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Improved trade mark legislation and a concentrated effort from rights owners are achieving results against counterfeiting in China. The hope is now the Chinese leadership will take a direct role in the campaign, reports Ralph Cunningham

A case that will decide how to calculate the length of patent protection for new medicines in the EU has been referred to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling.

Snapshots of INTA's 125th Annual Meeting in Amsterdam

A new Intellectual Property Law bill is expected to be presented to Parliament shortly. The present Law is contained in the Code of Intellectual Property Act No 52 of 1979.

Korea has become the 57th country to join the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks (Madrid Protocol) by depositing an instrument of ratification of the Protocol with the WIPO on January 10 2003. As of April 11 2003, three months after the instrument of ratification was deposited with the WIPO, the Madrid Protocol entered into force in Korea. Upon joining the Madrid Protocol, obtainment of a trade mark registration in Korea for foreign applicants is possible in two ways. An applicant can designate Korea as one of the target countries in his international application. Otherwise, he can file a separate national application to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO).

Of mice and men

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is one of a number of research institutes from around the world that has filed a US patent application for the genetic sequence of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus.

Biotechnology company Monsanto will have its patent for genetically modified soybean plants limited.

Stéphanie Bodoni, London

On April 10, the European Parliament, in its first reading of the Tissues and Cells Directive (the Directive), voted in favour of a ban on the creation of human embryos for research purposes including stem cell research. MEPs stopped short of demanding an outright ban on the use of embryonic stem (ES) cells for research. However, they imposed severe restrictions, the effect of which could be to make it difficult for scientists to justify their use.