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Hiroshi Sheraton, McDermott, Will & Emery, London

A global campaign to overturn a US patent on basmati rice has scored a major victory with the announcement that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has thrown out 13 of 16 remaining claims from US-based RiceTec's controversial patent. John J Doll, the director of biotechnology examination at the USPTO, himself examined and rejected 13 claims from the patent. He judged that the rice lines, plants and grains that the company claimed in the application were prior art or substantially identical to basmati varieties grown in India and Pakistan, and hence could not be patented.

The Advocate General’s Opinion in the Davidoff and Levi’s case was welcomed by both brand owners and parallel importers. David Rose analyzes the Opinion and suggests that brand owners have slightly more to be pleased about

Cathryn Warburton explains how and why Customs notices are an essential part of anti-counterfeiting in New Zealand, and answers the most common questions about border protection measures

In a landmark case, a UK court has ruled that oil company BP can stop rivals from using its distinctive colour green on their service stations. Ian Wood, Nicola Boxall and Mary Bagnall examine the decision

Trade marks are particularly vulnerable to becoming non-distinctive in Russia. Vitaly Kaliatin discusses four scenarios where this risk occurs and looks at how it can be avoided

After much debate and a long gestation period, the EU Council of Ministers finally adopted on April 9 the Directive on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society. At the time of writing, the Directive had not been published in the Official Journal, but this is likely to take place within a few weeks of April 9. Following publication, member states must implement the Directive in national law within 18 months. The intention was that the Copyright Directive should be implemented within a timescale similar to that for the implementation of the E-Commerce Directive, which must be implemented by member states by no later than January 17 2002. The Copyright Directive will have to be implemented by member states by about a year later than that. The Copyright Directive seeks to achieve a number of objectives. These include a degree of harmonization of copyright and related rights laws throughout the Community. The Directive also seeks to introduce protections for technical measures and rights-management information.

The Baby-dry case is the first appeal to be heard by the Court of Justice in Luxembourg in proceedings concerning a Community Trade Mark. The Court of First Instance had decided not to register the term Baby-dry, used for babies nappies (or diapers). The court believed that the term is ineligible for registration as a Community Trade Mark. The examiner considered that the trade mark was descriptive of the goods for which registration was sought. She was of the opinion that Baby-dry was composed only of a simple combination of the non-distinctive words baby and dry. The mark therefore consisted exclusively of an indication which may serve in trade to designate the intended purpose of goods (Article 7 (1)(c) of the Trade Mark Regulation) such as those for which registration is sought, ie keeping a baby dry.

The biotech industry is growing rapidly but facing many new challenges, from revised PTO guidelines to the possibilities of licensing and patent pooling. Tabitha Parker asks senior in-house counsel how they are coping with change

It is an established principle applied by the European and German patent authorities that, under certain circumstances, functional features may be used for the characterization of subject matter in patent claims (see eg EPO in T 68/85; German Federal Supreme Court in "Trioxan"). Functional features have always been essential for obtaining meaningful protection for biotechnological inventions. Recently, an increasing trend towards a more general use of this type of feature for obtaining broad patent protection can be observed, specifically where patent protection for pharmaceutical compounds and medical uses is sought. Applicants should, however, be aware of the requirements to be met for the successful use of functional features in patent claims.