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The German Act Relating to Inventions of Employees (the Act) provides that an employer may, within a period of four months, claim an invention made by an employee which either results from the employee's work under the employment contract or is essentially based on the know-how of the employer. For such a claimed invention, a patent application must be filed. In return, the employee is entitled to compensation when the invention is used by the employer. Unfortunately, the administrative provisions of the Act cause considerable paper work. Large companies estimate that the costs for handling employment inventions in compliance with the provisions of the Act are in the same range as the compensation to be paid to the employed inventors for the use of these inventions.

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.

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.

Sam Mamudi reports

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

Trade mark systems in Africa and the Middle East are at various stages of development. The difficulties with registering and enforcing rights should not put off those interested in doing so, reports Ralph Cunningham

Venezuela’s Congress is debating fundamental IP reforms. But, warns Gabriela Nuñez, there are a lot of obstacles which must be overcome before protection can improve

When it comes to using patents to provide more brand and shareholder value, some companies may be getting in the way of their own success. In the following excerpt from their chapter in the book From Ideas to Assets – Investing Wisely in Intellectual Property (John Wiley & Sons), Bruce Berman and James D Woods show how the importance of these patents may be overlooked and under-communicated

Thanks to a new directive, artists across Europe will receive royalties on future sales of their works – many for the first time. George Moore and Matthew Warren explain how the royalty structure will work

The Tokyo High Court has upheld the Japanese Patent Office ban on obtaining trade marks for retail services. The internationalization of the country’s trade mark system could persuade the authorities to change their stance, say Shusaku Yamamoto and John Tessensohn