullity and infringement actions.

Among several amendments to the Patent Act that came into force on January 1 2002 in Germany, there are two changes affecting patent opposition proceedings. First, an opposition fee of ?200 ($174) has been introduced. Secondly, there is a temporary change regarding the responsibility for deciding on oppositions.

The fate of the famous Stolichnaya vodka brand has highlighted the problem of trade mark rights following the privatization of state-run companies in the former USSR.

In a recent pronouncement, the Council of State in Colombia has ruled that the domain .co is the property of the state, not of its administrator the Universidad de los Andes.

The fate of the famous Stolichnaya vodka brand has highlighted the problem of trade mark rights following the privatization of state-run companies in the former USSR.

A trademark owner in the Netherlands has the right to lodge an application, in writing, with the the customs authorities requiring them to keep a watch for counterfeit goods. This is on the basis of EU regulation 3295/94 (December 22 1994) and EU regulation 1367/95 (June 16 1995) which both came into force in the Netherlands on July 1 1997. On the basis of this application, customs authorities are allowed to detain or to suspend the release of a suspicious consignment for a brief period, during which the trademark holder can initiate legal measures.

Ralph Cunningham, Hong Kong

The long-running saga of the European software patent may be nearing an end with the adoption of a draft proposal by the European Commission. At its February 20 meeting, the Commission approved a draft directive that attempts to steer a middle ground between advocates of US-style protection and those opposed to any kind of software patent.

As the annual review of the USTR’s Special 301 monitoring approaches, many Latin American countries have a lot to prove. James Nurton reports