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The president of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, Wubbo de Boer, revealed on September 21 that the Community Trade Mark will suffer its first decline in applications since it opened in 1996.

Controversy over the protection of AIDS patents has dogged South Africa in the past year. Progress has been made in finding a solution, but no-one yet knows what it will be, reports James Nurton

The perception exists in Australia that it is too easy to successfully defend a design infringement action. But Wayne Condon says that will change if Parliament passes radical reforms to the almost 100-year-old designs legislation

Following fundamental reforms, the countries of eastern Europe will soon be ready to join those of the west in the EU and the EPC. James Nurton examines how practitioners are preparing for change

The new Chinese Patent Law strengthens a patent owner’s hand against infringement, providing new means of enforcement, including injunctions. But there are also penalties for bringing unjustified actions, warn Lindsay Esler and Paul Davies

On July 24 2001, a new Criminal Code was enforced in Colombia, substituting the one that had been issued two decades ago. The New Code, a model for Latin America, includes a new group of juristic acts or deeds intended to enhance the legal protection of intellectual property and new technologies.

The sixth annual World IP Survey reveals that competition for patent work is more intense than ever. James Nurton, Ingrid Hering and Ralph Cunningham analyze the results and interview some of the leading firms, and their clients

A new law is to be introduced in the UK for registered designs applied for after October 28 2001. The Registered Designs Regulations 2001 (RDR), currently before parliament, amend the Registered Designs Act 1949 (RDA) in order to give effect to EC Directive 98/71 on the legal protection of designs. The aim of this Directive is to harmonize certain aspects of national registered design law within the European community. The United Kingdom and all other European member states are required to bring their national laws into line with the Directive by October 28 2001.

Australia: Daryl Williams, the federal attorney general, announced on September 18 that Screenrights will be the sole collecting society to collect copyright royalties for retransmission of free-to-air television programmes by pay-TV services. Screenrights will be responsible for distributing royalties to the owners of copyright in the films, scripts, music, sound recordings and art works in the retransmitted programmes.

A Canadian court of appeal has overturned a decision that determined that the use of a trade mark by a US retailer violated the ownership rights of a Canadian company.