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Despite harmonization, there remain significant differences in the way freelancers are treated in the EU member states. Les Christy and Susannah Kendall contrast the situation in common law and civil law jurisdictions and examine how the situation is likely to change in the future

New copyright legislation emphasizes China’s commitment to its international obligations. While overseas copyright owners should welcome the new law, enforcement of their rights will remain a challenge, argue Luke Minford and Stella Li

Guylyn R Cummins, Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP

"We are also seeing companies getting back to basics and building their core brands that consumers already know"

The directive concerning legal protection of biotechnological inventions (98/44/EC) has not been annulled according to a judgment made by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on October 9 2001 (C 377/98).

Pharmacia Corp, GD Searle & Co and Pfizer Inc (the patentees) were the proprietors of European Patent (UK) 0 679 157 (the patent) relating to chemical compounds having use as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The patentees appealed the findings at trial that the patent was invalid and not infringed by the defendants, Merck & Co Inc and Merck Sharp & Dohme Ltd (Merck). On appeal, the finding of invalidity was confirmed (Court of Appeal, December 14 2001). Merck's chemical compound, sold under the name Vioxx, was held to fall within claim 1 and would have infringed if the claim had not been held invalid.

In Aptix Corp v Quickturn Design Systems, Inc (60 USPQ 2d 1705 (Fed Cir November 5 2001)), two members of a three-judge Federal Circuit panel held that a US patent remains "presumptively valid" and enforceable, despite the admitted blatantly fraudulent conduct of its inventor in seeking its enforcement before a federal district court. The decision is troublesome, because it overrules the contrary Federal Circuit ruling in Fraige v American National Watermattress Co (27 USPQ 2d 1149, 1151, n3 (Fed Cir 1993)) and repudiates a principle considered virtually axiomatic among US lawyers for many years ? that is, that fraud practised in connection with either acquiring or enforcing a patent renders the thus-tainted patent permanently unenforceable. Furthermore, it is difficult to see any legitimate public or private purpose that is served by pronouncing the patent presumptively valid and hence enforceable either by someone other than the original patentee or by the patentee at a later time and in the absence of the offending research notebooks.

A trade mark registration in Mexico is in full force for a term of 10 years from the filing date. After that time it is necessary to request renewal before the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI). According to the Law of Industrial Property (LPI), to proceed with this action the corresponding trade mark must have been used in Mexico within the last three years. The question arises as to what can be done when a trade mark has not been used in that time and registration is due for renewal.

Slovakia is expected to join the EPC on July 1 2002. For this reason 2001 saw a lot of work in the field of IP rights, including the adoption and amendment of a Patents Act and a new Trade Marks Act which came into force on January 1 2002. Details of this will be discussed in a later issue of MIP. Industrial designs, which up until now have been governed by Act No 527/90, will be the subject of a new independent Act. The respective Bill is already under discussion and is expected to be passed in the first half of 2002. It is worth stressing that all amendments to Slovak legislation in the field of IP rights are in compliance with the EPC and that Slovakia has taken all the necessary steps to be well prepared for access to the EPC.

Dust off your dormant IP and reap the benefits of donating it to a non-profit organization. Not only can it bolster your bottom line; it can also foster R&D and academia, reports Ingrid Hering