EU: The European Commission's new draft block exemption for technology transfer aims to change the competition rules applicable to the licensing of patents, know how and software copyright by reducing the regulatory burden for companies, giving them more freedom to respond to commercial needs, and to improve the TTBE's clarity and scope. Spain: The country's recent accession to the Geneva Act (1999) of the Hague Agreement concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs means it has reached the required number of accessions to enter into force on December 23 this year. Spain is the 11th contracting state following Estonia, Georgia, Iceland, Kyrgyzstan, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine. Sweden: Domain name owners will be able to register their domains in the Swedish language including all its accents, dots and rings. Registrar NIC-SE, which manages the Swedish top-level domain .se, introduced the plans to allow users to apply for domain names including the signs å, ä, ö, ü and é in addition to the standard alphabetical and numerical signs. UK: Copyright laws moved closer towards a US-type regime when the new Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003, which implement the EU Copyright Directive, entered into force at the end of October. UK: The Patent Office has published a guide on its website aimed at informing designers about what to look out for when preparing their application for a design registration in the UK.
